Iowa City poet Jen Rouse gains a new perspective with international poetry fellowship

Iowa City poet, playwright and artist Jen Rouse was recently selected to participate in an international poetry fellowship focused on literary translation and cultural exchange held in Bulgaria.

Sponsored by The Elizabeth Kostova Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting creative writing and cultural exchange among English and Bulgarian-speaking writers, the five-day International Poetry Conference brought together poets, translators, editors and literary professionals from around the world to create new translations of contemporary Bulgarian and English-language poetry. Rouse also had an opportunity to read her work at the annual “CapitaLiterature” festival in Sofia.

Rouse was one of just four English-speaking poets worldwide to be awarded this opportunity.

A decorated poet, Rouse has published four books of poetry and has seen two of her plays produced. She’s also the director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Cornell College, where she mentors students, faculty and staff in order to foster a collaborative learning environment for all.

In a recent e-interview, Rouse, a colleague and friend, shared more about her experience abroad, including why stepping outside of your comfort zone can be such a transformative experience.

Q: You were one of just four English-speaking poets worldwide selected to participate in the International Poetry Conference in Koprivshtitsa, Bulgaria. What drew you to this program?

A: One of the greatest gifts of being a writer is that one often has an almost built-in network of writing friends and colleagues, and infinite opportunities to apply for fellowships, residencies, grants, etc. Of course, at different points in our lives, not all of these opportunities are right for us — we’re busy, travel is impossible, or application fees might be cost-prohibitive. The hope is that at some point an experience opens itself up to us at the right time and we seize the moment to pursue it.

Fortunately, I am at a point in my life where I do have a little freedom to think about experiences outside of my normal day to day writing life.

As the director of fellowships and scholarships at Cornell College you always keep an engaged eye on not only what is available for students but colleagues as well. And once you came to me with the idea that I might apply for the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation fellowship for the International Poetry Conference in Bulgaria, I found myself thinking, why not? And what fun!

It was also important to me, at this stage of my career, not to land in a more traditional writer’s workshop. I’ve done my time there. I truly wanted a writing experience I’d never had before in a country that was completely new to me. Being curious in new ways, not just revisiting old patterns felt very important.

I also have another friend and colleague, Katy Stavreva, who grew up in Bulgaria and is a highly renowned international Shakespeare scholar. Her excitement for me and this adventure, her vast knowledge, and her potential partnership in continued translation work inspired a great deal of my application.

Learning more about the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation and the impact of Kostova’s work to create intercultural dialogue around contemporary issues for change also felt like an important area of expansion I have been seeking in my own growth as a writer.

Q: Writing is often considered a solitary pursuit, but this conference provided you with the chance to see quite a bit of Bulgaria and meet with a number of different writers, publishers, and translators from around the world. How did this experience impact your creative process?

A: While in Koprivshtitsa, which is a gorgeous historic town with quite a bit of architectural preservation, known as one of the centers of the April uprising of 1876 against Ottoman rule, poets and translators quickly bonded and created a community in a way I would’ve never expected in the United States. The generosity of the Bulgarian writers and translators was so sincere. With each walk we took, I was swept up in stories of history and literature and the goals and dreams of bringing more poetry to larger audiences through their translation projects.

It was fun to hear about the current popularity of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton in Bulgarian translations. It was easy to tell and so refreshing to hear how valued literature and the arts are as part of the Bulgarian educational system. We joked that even in the tourist shops in town the lighters had pictures of great poets and writers on them — something you would be hard-pressed to find in the U.S.

Engaging in this passionate pursuit of poetry and sharing our individual stories of how we came to this creative outlet, really fueled my own desire to get back to work. After a year of mourning the death of my stepfather, I hadn’t realized how much of myself I had closed off to writing, especially poetry. I didn’t really want to let anyone or anything near that grief. I think sometimes you have to make a kind of pilgrimage to find the holy relic of your heart. The language will return when it needs to return. And the graciousness of this beautiful bunch of Kostova fellow creatives really helped me remember that part of myself.

Q: One of the goals of the conference was to create new translations of contemporary Bulgarian and English-language poetry. Which means you spent a lot of time involved in one-on-one collaborative work with a translator. What was that experience like for you?

A: Before I arrived in Koprivshtitsa, I had no idea that the translator I’d be working with, Gabriela Manova, had selected my poems specifically from the group and requested she be able to work with me. That felt incredibly special, and we hit it off immediately. Gabriela’s thesis work centered around translating Anne Sexton’s poetry. Sexton plays a significant role in my work as well. So that connection was beneficial in establishing our friendship. Many of the translators discussed how important it was to them to get to know the poets before beginning translation work — though, in this case, we were under a bit of a time crunch and they had our work in advance.

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Each morning in this gorgeous mountain town, I would wake up to the cacophony of roosters, hike up into the hills, come back down and grab a coffee. Like The. Best. Coffee. And then I’d spend the rest of the morning until lunch talking with Gabi about poetry. Really, there is no better way to start a day than this. Working with the complexities of language, dualities of meaning, intention, and how something in English might be so much more succinct than a Bulgarian version, but then deciding which would be better for the poem, the audience — these were all such fascinating lenses through which to view my poems again as though for the first time. A great deal of our process was just reading to each other, and listening to the transformations of language. I am forever indebted to Gabi for sharing her brilliant attention to detail and love of literature.

Q: How did spending time in Bulgaria shift your perspective?

A: After being in the quiet of Koprivshtitsa, we returned to the Capital Literature Festival in Sofia and the Bulgarian writers and translators again opened up a different world to us, here there was a much hipper vibe with readings in funky independent bookstores where for many nights we all read together and shared our work through Bulgarian and English translations for larger audiences. I was fortunate to be invited to read by poet and publisher Georgi Gavrilov in his newly opened literary venue, and there I shared the stage with novelist and translator Kameliya Panayotova. It felt like such a celebration, a big poetry party. I think in the U.S. we run the risk of believing our pursuit of poetry is something incredibly serious and important in a way that often does us more harm than good. Not that poetry isn’t important or sometimes serious, but that the ego — the need to seem successful, a cut above the imaginary rest — often trumps the art. I found in Bulgaria a very different literary scene and that shifted my perspective a great deal. For that experience, I am truly grateful.

Q: Why is it a good idea for writers to step outside of their comfort zones?

A: We’re always taught as writers to write about what we know. The simple fact is there’s a lot to know out there. If I’m not learning and doing and growing as a person, then I’m not investing in my life as a writer. When we are challenged by something, when we are curious, we are not necessarily comfortable, and that’s a good place to write from, a place where we might tap into new knowledge and make connections we never thought possible. The Elizabeth Kostova Foundation allowed me that opportunity, and I have every intention of pursuing more work and writing adventures in Bulgaria with the extraordinary translators and writers I met there, and hopefully, we will be able to create opportunities to continue the exchange in the U.S. as well.