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‘Wisdom’ looks at living under lockdown with a light, dream-like touch. The essay reflects on the apparition of a wisdom tooth at around the same time as the pandemic, the quirks of single-lane traffic on country roads, enforced isolation from even one’s nearest neighbours and the act of making things, of forming souvenirs, with your hands.
“If you were to saw our house in half, straight down the middle, it would split into two indistinguishable halves. Every evening, our walk brings us up the hill overlooking our house. The road climbs, and our home shrinks behind us, its edges soften, its details dissolve. At the top of the hill we turn around and see that it has become a miniature of itself, like a souvenir. I will make this souvenir, I think. At this moment in time, it seems no more or less useless than anything else I might do.” – from ‘Wisdom’ by Sara Baume
Talking Translations is a podcast series which brings Irish writers and translators together to share their stories and voices. Each episode features an Irish writer reading their own work aloud, followed by a translator reading a newly commissioned translation of the same piece. The texts of the original work and of the translation are published on the Literature Ireland website and provide an opportunity for publishers abroad to consider the work for future publication.
“At a time when writers cannot travel, Literature Ireland’s Talking Translations podcasts aim to bring the best of Irish writing to greater attention internationally. In this way new, deeper connections can be built between Irish writers and their translators and between the work and key foreign publishers and festival directors. Talking Translations podcasts are also simply for anyone around the world who enjoys listening to good literature” said Sinéad Mac Aodha, Director of Literature Ireland.
Posted to on 11 Feb 2021.