Pages

Thursday, March 31, 2016

LISTEN TO “ELENA FERRANTE IN TRANSLATION” ON WNYC AM & FM ON APRIL 20

If you loved the novels by Elena Ferrante about two friends growing up in 1950s-60s Naples, you won’t want to miss this radio broadcast on WNYC:

Elena Ferrante in Translation

WHEN: April 20, 12 – 2 pm
WHERE:
  WNYC AM 820 and WNYC FM 93.9 on the radio dial

We at The Leonard Lopate Show Book Club headquarters have been trying to figure out how to talk about Elena Ferrante's wildly popular Neapolitan novels for some time now. For those unfamiliar with Ferrante and her work, Elena Ferrante is the pen name for an Italian author who doesn't do interviews, and whose true identity has been kept a secret – and eluded detection – for more than 20 years. The final book in the series, The Story of The Lost Child, was just longlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize. Well, we're excited to announce that, even though we couldn't get Elena Ferrante herself to the studio, we've got the next best person!

Ann Goldstein is the only literary translator to have been entrusted with bringing the words of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels to English readers. Over the course of the past decade or so, Goldstein has become one of the most sought-after Italian-to-English literary translators in the world. Her other notable translation work includes In Other Words, Jhumpa Lahiri’s new Italian-written memoir, and The Complete Works of Primo Levi, which was released last fall. And not for nothing, but all of these accomplishments are on top of Goldstein's day job as head of the copy department at The New Yorker.

Ann Goldstein will be here on April 20th to discuss the Neapolitan novels, how she became a celebrity in the translation world and the public face of Elena Ferrante, her process, and her broader body of work. Ask her your questions here!