#41 - Sean Cotter

As a young Peace Corps volunteer in Romania, Sean Cotter saw the reverence given to poets and philosophers and suspected he had found his people. But in the beginning, he couldn't even understand a child's spoken words. Flash forward to the present, where Sean, as the world's preeminent translator of Romanian literature into English, now helps shine a light on a place — and a people — he has loved for a very long time.

A two-time National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, Sean Cotter is the translator of 11 books, including T.O. Bobe's Curl and Nichita Stanescu's Wheel With a Single Spoke and Other Poems, which received the Best Translated Book Award for poetry in 2013. His English-language translation of Solenoid by Mircea Cǎrtǎrescu was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2025.

He is currently a professor of literature and translation studies at the University of Texas at Dallas.

Dr. Sean Cotter

Cotter's translation of Solenoid was long-listed by the International Booker Prize in 2025 (Amazon link above)

Cotter and Romanian writer Mircea Cǎrtǎrescu won the 2024 Dublin Literary Award for Solenoid

SP/FS Producer & Host: Christopher Wurst

Opening Voices: Dmitri Wurst, Elena Wurst, Kjara Wurst, Christopher Wurst

Voice of Dubious Aunt Deb: Cathy Zielske

Cold Open Music: BWM – The Brina Band

Dubious Ant Deb Music: Cass County Beauty Queen – Alan Singley

Episode Music:

Wherever I Lay My Hat, That’s My Wife – Doctor Turtle

Lighter Lost in Tucson – Late Night Trumpet Lovers

Filled With Love – Lobo Loco

Palladian – Blue Dot Sessions

Interview date: March 20, 2025