Élizabeth Robert, founder of Montréal¹s multilingual public reading series Noches de poesía and literary translator, was born in Beloeil, Québec. Daughter of an Anglophone father and a French speaking mother, she has always had a predisposition to learning new languages and is always eager to learn about new cultures.
On a daily basis, Élizabeth fluently speaks Spanish, English and French. Living in Montréal since her early twenties, she has studied and picked up some Italian, German, Arabic and other languages. Élizabeth holds a BA in Spécialisation de traduction (English into French) from Concordia University and has started an MA in Traductologie littéraire. She is a full member and the new recording secretary of the Literary Translators Association of Canada
(LTAC). Élizabeth has published two
literary translations of poetry collections from English into French. Over the past few years, Élizabeth has participated in various literary
celebrations, namely: Poésie des femmes du monde (at Montréal¹s Blue Metropolis 7th edition
); a tribute to Pablo Neruda: Marinero en tierra; she also organized and took part in a Translation Slam during the joint conference between the LTAC and the American Literary Translators Association. Elizabeth attended the joint conference between the Banff International Literary Translation Centre and the LTAC in June 2007. She frequently organizes and hosts round tables,fundraising events involving poets and authors as well as community and literary events aiming to create dialogues between communities and people, using languages and cultures. She is very passionate about fostering understanding and an increased first hand knowledge of others; she hopes to help maintain harmony in our ever growing multicultural society.
Élizabeth published her first translation at Triptyque in 2004, La bête
mystique (her French version of Stephen Morrissey¹s The Mystic Beast); then, in 2005, a short bilingual presentation of four English speaking female poets living in Montréal (Un quatuor de femmes poètes anglophones) complete with bios and translations in Arcade volume 63; her French translation of one of Stephanie Bolster¹s poem was featured on the docks of Montréal¹s metro stations as part of La poésie prend le métro, 2005 edition. In 2006, some of her translations were published in a Canadian Anthology of literary translations TransLit, vol. 7. Finally, in 2007, her French adaptation of Lance Blomgren¹s Walkups was published at Adage edition, under the title
Walkups: scènes de la vie montréalaise
. This collection of poetic
postcard stories takes the reader through various appartments in the city, visiting their architecture, their inhabitants and the daily chores they perform. In February 2007, Élizabeth published some of her own poems in the collective chapbook thelawnchairsoiree, at Sitting Duck Press.
Élizabeth works closely with Danielle Shelton
, ADAGE editions¹ president, promoting migrant literature in Canada. Member of the Board of Diffusion Adage, Élizabeth Robert created in 2006 the multilingual public reading series Noches de poesía where she welcomes every first Wednesday of the month, poetry lovers, authors and aficionados who gather in a Montréal restaurant to read, hear and exchange about poetry, languages and culture in many languages. In 2007, Élizabeth was the interim editor of Young Poets
section, under the umbrella of the League of Canadian Poets . During Shannon Cowan¹s maternity leave, Élizabeth supervised and coordinated the exchanges between young poets and poets in residence on their various forums . She hired the new French editor Maria Luisa Romano and worked with Chelsea Rooney
,
English Editor, at the promotion, production and publication of Re:verse , the young poets online magazine.
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