Soirée Poésie with Françoise Canter & Deborah Woodard


Join us on World Poetry Day at the Alliance in room 202 for an enchanting evening of poetry in French, English and Italian, as we celebrate the richness of the French-speaking world, multilingualism, and the art of living and creating between languages.  

As March is also Women’s History Month, our Soirée Poésie will showcase local poets and translators Françoise Canter and Deborah Woodard who will share their own poetry and also their love for translation as a creative act and a manifesto for language inclusivity.

The evening will conclude with a book signing. Books will be available for purchase during the event (cash or check).

Françoise Canter Poet, Translator

Françoise Besnard Canter was born in Paris and immigrated to the U.S. in 1989. She is a poet, a teacher, and a translator.
She translated four collections of Robert Nash’s poems: "Maine "(2018), "Poèmes à un ami français / Poems to a French Friend" (2019), "Poèmes épars dans une chemise en carton vert / Scattered Poems Gathered in a Green Folder" (2021), and "1984" (2022), all published by À L’Index, Collection “Le Tire Langue” in bilingual editions. An English only compilation of the first three books of Nash’s poems was published by Down East Books, in 2022 under the title "When the Blue Goes."
She teaches French and Comparative Literature at The Northwest School in Seattle.

Deborah Woodard Poet, Translator

Deborah Woodard is the author of Plato’s Bad Horse (Bear Star, 2006) Borrowed Tales (Stockport Flats, 2012) and No Finis: Triangle Testimonies, 1911 (Ravenna Press, 2018). She has published several chapbooks, including Hunter Mnemonics (hemel press, 2008), which was illustrated by artist Heide Hinrichs. In collaboration with Roberta Antognini, she has translated the poetry of Amelia Rosselli from Italian in Hospital Series (New Directions, 2015), Obtuse Diary (Entre Rios Books, 2018) and The Dragonfly (Entre Rios Books, 2023). Their translation of Rosselli’s Notes Scattered and Lost is forthcoming this fall, also from Entre Rios. And their translation of Rosselli’s Document is forthcoming from World Poetry Books in 2025. Deborah holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California; Irvine and a PhD in English from the University of Washington. She teaches at Hugo House, a community literary center in Seattle, Washington..




Sorry, you've missed the RSVP deadline for this event.