Join poet, translator, and critic Todd Fredson for a discussion of his translation of Zakwato & Loglêdou’s Peril, a finalist for the 2023 National Book Critics Circle’s Barrios Book in Translation Prize. Zakwato & Loglêdou’s Peril collects a two-book sequence by poet Azo Vauguy, a West African neo-oralist who transferred the myth of Zakwato from its oral keeping in the Bété language to a written French version. Vauguy re-animates the myth to engage with the historical, social, and political conditions that provoked the First Ivorian Civil War (2002-2007). 

Zakwato evokes the legendary figure of Zakwato, who, having slept through the massacre of his village, marches to the blacksmith to have his eyelids removed so that he might never sleep again. Loglêdou’s Peril recounts what he sees with his now sleepless eyes–a vision of a people liberated, awoken, and moving towards a future lit up by their own refulgent song.

Fredson will discuss the history of these exhilarating poems in the broader context of the history of West African poetry. Participants are encouraged to come to the event at 6pm to read an excerpt of this remarkable work in advance of the 7pm discussion, so that our discussion will be better informed. Copies of Zakwato can be purchased online from Action Books. An excerpt will be available to read on site at the club, as well online here.