“Under the Azure”: An afternoon with translator JANINE CANAN

Sunday 18 April 2010

Alice & Co., 159 Brunswick St Fitzroy

LITTLEFOX PRESS and AALITRA proudly presented afternoon tea with Janine Canan to celebrate the publication of Under the Azure.

Janine Canan was introduced to the poetry of Francis Jammes as a student of literature at Stanford. Her interest in the poet grew into a deep affinity over the years, and she translated two poems from Jammes’ Deuil des Primevères to include in her volume of poetry Changing Woman (2000).

During a trip to Paris, in 2006, she found herself browsing bookshops collecting works by Francis Jammes, and thinking of producing a substantial translation into English. She began as soon as she returned to California. A year later, Christine Mathieu suggesting editing the work for publication with Littlefox Press.

Under the Azure is the result of four years of dedication. It is the first English translation of Francis Jammes’ poetry since the volume Selected Poems of Francis Jammes by Bettina Dickie and Barry Gifford, published by Utah State University Press in 1970. Under the Azure contains seventy poems, thirty of which have never before been published in English. Melbourne singer Kavisha Mazella set several of Jammes poems to music and performed them at the launch.