https://nypost.com/2021/03/02/amanda-gorman-translator-pulls-out-amid-uproar-shes-not-black/
Amanda Gorman's Dutch translator stands down after uproar that Black writer wasn't chosen
"An award-winning author has pulled out of translating inauguration poet Amanda Gorman’s work into Dutch — because of a furious uproar that a black writer was not chosen instead.
Gorman, 22, personally chose Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, the youngest winner of the International Booker prize, to translate her collection, “The Hill We Climb,” according to her Dutch publisher, Meulenhoff."
"But the choice sparked intense outrage, with journalist and activist Janice Deul writing in Volkskrant that the translator should be a “spoken-word artist, young, female and unapologetically Black.”
Deul called Rijneveld, 29, an “incomprehensible choice” whose hiring was a “missed opportunity.”
“They are white, nonbinary, have no experience in this field, but according to Meulenhoff are still the ‘dream translator’?” Deul wrote, using Rijneveld’s preferred pronouns."
This begs the questions, should only people of the same race and gender translate other people's words? What about if this gets translated in a majority non-black country such as Japan?
Amanda Gorman's Dutch translator stands down after uproar that Black writer wasn't chosen
"An award-winning author has pulled out of translating inauguration poet Amanda Gorman’s work into Dutch — because of a furious uproar that a black writer was not chosen instead.
Gorman, 22, personally chose Marieke Lucas Rijneveld, the youngest winner of the International Booker prize, to translate her collection, “The Hill We Climb,” according to her Dutch publisher, Meulenhoff."
"But the choice sparked intense outrage, with journalist and activist Janice Deul writing in Volkskrant that the translator should be a “spoken-word artist, young, female and unapologetically Black.”
Deul called Rijneveld, 29, an “incomprehensible choice” whose hiring was a “missed opportunity.”
“They are white, nonbinary, have no experience in this field, but according to Meulenhoff are still the ‘dream translator’?” Deul wrote, using Rijneveld’s preferred pronouns."
This begs the questions, should only people of the same race and gender translate other people's words? What about if this gets translated in a majority non-black country such as Japan?
