Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright (born Elizabeth (Ann) Oehlkers on October 3, 1966) is an American
translator.
Biography
Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright translates texts of contemporary German authors, especially
lyric poetry, into English. In 1996 she received a
MFA for literary translation at the
University of Arkansas. From September 1994 till July 1995 during an academic year in
Berlin she had been translating, amongst others, the German-Turkish poets Zafer Şenocak and
Zehra Çırak. After that she worked as a lecturer in Arkansas, and gave seminars at
Boston University and at
Oberlin College. Together with Zafer Şenocak she had
bilingual readings in
Memphis,
New York City,
Cambridge,
San Francisco und
Los Angeles.[1] She received several awards and research fellowships like
NEA[2] and
ALTA. Her translations appear in Agni,[3]Slope,[1]Seneca Review, Another Chicago Magazine and in the online magazine Perihelion.[4]
Ernst Peter Fischer: Beauty and the Beast. The Aesthetic Moment in Science, 1999
documentary film directed by
Harald Ortlieb about Zehra Çirak and the Berlin sculptor
Jürgen Walter, 2007 (translated in collaboration with Marilya Veteto Reese)
translations for literary journals and
anthologies like New European Poets, Anthology of World Literature of the 20th Century and Green Integer. Anthology of World Poetry of the 20th Century[8]
^„‚Elizabeth's about the best translator of free verse I've worked with‘, said John DuVal, UA professor of translation. ‚When I consider Elizabeth and her talent for translating, I see her taking Zafer Şenocak, say, and tactfully nudging his words into just the English that best reflects his zany German. Şenocak is full of wit, but his ideas can be difficult to understand, imprecise. Elizabeth's translations bring out the humor of his poetry and communicate his ideas while preserving that indirect style.‘“ In: „The Good Word – Three UA Poets Win Prestigious NEA Fellowships“. Source: Arkansas. The Magazine of the Arkansas Alumni Association Inc., Spring 2003, Vol. 52, No. 3