Download MP3’s of Atsuro Riley reading his poems.
 

Stephen Kessler, editor and principal translator of The Sonnets of Jorge Luis Borges, reads new translations from that book and from Poems of the Night (edited by Efraín Kristal), its companion volume, both newly published by Penguin Classics.  The Argentine Borges (1899-1986) is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century—a peer of Joyce, Proust, Kafka and Beckett—best known for his remarkably inventive short prose fictions.  Less well known is that Borges thought of himself primarily as a poet, and his 600-page collected poems in Spanish establishes him as the equal of his Latin American contemporaries Pablo Neruda, César Vallejo and Octavio Paz as one of the leading poets of his time.  In The Sonnets Borges proves himself a master of this most traditional form, and in Poems of the Night he explores in other forms the themes of twilight, darkness, blindness, visions and dreams.  Longtime Santa Cruz writer Stephen Kessler’s other recent books include The Mental Traveler (novel), Desolation of the Chimera by Spanish poet Luis Cernuda (translation), Burning Daylight (poems) and Moving Targets: On Poets, Poetry & Translation (essays).

Learn more about the works of Stephen Kessler on his website.

This event is supported by Poets & Writers, Inc. through a grant it has received from The James Irvine Foundation.