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The Latest Yiddish Translations, 2020

Daniel Kennedy

INTRODUCTION

This is not an exhaus­tive list, and we need your help to make it bet­ter! If you trans­lat­ed, or know of a trans­la­tion, pub­lished in 2020 that does not appear on this list, please write to translate@​ingeveb.​org and we will add it. We are aware that Eng­lish is over­rep­re­sent­ed on this list owing to the lim­i­ta­tions of its com­pil­ers; we are eager to add trans­la­tions from Yid­dish into any language.

Below you will find a list of sin­gle-author books of Yid­dish trans­la­tions into Eng­lish, fol­lowed by a list of indi­vid­ual pieces trans­lat­ed into Eng­lish, list­ed by pub­li­ca­tion, fol­lowed by a list of trans­la­tions from Yid­dish into oth­er lan­guages. Where pos­si­ble we have includ­ed a link to the trans­la­tion itself, and where there is no link, a cita­tion is provided. 

Sin­gle-Author Books: English

Peri­od­i­cals, Antholo­gies, and Online Pub­li­ca­tions: English

Sin­gle-Author Books: French

Sin­gle-Author Books: Lithuanian

Peri­od­i­cals, Antholo­gies, and Online Pub­li­ca­tions: Lithuanian

Sin­gle-Author Books: Polish

Peri­od­i­cals, Antholo­gies, and Online Pub­li­ca­tions: Polish

Sin­gle-Author Books: Hebrew

Sin­gle-Author Books: German

Sin­gle-Author Books: Spanish

Single-Author Books: English

Rakhmil Bryks. My God Avenge Their Blood. Trans. Yermiyahu Ahron Taub. Lexington Books, 2020.
Three memoirs by the Yiddish writer Rachmil Bryks. An extract can be found here.

Glikl. Memoirs 1691-1719. Trans. Sara Friedman. Brandeis University Press, 2020.

Translated from Hebrew, based on the translation from the Yiddish by Chava Turniansky.

Samuel Isban. Illegal” Jews Part the Seas. Trans. Daniel Kennedy. Independently Published, 2020.
Reportage on the clandestine mission to smuggle Jewish refugees past the British blockade into Palestine.

Miriam Karpilove. Diary of a Lonely Girl. Trans. Jessica Kirzane. Syracuse University Press, 2020.
Read a review here, and an extract here.

Moyshe Kulbak. Childe Harold of Dynsa. Trans. Robert Adler Peckerar. Naydus Press, 2020.
The first publication from Naydus Press, a complete translation of Kulbak’s faux-Byronic long poem.

Mendl Mann. The Fall of Berlin. Trans. Maurice Wolfthal. Open Book Publishers, 2020.
Mann’s autobiographical novel about life as a Jewish soldier in the Red Army.

Salomea Perl. The Canvas and Other Stories. Trans. Ruth Murphy. Ben Yehuda Press, 2020.
Bilingual Edition.

Jonah Rosenfeld. Rivals and Other Stories. Trans. Rachel Mines. Syracuse University Press, 2020.
Read an extract here.

Boris Sandler. Good Morning. Trans. Ellen Cassedy. Yiddish Branzhe, 2020.
Bilingual Edition. Read an interview with the author here.

Avrom Sutzkever. Sutzkever Essential Prose. Trans. Zackary Sholem Berger. White Goat Press, 2020.
Read a review here.

Aaron Samuel Tamaras. A Passionate Pacifist. Trans. Everett Gendler and Ri. J. Turner. Ben Yehuda Press, 2020.
Selected writings of Aaron Samuel Tamaras. Read an extract here.

Periodicals, Anthologies, and Online Publications: English

How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish. Ed. Ilan Stavans and Josh Lambert. Restless Books, 2020.
Anthology featuring a wide range of translations including texts by Morris Rosenfeld, Sholem Asch, Anna Margolin, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Celia Dropkin, Moyshe Nadir and many others.

Honey on the Page. Ed. Miriam Udel. New York University Press, 2020.
Landmark anthology of children’s literature, compiled and translated by Miriam Udel, including texts by Yankev Pat, Kadya Molodowsky, Leyb Kvitko, Ida Maze, Khaver Paver and many others. Read an extract here.

The Ringelblum Archive: Underground Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto, Vol. 3. Żydowski Instytut Historyczny, 2020.
Vol. 3: Oyneg Shabes. People and Works. Based on volume eleven of the Polish language series. With translations from Yiddish by: Jennifer Bell, Vincent Homolka, Daniel Kennedy, Fleur Kuhn, Dianne Levitin, Barry Smerin, Wojciech Tworek, and Elena Watson

Amelia M. Glaser. Songs in Dark Times. Harvard University Press, 2020.
Monograph on Jewish leftist poets including translations of poems by H. Leivick, Esther Shumiatcher, Moyshe Teyf, Shifre Vays, Malke Lee, Peretz Markish, Aaron Kurtz and others.


In geveb: A Journal of Yiddish Studies


Yiddish Book Center Website
The Yiddish Book Center’s website continues its tradition of regularly publishing texts in translation.


Klara Klebanova, The Last Maximalist. Trans. Caraid O’Brien

A twelve-part audio series based on the memoir of Klara Klebanova, translated and performed by Caraid O’Brien


Columbia Journal

  • Avrom Sutzkever, “Three Poems,” trans. Maia Evrona

Jewish Currents


Jewish Fiction.net


Pakn Treger

  • Berl Boym, “Bertha Kling, Fifty Years Gone By,” trans. Sophia Shoulson
  • Avrom Sutzkever, “Portrait with a Blue Sweater,” trans. Zackary Sholem Berger

Pakn Treger 2020 Translation Issue: Yiddish Comes to America, edited by Madeleine Cohen, 2020.

  • Aaron Glanz-Leyeles, “To America,” trans. Oliver Elkus
  • Isaac Bashevis Singer, “Immigration,” trans. David Stromberg
  • Fradel Shtok, “The First Patient,” trans. Jordan Finkin and Allison Schachter
  • Sam Liptzin, “The First Trip to Coney Island,” trans. Zeke Levine
  • Joseph Opatoshu, “What Are We Teaching Our Children?” trans. Shulamith Berger
  • Yoysef Kerler, “If I Were in Alabama,” trans. Maia Evrona
  • Sarah Hamer-Jacklyn, “Letters,” trans. Miranda Cooper
  • Abraham Goldberg, “The Immigrant Jewish Intellectual,” trans. Daniel Kennedy
  • Avrom Reyzen, “New Boses,” trans. Curt Leviant
  • Chone Gottesfeld, “Hometown to Treyf Ground,” trans. Sophia Shoulson
  • Israel Emiot, “Two Poems,” trans. Leah Zazulyer
  • Moshe Efron, “Dream,” trans. Oliver Elkus
  • Miriam Karpilove, “You Should Have Been There,” trans. Jessica Kirzane
  • Jonah Rosenfeld, “Vrastata Trasmata!” trans. Rachel Mines
  • Aaron Glanz-Leyeles, “America and I,” trans. Zackary Sholem Berger


Tablet Magazine


Single-Author Books: French

Y. L. Peretz. Histoires des temps passés et à venir. Trad. Batia Baum. Éditions de l’antilope, 2020.
Six short stories.

Sholem Aleykhem. Étoiles vagabondes. Trad. Jean Spector. Le Tripode, 2020.
Translation of Sholem Aleichem’s Blondzhende shtern.

Hersh Dovid Nomberg. À qui la faute? Trad. Fleur Kuhn-Kennedy. Farlag Press, 2020.
Bilingual edition of Nomberg’s short story “ver iz shuldik?”

Isaac Bashevis Singer. Le charlatan. Trad. Marie-Pierre Bay & Nicolas Castelnau-Bay. Stock, 2020.
Based on an uncredited English translation, The Charlatan was apparently edited by Singer shortly before his death. An Italian version appeared last year but to date the English version has never been published.

Single-Author Books: Lithuanian

Avrom Sutzkever. Dešimt eilėraščių - Ten Poems. Trans. David E. Fishman, Barbara and Benjamin Harshav, Mindaugas Kvietkaunas, C.K. Williams, Julija Korostenskienė. Lietuvos nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo biblioteka, 2020.


Avrom Sutzkever. Kapo Vaikas. Trans. Laurynas Katkus with the collaboration of Akvilė Grigoravičiūtė. Lietuvos nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo biblioteka, 2020.

Periodicals, Anthologies, and Online Publications: Lithuanian

Krantai

Danielis Čarnis, “Iš mano Vilniaus dienoraščio,” trans. Akvilė Grigoravičiūtė

Kaunas 2020, City of Culture website

Bal Machšovasas, “Mėsininkų sinagoga,” trans. Goda Volbikaitė

Single-Author Books: Polish

Szymon An-ski. Dybuk. Trans. Michał Friedman. Agencja Dramatu i Teatru ADiT, 2020.

Izrael Joszua Singer. Na obcej ziemi. Trans. Krzysztof Modelski. Fame Art. 2020.

Mojsze Szklar. Gdy ziemia płonęła. Trans. Magdalena Ruta. Austeria, 2020.

Periodicals, Anthologies, and Online Publications: Polish

Fraza

Meir Kucinski, “Zulejka i Rebeka,” trans. Mariusz Kałczewiak


שלום אש .לפני המבול | שלוש ערים: פטרבורג, ורשה, מוסקבה. תרגום: בלהה רובינשטיין

Sholem Asch. Before the Flood Three cities: Petersburg, Warsaw. Trans. Bilhah Rubinstein. Moscow. Carmel, 2020

Single-Author Books: German

Chaim Grade. Von Frauen und Rabbinern. Trans. Susanne Klingenstein. Die Andere Bibliothek, 2020.
Two short stories.

Avrom Sutzkever. In Sodom. Trans. Arndt Beck. Hentrich & Hentrich, 2020.


Single-Author Books: Spanish

Israel Yehoshua Singer. De un mundo que ya no está. Trans. Rhoda Henelde y Jacob Abecasís. El Acantilado, 2020.
Translation of I. J. Singer’s Fun a velt vos iz nishto mer.

MLA STYLE
Kennedy, Daniel. “The Latest Yiddish Translations, 2020.” In geveb, January 2021: https://ingeveb.org/blog/the-latest-yiddish-translations-2020.
CHICAGO STYLE
Kennedy, Daniel. “The Latest Yiddish Translations, 2020.” In geveb (January 2021): Accessed Mar 19, 2024.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Daniel Kennedy

Daniel Kennedy is a translator based in France.