On November 3, join us for a talk on the Faroe Islands’ National Book Award-winning poetry collection What good does it do for a person to wake up one morning this side of the new millennium with Kim Simonsen and Randi Ward! The distinguished author will delve into his new poetics to Faroese literature, now out in translation from Deep Vellum Publishing, with the translator and ASF Translation Prize Winner Randi Ward.

The rhetorical title of this collection posits the crisis that is underway. Simonsen asks: as a species among species, all composed of the matter of the universe, how has our compulsion to classify everything hierarchically estranged us from ourselves, each other, and Earth’s ecosystems? Simonsen challenges our anthropocentric pursuit of knowledge, exploring humankind’s relationship with itself as an element of the natural world. What good does it do for a person to wake up one morning this side of the new millennium follows the struggles of its narrator as he reckons with intensifying estrangement from his fellow organisms, gradually turning to the greater kinship of matter to find continuity, connection, and solace.

“The vulnerability of being alive at such a pivotal period in Earth’s history underpins this highly original, compact collection from Kim Simonsen, superbly translated by Randi Ward.”

—Michael Favala Goldman, translator of Tove Ditlevsen’s The Trouble with Happiness

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nordic Council Literature Prize nominee Kim Simonsen is a Faroese poet and researcher from the island of Eysturoy. He studied creative writing at Forlaget Gladiator’s Writing Academy in Copenhagen, Denmark and completed his PhD at the University of Roskilde. Simonsen has authored seven books, as well as numerous essays and academic articles. As the founder and managing editor of Forlagið Eksil, a Faroese press that has championed avant-garde artists and writers, he’s been instrumental in transforming the literary landscape of the Faroe Islands. In 2014, Simonsen won the national book award of the Faroe Islands, M.A. Jacobsen’s Virðisløn, for his poetry collection Hvat hjálpir einum menniskja at vakna ein morgun hesumegin hetta áratúsundið (What good does it do for a person to wake up one morning this side of the new millennium: Deep Vellum Publishing, 2025). His poetry has recently appeared in Columbia Journal, Washington Square Review, Plume, and Notre Dame Review.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

Randi Ward is a poet, translator, lyricist, and photographer from West Virginia. When she graduated from the University of the Faroe Islands in 2007, she became the first student from the United States to earn an MA degree at the institution. Ward has since twice won the American-Scandinavian Foundation’s Nadia Christensen Prize, the only times the prize was awarded to literary work translated from the Faroese. Ward’s translations of Faroese poetry have appeared in some of the world’s premier publications showcasing international literature, such as Words Without Borders, World Literature Today, Asymptote, and Best Literary Translations 2025. She is also a recipient of Shepherd University’s Appalachian Photography Award, and Cornell University Library established the Randi Ward Collection in its Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections in 2015. The government of the Faroe Islands honored Ward in 2024 with Heiðursgáva Landsins, a national award for distinguished service to Faroese culture. For more information, visit www.randiward.com.