CREATIVE/WRITING
The following (by no means comprehensive) list provides open access to a number of projects, interviews, and articles I've written or contributed to (including reviews highlighting my work).
Life moves very fast!
My public appearances change and update frequently. Please check my profile with the University of Michigan for the most comprehensive list of upcoming engagements!
The Next Orbits: Festival Neue Literatur
11 November, 2024
On November 11, 2024, Sharon Dodua Otoo and I held a bilingual reading and conversation at the Goethe-Institut NY in Manhattan as part of the Festival Neue Literatur to promote the English-language translation of her award-winning debut novel Ada's Realm [Adas Raum], an extension of our previous North American book tour in 2023.
Boston Book Festival 2024
26 October, 2024
A conversation and bilingual reading with Fatma Aydemir at the Goethe-Institut Boston in collaboration with the 2024 Boston Book Festival. In addition to our readings, we discuss the author's work, the social and political context of her novel, and our ongoing collaborations--including on the English-language translation of Djinns.
Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize 2024
1 October, 2024
On October 1, 2024, I was awarded the prestigious Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize for my translation of Max Czollek's rivoting polemic De-Integrate: A Jewish Survival Guide for the 21st Century at the Goethe-Institut NY in Manhattan. Please see the Jury Statement for the award below.
#Vorzeichen: Disrupting Translation
13 June, 2024
On June 13, 2024, I traveled to the Goethe-Institut Amsterdam to discuss the role of new literary translation in breaking and remaking the literary canon with Dutch translator Thalia Ostendorf, moderated by literary critics and scholars Leila Essa and Maha El Hissy. We discussed the innovative roles of new independent publishers, retranslation, and an increasingly diverse community of BIPOC literary translators in rethinking the polyphony of literature in the 21st century.
Shall We Not Revenge?
3 March, 2023
An in-depth review of my translation of author Max Czollek's debut monograph: De-Integrate: A Jewish Survival Guide for the 21st Century [Desintegriert Euch!] (Restless Books 2023) including a wide-ranging overview of Czollek's curatorial, poetic, and scholarly works. Expertly written by Sanders Isaac Bernstein and published in Jewish Currents.
De-Integrate
Reading Tour
January 2023
A coast-to-coast reading and conversation tour with author Dr. Max Czollek to promote De-Integrate: A Jewish Survival Guide for the 21st Century, the English-language translation of his acclaimed nonfiction, Desintegriert euch!
Almanya: A [Different] Future is Possible
12 September, 2022
This paper investigates the theme of returning ‘home’ in Fatma Aydemir’s 2017 novel, Ellbogen, arguing that the novel’s protagonist utilizes her physical journey to Turkey to formulate a new, fluid positionality between apparently conflicting expressions of Otherness and belonging.
In jenem Wort mündet ein Meer
14 July, 2022
A short, poetic editorial for the Mittelbadische Presse in the context of the 25th anniversary of the Hausacher LeseLenz literature festival.
Person-to-Person: V. Vale
5 July, 2022
Photos and collaboration with Paris Cotz to interview legendary San Francisco punk ethnographer V. Vale of RE/Search Publications (formerly Search and Destroy) for Issue Three, "Art & Artifice," Dispatches Magazine.
Translators Aloud: Djinns
29 March, 2022
A summary and reading of preliminary translations from Fatma Aydemir's 2022 novel Dschinns (Hanser Verlag) courtesy of Translators Aloud and New Books in German. The English translation will be published in 2023 with Riverhead Books.
Eure
Heimat ist
Unser
Albtraum
11 February, 2022
A conversation with Hengameh Yaghoobifarah, Sharon Dodua Otoo, Sasha Marianna Salzmann, and Jon Cho-Polizzi, moderated by Tiffany Florvil to celebrate the digital publication of the English-language translation of Your Homeland Is Our Nightmare with UC Berkeley's TRANSIT Journal hosted by Deutsches Haus at NYU.
Archives of
Migration:
Homeland As Nightmare
21 January, 2022
A conversation with Fatma Aydemir, Hengameh Yaghoobifarah, and Deniz Göktürk to commemorate the English-language debut of Your Homeland Is Our Nightmare, published Dec 13, 2021 with UC Berkeley's TRANSIT Journal.
Co-sponsored by UC Berkeley's Institute of European Studies and the Goethe-Institut San Francisco.
Your
Homeland is
Our
Nightmare
13 December, 2021
Forward to the Translations introducing the complete English-language translation of Your Homeland Is Our Nightmare edited by Fatma Aydemir and Hengameh Yaghoobifarah.
Your
Homeland is
Our
Nightmare
13 December, 2021
The complete translated volume of Eure Heimat ist unser Albtraum (Ullstein fünf, 2019), an intersectional essay collection discussing the resonance of 'homeland' [Heimat] in the face of rising rightwing violence throughout the German-speaking world. In cooperation with UC Berkeley's TRANSIT Journal and German-language editors Fatma Aydemir and Hengameh Yaghoobifarah.
Authors in Conversation: Ada’s Realm [Adas Raum]
19 October, 2021
A conversation with author Sharon Dodua Otoo at the Center for German and European Studies at Brandeis University, moderated by Prof. Sabine von Mering. Organized in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut Boston and co-presented with the 2021 Boston Book Festival.
