© akaiser
prose & public
I hold a BA in Political Science, minor in French, from the University of Pennsylvania; an MA in International Relations, with honors – the René Cassin Award for Academic Excellence – SIU, Paris, with a thesis on the CEDAW: International Law and its Implementation; an MFA in Poetry from Carlow University (Pittsburgh/Dublin); and a PhD in Translation and Intercultural Studies, with honors, from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, with a dissertation on first translations of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, into Catalan, French and Spanish, with special emphasis on the Catalan, by urbanista, city-garden advocate & US Utopian, Cebrià Montoliu, under the direction of Poet, Translator & Professor Emeritus, Francesc Parcerisas.
I present on a range of topics, from the role of NGO’s in international law implementation, particularly the CEDAW (Sofia), to women’s organizations as expressions of citizenship (Poznań), to translation, Whitman in translation, friendship, workers’ struggles, to 19th-20th c. Barcelona. I have worked as teacher, professor, editor and pro bono on human rights cases. I have consulted and collaborated on special political & cultural events and publications, including with the IRC, and the French Book Office and Cultural Services. I’ve worked with non-governmental human rights organizations, as well as with the United Nations General Assembly, Security Council, UNESCO, and the Spanish Mission to the UN.
— CURRENT WORK —
Biography of Cebrià Montoliu (Palma, 1873 – Albuquerque, 1923)
Catalan urbanista, city-garden activist and a planner of the single-tax colony of Fairhope, Alabama. Montoliu was also an education reformer, librarian and the first to translate into Catalan Emerson, Ruskin, Shakespeare and Whitman.
—2026—
AWP
Baltimore
Book Signings, Vermont Studio Center Booth & Zephyr Press
March 6
Carlow University MFA Program
Pittsburgh/Dublin
Led workshop on the ars poetica, “Sc/ars Poetica,”
(title inspired by Patricia Smith’s poem of the same name)
—2025—
10th International Conference on the Links between Spain and The Americas
New York City
“Cant Corporal, or, Leaves of Grass & warm beer: two Spanish writers in exile”
Key topics: Cultural Studies; Spanish writers in exile communities in The Americas; Literary magazine Lletres, founded and published in Mexico; The Americas and the literary influences, both personal and institutional, such as Walt Whitman and The Guggenheim Foundation, on these 20th c. communities; Anthology of North American Lyric. Democracy.
Introduction to the work of the, primarily, poet Agustí Bartra i Lleonart (1908-1982) and the, primarily, journalist Anna Murià i Romaní (1904-2002) especially, for the context of this conference, as Spanish writers in exile following fighting on the republican side of the Spanish Civil War. The two met in a camp in France and continued on to The Americas: Dominican Republic, Cuba and Mexico, the latter where they settled for years living in community among other Spanish exiles, some with whom they founded the literary magazine, Lletres. Bartra also received, exceptionally, two Guggenheim Fellowships, which brought the couple to NYC and, later, to the University of Maryland before returning to their homeland in 1970.
It was during their transatlantic voyage to the Americas that Murià learned to love Whitman as Bartra did, as they read Leaves of Grass together while on deck, sipping what was available to them: warm beer. Bartra’s work refrains several times over with “democracy’s bard” influence, including a long-term attempt to translate “Song of Myself.” The couple also shared US poetry with a Spanish audience, culminating in Antologia de la lírica nord-americana, (Mèxic: Edicions Lletres novembre 1951).
—2024—
Sant Jordi Festival USA
Two presentations: one with Anna Gual; one on Lola Anglada i Sarriera
Accepted to present on Esperanto and the Spanish Civil War, “Ĉu vi parolas esperanton?: Language of political crisis, Spain, 1936” / 9th International Conference on the Links between Spain and The Americas, Acalá de Henares
Accepted to present on Mapuche poet, songwriter and theorist, Anahi Mariluan, as well as about “Horse Behavior: a poem, a collaboration” / Multilingual Creative Writing Conference, NYC
— 2023 —
Millay Arts (NY)
NES Artist Residency (Iceland)
Cité Internationale des Arts (France)
Sant Jordi Festival USA 2023
Translations and readings of works by Anna Gual, by Anna Gual and myself, as well as a short video on my work on the life & work of Cebrià Montoliu
— 2022 —
OSTI 9th Annual Conference: Words = A Pathway to Peace
OSTI (Oregon Society of Translators and Interpreters), online
—Led multilingual translation workshop
—Multilingual reading, read my translations of poems by Anna Gual’s Unnameable, for which I have been named a NEA Translation Fellow
—Presented “Whitman in Catalan”
ALTA45 Annual Conference
Multi-lingual reading w Anna Gual + Others
— 2021 —
Global Publishing & The Making of Literary Worlds: Translation, Media & Mobility
Princeton University, online
Organized by Princeton University’s Fung Global Fellows Program, the International Comparative Literature Association and Princeton University Press
–Presented on: What translations are needed—across which languages & cultures? The special case of Cebrià Montoliu, transatlantic urbanista and first translator of Walt Whitman
ALTA44 Annual Conference
ALTA (American Literary Translators Association), online
Poetry in Translation: Shared my translations of Catalan poet, Anna Gual
— 2020 —
Sant Jordi NYC Book Festival
–As Poet and translated poet: Horse Behavior & some of its translations, with commentary, by Translators Ae Hee Lee, Dean Thomas Ellis, Giorgi Svanidze & Reader of Francesc Parcerias’ translation of the poem: Laura Batllori
–As Translator: my translations of Anna Gual’s poems
–As Curator: including participation by Jaume C. Pons Alorda, Forrest Gander & Claudia Prado
— 2019 —
Aguascalientes Literary Festival
Aguascalientes, Mexico
–Panel “Whitman in Translation” alongside poet Javier Acosta Escareño
–Presented and led workshop:“Translating: Whitman, ‘Roma’ & Friendship”
Fairhope Center for the Writing Arts
Fairhope, Alabama, USA
–Fairhope Library & Fairhope Museum of History presentations: Montoliu in Fairhope
Historic Links between Spain & North America: Congreso V
Alcalá de Henares, Spain
–Presentation: The Fight for the 8-hour Work-Day: A Comparative Study: The Haymarket Riots (Chicago, 1886) & La Setmana Tràgica (Barcelona, 1909)
Youngstown Literary Festival
Youngstown, Ohio, USA
–Presentation: “Writing in & Translating ‘Minor’ Languages: some examples from Catalunya”
— 2018 —
International Walt Whitman Week: Conference & Symposium
Dortmund, Germany
–Presentation: Cebrià Montoliu: Catalan urbanista, Whitman translator (& US utopian)
–Workshop: Whitman in Translation…into Arabic, Catalan, German, Italian, Spanish
Historic Links between Spain & North America: Congreso IV
Manhattan, New York, USA
–Presentation: Cebrià Montoliu: Iberian urbanista in the US
— 2017 —
PhD
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain
Under the Direction of Dr. Francesc Parcerisas, Poet, Translator & Professor Emeritus
Mention: Excellent
— 2016 —
International Walt Whitman Week: Conference & Symposium
Exeter, England
–Presentation: Emerson, Whitman & Yeats: The Idea of the National Poet
The Politics of Translation / Universitat de les Illes Balears
Palma, Mallorca, Spain