Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright (born ''Elizabeth (Ann) Oehlkers'' on October 3, 1966) is an American

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

Biography

Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright translates texts of contemporary German authors, especially

lyric poetry Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person. It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...

, into English. In 1996 she received a MFA for literary translation at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

. From September 1994 till July 1995 during an academic year in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

she had been translating, amongst others, the German-Turkish poets Zafer Şenocak and

Zehra Çırak Zehra Çırak (Istanbul, 1960) is a Turkish-German writer. She moved to Germany with her family when she was three years old and she has lived in Berlin since 1982. She started publishing in the magazine ''Flugfänger''. Works *''Flugfänger' ...

. After that she worked as a lecturer in Arkansas, and gave seminars at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

and at Oberlin College. Together with Zafer Şenocak she had bilingual readings in

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

und

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

.:: slope issue 11-12 ::
/ref> She received several awards and research fellowships like NEA and ALTA. Her translations appear in ''Agni'', ''Slope'', ''Seneca Review'', ''Another Chicago Magazine'' and in the online magazine ''Perihelion''. In 1999 Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright married

Franz Wright Franz Wright (March 18, 1953 – May 14, 2015) was an American poet. He and his father James Wright are the only parent/child pair to have won the Pulitzer Prize in the same category. Life and career Wright was born in Vienna, Austria. He gradua ...

, poet and Pulitzer Prize winner of 2004. They lived in

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, ...

until his death. Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright works at a medical translation agency in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Translations

* Ernst Peter Fischer: ''Beauty and the Beast. The Aesthetic Moment in Science'', 1999 *documentary film directed by Harald Ortlieb about Zehra Çirak and the Berlin sculptor Jürgen Walter, 2007 (translated in collaboration with Marilya Veteto Reese) *Zafer Şenocak: ''Door Languages'', 2008 * Valzhyna Mort: ''Factory of Tears''.

Copper Canyon Press Copper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, founded in 1972 specializing exclusively in the publication of poetry. It is located in Port Townsend, Washington. Copper Canyon Press publishes new collections of poetry by both pop ...

, 2008 (translated from

Belarusian language Belarusian ( be, беларуская мова, biełaruskaja mova, link=no, ) is an East Slavic language. It is the native language of many Belarusians and one of the two official state languages in Belarus. Additionally, it is spoken in some p ...

in collaboration with the author and

) *translations for literary journals and anthologies like ''New European Poets'', ''Anthology of World Literature of the 20th Century'' and ''Green Integer. Anthology of World Poetry of the 20th Century''The PIP (Project for Innovative Poetry) Anthology of World Poetry of the 20th Century , Volume 7: At Villa Aurora: Nine Contemporary Poets Writing in German , Green Integer Books
/ref>

External links

*translations of several poems from Zafer Şenocak (if not already linked in footnotes)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oehlkers Wright, Elizabeth 1966 births Living people American women writers American translators Writers from Baltimore 21st-century American women