Chris Clarke, photo courtesy of the artist; Cole Swensen, photo by Anthony Hayward. / Chris Clarke, photo offerte par l'artiste ; Cole Swensen, photo par Anthony Hayward.
Join us for an evening celebrating contemporary francophone literature as part of the Literary Cabaret series, featuring readings from writers in residence from the Contemporary French Writers Residency at Banff Centre. This chapter brings together original works by resident writers working across poetry, prose, hybrid forms, and experimental approaches to language.
The evening is hosted by Chris Clarke and Cole Swensen, award-winning translators, poets, and faculty mentors for the residency. They guide the program and each share a short reading from their own work, highlighting the vibrant exchange between francophone and international literary traditions. Writers will read works in progress, largely in French, offering a rare glimpse into the creative processes shaping some of today's boldest literary voices from France.
Explore a selection of books from Pages Books and enjoy a warm, celebratory gathering of writers, readers, and community. Doors open at 6:15 PM in CLVB '33, with readings beginning at 7:00 PM. Guests are invited to mingle with writers and faculty following the readings until 9:30 PM.
Don't miss this inspiring evening of language, culture, and contemporary French literature.
Residency and event support is generously provided by Fondation DRG
About the Hosts
Chris Clarke
Dr. Chris Clarke is a literary translator and scholar currently teaching in the Translation Studies Program at the University of Connecticut. His translations from French and Spanish include books by Raymond Queneau, Pierre Mac Orlan, Éric Chevillard, and Julio Cortázar, among others. He was awarded the French-American Foundation Translation Prize for fiction in 2019 for his translation of Marcel Schwob’s Imaginary Lives, a prize for which he was also a finalist in 2017 for his translation of Nobel Prize winner Patrick Modiano’s In the Café of Lost Youth, published by NYRB Classics.
Cole Swensen
Cole Swensen is a poet and a translator of contemporary French poetry, prose, and art criticism. Her poetry has won the Iowa Poetry Prize, the SF State Poetry Center Book Award, and the National Poetry Series and has been a finalist for the National Book Award, the LA Times Book Award, and the Griffin Prize. Her more than twenty volumes of translated poetry include three finalists for the Open Letters Best Translated Book Award, two for ALTA’s National Translation Award, and finalists for the Stephen Mitchell Prize, the French-American Foundation Translation Prize, and the Big Other Translation Award, and her translation of Jean Frémon’s Island of the Dead won the PEN USA Award in Translation. She divides her time between Paris and San Francisco.