Original poetry, resplendent imagery, mutual translation, and collaborative essays on the topic of translation itself. Our groundbreaking inaugural anthology The Soul Conveys Itself in Shadow / El alma se mueve en la sombra reflects deeply creative friendships that situate translation as equitable, intimate, and ongoing.
“This book is made of encounters. It moves from one mouth to another; it vibrates in a vulnerable, mysterious relation to errancy and awareness. Words press together in darkness, then fling open to light, then close again.”
The Soul Conveys Itself in Shadow / El alma se mueve en la sombra—features ten poet-translators and one artist-illustrator. English-language poets, and poets who write from a language other than English, are paired according to the synergies of their creative and translation practice. Through original poetry, mutual translation, and collaborative essays on the topic of translation itself, The Soul Conveys Itself in Shadow / El alma se mueve en la sombra reflects deeply creative friendships that situate translation as equitable, intimate, and ongoing.
As with every Stenen Press publication, the book’s visual dimension has a pivotal role. In this collection, artist Kit Warren’s resplendent images embrace and challenge the work of the texts. Her vision submerges us in a dazzlingly complex cryptography: patterns of lines and dots (often recalling written notation systems) that suggest vibrant cosmologies of dissolution and reformation. In its entirety, Warren’s visual world of the anthology is a sweeping project of engagement and exploration.
Through an astonishing structure of reciprocal poetic and visual exchanges, editors Kythe Maryam Heller and Carolina Gómez-Montoya position English not as a site of perpetual return, but rather one point in a constellation of language(s), the space of the page, and visual gesture. The Soul Conveys Itself in Shadow / El alma se mueve en la sombra offers a life-affirming language of its own.
Download the press release, press kit, or order your copy of The Soul Conveys Itself in Shadow / El alma se mueve en la sombra in our shop.