David Hadbawnik : part one

David Hadbawnik is a poet and translator whose books include Ovid in Exile (Interbirth Books, 2007), Field Work (BlazeVox Books, 2011), and Holy Sonnets to Orpheus and Other Poems (Delete Press, 2018). His translation of Aeneid books 1-6 was published by Shearsman in 2015, with books 7-12 forthcoming; selections have appeared in Denver Quarterly, Chicago Review, and Blackbox Manifold, among other journals. 

What are you working on?

Right now I’m proofreading books 7-12 of my translation of Aeneid, which is forthcoming from Shearsman Books. This has been a ten-plus year project that began as a homework assignment, essentially, during my graduate studies, and just sort of ballooned from there. When the first half of the Aeneid translation was published in 2015, I received my box of contributor’s copies the week before my wife and I moved overseas for a job. That job – assistant professor at American University of Kuwait – was incredibly demanding, and then we had our son, Elliott, in 2018. So it was tough for me to match the intensity and dedication that had gone into books 1-6, and tough to build up a rhythm with the translation that would carry me through. I have to thank my collaborator, Kuwaiti artist Omar Al-Nakib, for really spurring this project to completion. His illustrations – not to mention his hard work and enthusiasm – were really an inspiration to keep the faith and keep going.