Poetry Into the Beyond: Yoshimasu Gozo and Forrest Gander
SF Camerawork | 1011 Market Street | San Francisco, CA
“Gozo Yoshimasu is, simply put, one of a handful of the most important and influential living poets whose work has taken poetry into the beyond.” — Forrest Gander
The Center for the Art of Translation welcomed Japanese poet and performance artist Yoshimasu Gozo and poet Forrest Gander to San Francisco for a performance and discussion of Gozo’s work, including his poetry collection Alice Iris Red Horse (New Directions). Edited by Gander, Alice Iris Red Horse gathers translations of Gozo’s major works that span his entire career. Also included are illuminating interviews and reproductions of Gozo’s artwork and performances.
Alice Iris Red Horse, edited by Forrest Gander with introduction and notes by Derek Gromadski, features translations from the Japanese by Sawako Nakayasu, Hiroaki Sato, Eric Selland, Jeffrey Angles, Richard Arno, Derek Gromadzki, Forrest Gander, Sayuri Okamoto, Auston Stewart, and Kyoko Yoshida.
Forrest Gander, born in the Mojave Desert, lives in California. A translator and multi-genre writer with degrees in geology and literature, he’s the recipient of numerous awards, among them the Pulitzer Prize, the Best Translated Book Award, and fellowships from the Library of Congress, the Guggenheim, and United States Artists Foundations. His recent book, Twice Alive, focuses on human and ecological intimacies.
Yoshimasu Gozo is an acclaimed Japanese poet, photographer, artist, and filmmaker who has performed worldwide. His work has been described as “so unorthodox that it defies the print medium and can be delivered only as performance.” Many of his poems are multilingual and include linguistic and typographic word play. His multimedia performances often feature collaborations with musicians and other artists. He has received numerous literary and cultural awards, including the Takami Jun Prize, the Rekitei Prize, the Purple Ribbon, and the 50th Mainichi Art Award for Poetry.