Rika Lesser

Poet

Brooklyn, NY
New York US

Author's Bio

I have been translating poetry from German or Swedish nearly as long as I have been writing poetry in English. I have also turned my attention to form abstractly and concretely through the practice of tai chi chuan and by becoming a certified Feldenkrais® practitioner. A new adventure for me has been co-translating poetry from the Greek of Kiki Dimoula (see "Prizes Won" below). I have recently finished translating a Swedish novel by Elisabeth Rynell. Interesting to lose words for a while, and to find them again, in whichever languages or forms.

Publications & Prizes

Books:
Mozart's Third Brain by Göran Sonnevi (Yale University Press, 2009)
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Questions of Love: New and Selected Poems (Sheep Meadow Press, 2008)
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Siddhartha: An Indic Poem by Hermann Hesse (Barnes & Noble Publishing, 2007)
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All We Need of Hell (University of North Texas Press, 1995)
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A Child Is Not a Knife by Göran Sonnevi (Princeton University Press, 1993)
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Rilke: Between Roots (Princeton University Press, 1986)
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Etruscan Things (George Braziller, Inc., 1983)
Journals:
Literary Imagination
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New Republic
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Paris Review
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The New Yorker
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Prizes won: 

Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship (1974).
Ingram-Merrill Foundation Poetry Writing Grant (1978). Landon Poetry Translation Prize from the Academy of American Poets for <i>Guide to the Underworld</i> by Gunnar Ekelöf (1982). Poetry Translation Prize from the Swedish Academy (1996). Fulbright Senior Scholar Award (1999). Two National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowships for Translation (2001, poetry; 2013 fiction). Yaddo Fellowship (2001). Twice the Translation Prize of the American-Scandinavian Foundation for selections of poetry by Göran Sonnevi (1992, 2002). The Greek National Translation Prize (2014) with Cecile Inglessis Margellos for <i>The Brazen Plagiarist: Selected Poems</i> by Kiki Dimoula.

Personal Favorites

What I'm reading now: 
The Elusive Obvious by Moshe Feldenkrais, Taijiquan: The Art of Nurturing, The Science of Power by Yang Yang, Ph.D, a place to live by Natalia Ginzburg; Lynne Sharon Schhwart, tr., Bok Utom Namn by Göran Sonnevi

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Prefers to work with: 
Adults, Any
Fluent in: 
Swedish
Born in: 
Brooklyn
Raised in: 
Brooklyn, NY
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: May 05, 2014