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For an explanation of this website, click on the tab to the left “Don’s Story.”

New in 2012:

The College of Arts and Letters of Johnson C. Smith University

In Cooperation with Main Street Rag Publishing Company

Warmly

Invites You to a Book Launching and Reading

Of Don Mager’s

Eighth Book of Poetry

RUSSIAN RIFFS

Date: February 22, 2012
Time: 7:00 PM
Place: The Black Box Theatre of The Arts Factory of Johnson C. Smith University
1545 West Trade Street, Charlotte 28216

(A block and a half south of the Trade, Fifth & Beaties Ford intersection,

Between Wesley Height Way and S. Bruns Ave.)

To Park, enter the from Trade St. to find parking and an entrance in the rear of the building)

Wine and light refreshments

Russian Riffs release in February 2012!

Main Street Rag Publishin at http://www.mainstreetrag.com/DMager_11.html. describes my book with sample poems and order information.
The tab to the left "Rilke" includes a new PDF book,BEGINNINGS AND FRAGMENTS FROM THE THEMATIC MATERIAL OF THE ELEGIES and DUINO ELEGIES. This is my translations of all the materials related to Rilke's Duino Elegies. This is the first such compliation and translation in English.

Don Mager Honored With Lifetime Achievement Award

On, 2011 Don Mager was honored with the Irene Blair Honeycutt Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Literary Arts in a ceremony at the Philip L. Van Every Culinary Arts Center on the main campus of Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, NC. The award ceremony was part of CPPC’s annual week-long Sensoria Festival.

The Irene Blair Honeycutt Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Literary Arts was established to recognize outstanding achievement in the field of literary arts and community involvement in support of writers. The award is presented to a community member who is committed to the artistic life, shares skills and take leadership in the literary community of Charlotte.

2011 Pulbications

Two translations of Pasternak poems appear in the issue of Natural Bridge.

2010 Publications

Don Mager is featured translator in the fall 2010 (v.4, no.2) issue of EZRA: AN ONLINE JOURNAL OF TRANSLATION with translations of poems by Mandel’shtam and Pasternak.

Translations from Akhmatova and Mandel’shtam appear in the fall 2010 issue of The Lost Angeles Review (print only)

New from UNO Press

Us Four Plus Four: Eight Russian Poets Conversing

Translated from the Russian by Don Mager

Aleksandr Blok

Sergei Esenin

Vladimir Maiakovskii

Osip Mandel’shtam

Marina Tsvetaeva

Igor’ Severianin

Boris Pasternak

Anna Akhmatova

Paperback, 5.5”x8.25”, 348 pages

ISBN 978-9706190-4-4

January 2009

While Us Four Plus Four is an expansive collection of poetry from eight of Russia’s most well-known and influential poets, its arrangement as a conversation is what distinguishes it from those that precede it. The literary value of each poem is evident in its own right, but by reading these poems as a conversation, we are better able to appreciate the significance of these poets in both a social and historical context. Don Mager’s translations maintain the distinctive nature of each poet’s voice, injecting the poems with the appropriate energy, chaos, remorse or respect. His attention to detail and passion for accuracy are apparent in both his historical research and in the creativity of his translations; he weaves a chronological tale of the love, pain, honor, and loss felt by the poets and effectively depicts the arduous era in which they lived. From the insight of Akhmatova to the boyishness of Mandel’shtam and the despair of Blok, Mager’s efforts have resulted in a comprehensive yet unintimidating anthology of early- to mid-twentieth-century Russian poetry. Accessible to an audience unfamiliar with these poets, Us Four Plus Four is informative without being pretentious. It entertains without compromising its contribution to the academic and literary worlds. Mager’s collection takes one conversation and begins hundreds more. (Richard Howard, “Forward”)

Last update 02/01/2012