German-English Translation Slam: "Two Çayspoons of Şekir"
30 September, 2021
"One Text, Two Translators, and No Wrong Answers." A conversation with fellow translator Dr. Didem Uca about translating "Zwei Çaylöffel Şekir" by Keça Filankes. Moderated by Prof. David Gramling of the University of British Columbia. A collaboration with ALTA and Sand Journal, sponsored by Wunderbar Together in association with the 2021 UA College of Humanities Tucson Humanities Festival.
Archives of Migration:
Layers of Untold Stories
5 March, 2021
A conversation with author Sharon Dodua Otoo and Professor Deniz Göktürk about the Bachmann Preis winning author's 2021 debut novel Adas Raum (representing the novel's English-language debut). Held virtually at UC Berkeley, with sponsorship from the Institute of European Studies and the Department of German.
Providence
Leftist
Radio
21 February, 2021
The Problem with "Integration": An interview with PLR's Alex Herbert on contemporary German politics, radical diversity, and translating the works of Max Czollek.
We Simply
Write On
29 October, 2020
Editorial on my ongoing work with the German literary festival Hausacher LeseLenz. Reflections on the role of literature in society and the potential of digital technology to facilitate communication and community during the pandemic.
Radka Denemarková Interview
26 October, 2020
English translation and interview I conducted with Czech author Radka Denemarková discussing the role of literature during the pandemic and the global reach of literary networks of resistance; in cooperation with Versopolis Review and the Hausacher LeseLenz.
Punks Around
Fanzine
#11: P.O.C. Punks
14 June, 2020
Layout, design, photography [contributor], art [contributor], and lettering for the P.O.C. issue of the legendary underground punk culture fanzine Punks Around by Alexander Herbert. Sorry, no direct content link, but the zine is infinitely affordable!
ACADEMIC WORK
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
As a tenure-track assistant professor at University of Michigan, I have taught the following courses, in addition to serving as faculty coordinator for the interdisciplinary workshop "Alamanya: Transnational German Studies":
Fall 2025: German 731 – "Radikale Vielfalt: Voices in Contemporary Fiction" Graduate Seminar
Fall 2025: German 180 – "Berlin: Babel or Babylon?" Freshman Writing Seminar
Winter 2025: German 286 – "Fairy Tales" Large Lecture Course on Comparative Folklore
Fall 2024: Comparative Literature 780 – "Wor(l)ds in Translation" Graduate Seminar on Translation
Fall 2024: German 180 – "Berlin: Babel or Babylon?" Freshman Writing Seminar
From 2020 to 2021, I worked as an English Literature and US History teacher at East Bay German International School, a German-language international school located in Emeryville, California.
From 2014 to 2020, I worked as a Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) and Reader for UC Berkeley's Department of German and Programs in Dutch Studies and Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Studies. The following is a comprehensive list of the courses I've taught at UC Berkeley; syllabi for courses marked with an (*) are of my own design.
Spring 2020: German R5B – "What is Modern German Literature?" Writing Seminar (GSI)*
Fall 2019: German R5A – "Berlin: Making a Modern City" Writing Seminar (GSI) *
Summer 2019: UGIS W158 – "Global Citizenship" (GSI)
Summer & Spring 2018: German R5B – "What is Modern German Literature?" Writing Seminar (GSI)*
Fall 2017: German R5A – "Untranslatables" Writing Seminar (GSI)*
Summer 2017: UGIS W158 – "Global Citizenship" (GSI)
Spring 2017: German R5B – "Intro to Modern German Literature" Writing Seminar (GSI)*
Fall 2016: German R5A – "Freedom and Human Dignity" Writing Seminar (GSI)*
Fall 2015, Spring & Summer 2016: German 4 – "Intermediate German 2" (GSI)
Spring 2015: German 2 - "Elementary German 2" (GSI)
Fall 2014: Dutch 171AC – "From New Amsterdam to New York: Race, Culture, and Identity in New Netherlands" (Reader)
Fall 2014: German 1 – "Elementary German 1" (GSI)
In Spring 2017, I was awarded the Outstanding GSI (Graduate Student Instructor) Award through a combination of student and faculty recommendations.
From 2009 to 2012, I worked full-time as an English as a Foreign Language teacher at the F+U Academy of Languages in Heidelberg, Germany, instructing all ages of students and all proficiency levels, as well as teaching preparatory classes for university entrance and language proficiency exams.
Downloads coming soon...
ACADEMIC RESEARCH
A career in academia is hardly a cakewalk, and access to higher education in the United States is rarely accessible to as wide of an audience as one might hope. I've been lucky enough to take part in a number of truly egalitarian projects promoting open-access education and the free flow of information across languages and national borders.
As former managing editor for UC Berkeley's TRANSIT Journal I've had the unique responsibility of overseeing the publication of two volumes (four issues [10.1-11.2]) of this unique academic journal: combining historical, literary, film, and language research with literature, translation, and multimedia projects from scholars and artists around the world.
I remain committed to ensuring that my research and scholarship remain accessible to as many interested parties as possible. This page is still a work in progress. Please bear with me as I endeavor to provide free and open access to my personal research in a manner which continues to ensure the security of my intellectual property.
Click here for an open-access publication of my 2023 translator's commentary, "Between the Orbits: Translating Sharon Dodua Otoo's Adas Raum" courtesy of German Life and Letters.
Click here for an open-access publication of my 2022 research paper, "Almanya: A (Different) Future is Possible: Defying Narratives of Return in Fatma Aydemir's Ellbogen" courtesy of TRANSIT Journal.
Click here for an open-access publication of my 2020 dissertation, A (Different) German Village courtesy of ProQuest.
