We—Joanne Epp, Sally Ito, and Sarah Klassen—are three Winnipeg poets who collaborate in translating Greiffenberg’s sonnets and songs in an effort to help revive a forgotten voice and to bring more of her poetry to English-speaking readers.
Sally was the first to learn of Greiffenberg, having come across some of her poems in the anthology Women In Praise of the Sacred (ed. Jane Hirshfield). Intrigued by Greiffenberg’s ecstatic and energetic language, Sally invited Sarah and Joanne to join her in translating more of this poet’s work, since very little of it was available in English. We continued with this project for several years, focusing mainly on the sonnets about the life of Christ and seasons of the church year.
We decided quite early in the process that we would maintain the basic structure of the sonnets, but would not attempt to preserve the strict rhyme scheme. Our aim was rather to convey the flavour of Greiffenberg’s language as much as possible—her vigorous rhythms, alliteration and unusual compound words. While we have not adhered strictly to the meter of the originals, we have kept the iambic pulse as the basis for the rhythm of our English versions.
This web site got started when the three of us began translating a series of seven sonnets for Holy Week in 2020. That year, Holy Week was unusually fraught and difficult because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the work of translation became a life-line for us. We decided to continue with Greiffenberg’s sonnets for Easter, Ascension, and beyond, and to share our work with the world. What began as a blog focusing on the sonnets for Holy Week turned into a more broadly-based web site, and eventually a book. We hope to continue this work, gradually adding to our store of translations from the many sonnets and lyric poems we have not yet read!
Joanne Epp is a Winnipeg poet with two published collections, Eigenheim (2015), and Cattail Skyline (2021). She grew up in a Saskatchewan Mennonite community with German as her “grandmother tongue.” She serves as assistant organist at St. Margaret’s Anglican Church.
Sally Ito is a poet and translator living in Winnipeg. Her first book of translated poetry with co-translator Michiko Tsuboi, Are You an Echo: The Lost Poetry of Misuzu Kaneko, was published in 2016. Her latest book of poetry, Heart’s Hydrography, was published in 2022. Ito teaches creative writing at Canadian Mennonite University.
Sarah Klassen is a Winnipeg poet and fiction writer. Her first language was German, but she writes only in English. She has received various awards and nominations for her eight books of poetry and four of fiction. She has taught English language and literature in high schools and at Lithuania Christian College.