WATCH: Emma Ramadan on Translating Marguerite Duras’s Panics
In Conversation with Kate Zambreno at Greenlight Bookstore
Translator and author Emma Ramadan joins us at Fort Greene to present her own translation of Panics by Barbara Molinard (1921-1986), newly published by Feminist Press.
Molinard was a close friend and protégé of Marguerite Duras, and though Molinard wrote and wrote feverishly throughout her lifetime, the surreal, nightmarish collection Panics remains the only book she published. These 13 stories beat with a frantic, off-kilter rhythm as Molinard obsesses over sickness, death, and control. Panics recovers the work of a tormented writer who often destroyed her writing as soon as she produced it, and whose insights into violence, mental illness, and bodily autonomy are simultaneously absurdist and razor-sharp.
Ramadan is joined by the luminous Kate Zambreno for a reading, discussion, and Q&A.
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Founded in October 2009 by Rebecca Fitting and Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, Greenlight Bookstore is an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, New York. Combining the best traditions of the neighborhood bookstore with carefully curated, community-minded events, Greenlight has earned a reputation as a literary destination. Greenlight has continued to serve its community during the COVID-19 pandemic with a diverse array of virtual events, and has been inspired by the movements for racial justice across the country to engage in the work of becoming a more anti-racist company. Learn more at greenlightbookstore.com or check them out @greenlightbklyn.
