Hugh Hazelton | |
Birth Date: | 1946 |
Alma Mater: | Université de Sherbrooke |
Occupation: | translator |
Awards: | Governor-General's Award for French–English Translation, Canadian Association of Hispanists' Award for Best Book 2007–2009 |
Hugh Hazelton (born 1946) is an American-born writer and translator, living in Canada and specializing in Latin American works and their interactions with Canadian works.[1] He is multilingual and translates French, Spanish, and Portuguese into English.[2]
Hazelton was born in Chicago and moved to Canada, specifically Montreal, Quebec, in 1969.[3] He lived briefly in Newfoundland and British Columbia but decided to make Montreal his permanent residence. He is a professor emeritus in the Faculty of Arts & Science at Concordia University, where he taught for 25 years before retiring in 2012.[4] While he was teaching at the university, he and his colleagues developed a number of Spanish translation courses. As well as Spanish Translation, Hazelton taught Latin American civilization and the history of the Spanish language. Currently, Concordia offers a Bachelor of Arts in either French to English or English to French translation, and Spanish translation is offered as a minor.[5] [6]
Hazelton spent a number of years working as co-director of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre, where each year 15 literary translators from Canada, the United States, and Mexico participate in a residency program.[7] [8]
Hazelton has published four books of poetry: Crossing the Chaco (1982), Sunwords (1982), Ojo de papel (1988), and Antimatter (2003). He self-translated Antimatter into Spanish, with the Spanish name Antimateria.[9] His 2007 book entitled Latinocanadá: A Critical Study of Ten Latin American Writers of Canada won the Best Book award from the Canadian Association of Hispanists from 2007 to 2009.[10]
Hazelton began his translation career by translating the work of friends in Montreal, and then started translating poetry for literary reviews. He often translates the work of Spanish-language writers who have immigrated to Canada. Hazelton has translated the work of Aquiles Nazoa, José Acquelin, and Alfonso Quijada Urías, among others.[11] In 2006, he won the Governor General's Award for French-to-English translation for his translation of Vétiver, a book of poems by Joël Des Rosiers.[12] The book had previously won two literary awards in Quebec: the Grand Prix du livre de Montréal and the Grand prix Québecor du Festival international de la poésie.[13]
Among the many works translated by Hugh Hazelton are: