Faculty Directory
Adam Sorkin
Distinguished Professor of English
Contact:
Penn State Delaware County
312C Main Building
Office Phone:
610-892-1444
ajs2@psu.edu
Brief Bio:
Educational History:
Ph.D. University of North Carolina
M.A. Cornell University
A.B. Cornell University
Research Interests:
Literary translation; Romanian poetry in translation; poetry
Awards:
National Endowment for the Arts, Literature Fellowship (in Translation) for 2005-06
Prizes of the Moldovan Writers' Union and the International Book Fair, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, 2003
Soros Foundation-Moldova, grant for publication of Singular Destinies: Contemporary Poets of Bessarabia, 2003
The Witter Bynner Foundation for Poetry grant in translation for 2002-03
Translated poem selected for The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: 15th Annual Collection (St. Martin's Griffin, 2002)
Prize for Excellence for City of Dreams and Whispers, Iasi Writers' Association, 1999
Kenneth Rexroth Memorial Translation Prize, 1999
The Academy of American Poets Eric Mathieu King Fund grant. for publication of Sea-Level Zero, 1999
Translation Awards, Satu Mare and Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 1998
Crossing Boundaries Translation Award, International Quarterly, 1997
Weidenfeld Prize for Translation (St. Anne's College, Oxford University), shortlisted for The Sky Behind the Forest and The Triumph of the Water Witch, 1997, 2000
Arts Council of England translation grants for publication of The Sky Behind the Forest and The Triumph of the Water Witch
Four translations nominated for Pushcart Prize Anthology, 1996, 2000, 2001
Rockefeller Foundation, Residency at Study and Conference Center, Bellagio, Italy, 1995
IREX (International Research and Exchanges Board) Fellowships, 1991; 1997; 1999
Carl Bode Award, American Culture Association, 1987, best essays in Journal of American Culture, honorable mention
Fulbright Scholar Program, Senior Lecturer in American Literature, University of Bucharest, Romania, 1980-81;
Research Award in Creative Writing, with Dept. of English, University of Bucharest, 1989
Summer Fellowship, The School of Criticism and Theory, U. of California-Irvine, 1976
NEH Summer Seminar, 1975
Major Publications:
The Bridge by Marin Sorescu. Tr. with Lidia Vianu (Bloodaxe Books, 2004)
The Past Perfect of Flight by Marin Sorescu. Tr. with Lidia Vianu and others (Romanian Cultural Institute Publishing House, 2004)
Singular Destinies: Contemporary Poets of Bessarabia. Ed. with Cristina Cîrstea and Sean Cotter; tr. 2/3 of book with C.C. (Editura Cartier, 2003)
Diary of a Clone by Saviana Stanescu. Tr. primarily with the poet (Spuyten Duyvil / Meeting Eyes Bindery, 2003)
Speaking the Silence: Prose Poets of Contemporary Romania. Ed. and tr. with Bogdan Stefanescu (Editura Paralela 45, 2001)
The Triumph of the Water Witch by Ioana Ieronim. Tr. with the poet (Bloodaxe Books, 2000)
Sea-Level Zero by Daniela Crasnaru. Tr. primarily with the poet (BOA Editions, 1999)
City of Dreams and Whispers: An Anthology of Contemporary Poets of Iasi, ed., various co-trs. (The Center for Romanian Studies, 1998)
The Sky Behind the Forest: Selected Poems by Liliana Ursu. Tr. with the poet and Tess Gallagher (Bloodaxe Books, 1997)
Transylvanian Voices: An Anthology of Contemporary Poets of Cluj-Napoca. Ed. and tr. with Liviu Bleoca (Center for Romanian Studies, 1997, 2nd ed.)
Other Publications:
Professor Sorkin has published numerous essays and reviews as well as translations of contemporary Romanian writing, mostly poetry. His essays have appeared in American Literature, Modern Fiction Studies, Contemporary Literature, South Atlantic Bulletin, The Literary Review, Columbia Pictures: Portrait of a Studio, ed. Bernard F. Dick, World Authors, and Encyclopedia of World Biography, among others.
Sorkin's translations have come out in more than 250 literary magazines and anthologies on four continents, including The New Yorker, The American Poetry Review, Poetry, Poetry London, Poetry Australia, TriQuarterly, The Kenyon Review, Chelsea, Modern Poetry in Translation, The Women's Review of Books, and Poets & Writers Magazine.
