#auhtors

Should a white writer translate a Black poet’s work? A debate in Europe has exposed the lack of diversity in the world of literary translation.

By Alex Marshall

LONDON — Hadija Haruna-Oelker, a Black journalist, has just produced the German translation of Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb,” the poem about a “skinny Black girl” that for many people was the highlight of President Biden’s inauguration.

So has Kubra Gumusay, a German writer of Turkish descent.

As has Uda Strätling, a translator, who is white.

Literary translation is usually a solitary pursuit, but the poem’s German publisher went for a team of writers to ensure the poem  — just 710 words — wasn’t just true to Gorman’s voice. The three were  also asked to make its political and social significance clear, and to avoid anything that might exclude people of color, people with disabilities, women, or other marginalized groups.

From left, Kubra Gumusay, Hadija Haruna-Oelker and Uda Strätling, who have worked together on the German translation of Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb.”Credit...Katarina Ivanisevic (center); Christoph Keller (right)

For nearly two weeks, the team debated word choices, occasionally emailing Ms. Gorman for clarifications. But as they worked, an argument was brewing elsewhere in Europe about who has the right to translate the poet’s work — an international conversation about identity, language and diversity in a proud but often overlooked segment of the literary world.

“This whole debate started,” Gumusay said, with a sigh.

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In a shred of darkness,

Abundance of infinity,

Never expounds its reality,

Shrink inside creativity.

Where, know a certain conjecture,

A hard perception of mind,

Like to abut infinity,

Somewhere, in dark cage.

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