Calazaza's Delicious Dereliction (Tupelo Press Poetry in Translation) - Softcover

Poetry. Translated from the French by Nancy Naomi Carlson. In her polyphonic poems, Suzanne Dracius creates protagonists—usually calazazas, light-skinned mulatto women with red or blond hair—who fight like Amazons against racial and gender discrimination. Dracius' voice is leaping and exalted, often sexually charged, and infused with allusions to Greek and Roman mythology.

Nancy Naomi Carlson has translated Dracius's Exquise déréliction métisse, poems written in French yet including some Creole versions, and with Creole expressions sprinkled throughout. In French, this book was awarded the prestigious Prix Fètkann, whose judges cited the poet's richness of language, with varied linguistic registers.

Author and playwright Suzanne Dracius was born in Fort- de-France, Martinique, and grew up in Sceaux, a suburb of Paris. She later returned to Martinique as a professor of classical literature. In 2009, her book of poetry Exquise dereliction metisse won the Prix Fetkann and in 2010 she received the Prix de la Societe des Poetes Francais for her body of work. She lives in Paris.

Nancy Naomi Carlson has won grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maryland Arts Council, and the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County. She is the author of three poetry collections, as well as the critically acclaimed Stone Lyre: Poems of Rene Char. She is translation editor for Blue Lyra Review, and her work has appeared in Poetry, Prairie Schooner, The Iowa Review, and elsewhere.