Robert Nash — Rediscovering an Augusta Poet, will be presented by Francoise Canter at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 6, at Lithgow Public Library, 45 Winthrop St. in Augusta.
Seattle poet Francoise Canter will read and discuss her book, “Maine,” an interpretation and translation of these rediscovered poems, touching on themes of the Maine woods, the Atlantic coast, life, death and fatherhood.
Nash, a mysterious figure and local poet, lived in Augusta in the 1980s and disappeared into the Maine woods in 1995. His body was never found, but in 2016 a suitcase of his poems were discovered in a basement in France.
The poems found in France were written in French, and Canter was approached for the work of translating them into English. According to Francoise, translating the poems was an intense and absorbing process that not only bonded her to the writer, but also caused new aspects to emerge from the poems. Canter reports, “What interests me is the poetry that emerges between the two languages during translation — a poetry that is created by translation…A translation is not just a translation, it is a rendition,” according to a news release from the library.
One of Nash’s poems begins, “This morning in Augusta’s streets / I feel far from home.”
For more information, call the library at 626-2415 or visit lithgowlibrary.org.
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