Arno Bohlmeijer
on translating Ed Hoornik
In the middle of wistfulness or profound sadness, Ed Hoornik sees touching tidbits of beauty, warmth, humor, consolation; bridges seem to form between the original and the target language of their own accord, making me a grateful witness, and lifting any linguistic obstacles in a dazzling process of joy and honor.
Hoornik’s poem “My daughter and I” turns a deeply personal moment into universal togetherness. If war-makers read it, they might think twice.
about the author
Always in the eye of the literary storm, Ed Hoornik was a poet, journalist, editor, novelist, playwright, and the tireless force behind literary magazines. He survived the Dachau concentration camp, after which his work was often about death and survivor’s guilt. Even before the war, his poetry contained warnings against the Nazi regime, such as the poem, “It’s Only Ten Hours by Train to Berlin.”
about the translator
Arno Bohlmeijer, winner of a PEN America Grant 2021, is a poet and novelist. Writing in English and Dutch, he is published in six countries, two dozen renowned journals, and in Universal Oneness: an Anthology of Magnum Opus Poems from around the World, 2019.
