Stage - a conversation with Susanna Basso

Translation is a delicate and often paradoxical act—an attempt to feel “at home” in someone else’s words, only to discover that you become fluent only in your own discomfort. In this talk, Susanna Basso will reflect on the nature of translation as both loss and discovery, guiding us through stories of garments, phrases, rooms, metaphors, and imperfect models to explore how giving voice to another always involves embracing failure and surrender.

A renowned literary translator, Susanna Basso was born and lives in Turin, where she taught in public high schools for nearly four decades while translating some of the most celebrated authors of contemporary literature, including Ian McEwan, Alice Munro, Julian Barnes, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Kazuo Ishiguro, Martin Amis, and many others. Her work is known for its depth, precision, and ability to convey not just meaning, but tone, rhythm, and emotional nuance.