Vaage: I have translated several American poets, and for me, it’s a great way of reading, and a great challenge. I myself have been translated into English, Russian, German, and now Hindi. In fact, I was once advised to avoid one of my own readings in one of these countries, because the translation was very bad!

Wassmo: I’m very alert to language, to poetry. And it’s very important to me that the translator is also a writer, and someone who is attuned to the world I’m describing. But I can’t overstate how important it is to have these projects, this glimpse into other cultures and traditions so that we can have a real dialogue. Literature is really about human sympathy. It’s about what binds us together, about our shared humanity.