Prof. Gac-Artigas Named Cultural Ambassador

Priscilla Gac-Artigas, Ph.D., professor in the Department of World Languages, was named cultural ambassador by the Fondation Européenne Mihai Eminescu and the Académie Internationale Mihai Eminescu after participating in the XIII Mihai Eminescu World Poetry Festival in Craiova, Romania, from June 10-15. Gac-Artigas was presented with a diploma and designated as a cultural ambassador in recognition of her significant contributions to the dissemination of poetry in translation.

A few days before, she participated in the Paris launch of the bilingual poetry collection, Un poète dans la ville/Un poeta en la ciudad, published by the prestigious l'Harmattan. The original text in Spanish is by Chilean poet Gustavo Gac-Artigas, the translation into French by Dr. Gac-Artigas. About the translation of the collection, Natalia Prunes, Ph.D., University of Buenos Aires, stated:

"In French, thanks to Priscilla Gac-Artigas' excellent translation, this dual play [a poet in the city (or cities) or the city (or cities) inhabited by the poet and living within him] is maximized as the words "ville" (city) and "vie" (life) constantly intertwine and blend. In fact, the first poem is a masterful example of translation from the very first line: 'la ville s'anime dans mon esprit /si j'ose traverser la rue' […] The choice of the term 's'animer,' derived from the Latin noun 'anima,' reinforces the idea that there exists an individual soul, that of the poet or anyone who identifies with him, and another collective soul, that of the city, the universe in which we move. […] In that first poem titled 'the city,' the entire work is summarized, which is nothing more (and nothing less) than a complex development of everything announced, tinged with some memories of distant times. Once again, we see that the brilliant translation is not intended, as with many other bilingual poetry editions, to broaden the readership, but to strengthen an absolute complementarity between French and Spanish."

Gac-Artigas also recently published an article, "'Colectficción': una forma transgresora de enfocar la creación literaria" in the peer-reviewed magazine BANLE (Boletín de la Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española, Vol. XIII - XV Nos. 24-26, años 2021-2023: 319-334) and was honored with Professor Emerita of World Languages status by the Monmouth University Board of Trustees.

"It gives me immense pride to continue representing Monmouth University at national and international venues," said Gac-Artigas.