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Jennifer Shyue on navigating identities and mother tongues in The Common

 

Jennifer Shyue, translator of Julia Wong Kcomt’s forthcoming Bi-rey-nato, reflects on the different layers of her identity as a Taiwanese-American translator of Spanish. She writes about belonging and/or not belonging in many different cultures, about trying to explain her “hyphenation” to her mother, and about the double-edged sword that is the concept of “a mother tongue.” Read her poignant essay on The Common

 

Jennifer Shyue is a translator focusing on contemporary Cuban and Asian-Peruvian writers. Her work has been supported by grants from Fulbright, Princeton University, and the University of Iowa and has appeared in 91st Meridian, The Offing, Hyperallergic, and elsewhere. Her translation of Julia Wong Kcomt’s Bi-rey-nato is forthcoming from Ugly Duckling Presse’s Señal chapbook series. She can be found on the web at shyue.co.