Todd Fredson is a poet, a critic, and a translator of Afro-francophone and West African literature. He is the author of two poetry collections, The Crucifix-Blocks (Tebot Bach, 2012), which won the Patricia Bibby First Book Award, and Century Worm (New Issues Press, 2018). He has made French to English translations of two books by Ivorian poet Josué Guébo, My country, tonight (Action Books, 2016) and Think of Lampedusa (African Poetry Book Series, University of Nebraska Press, 2017), as well as Ivorian poet Tanella Boni’s collection, The future has an appointment with the dawn (APBS, UNP, 2018), which was a finalist for the 2019 Best Translated Book Award and the 2019 National Translation Award. Fredson's translation of Boni's collection, There where it's so bright in me, which won the 2018 Prix Théophile Gautier from the French Academy, is forthcoming (APBS, UNP, 2022). He has worked with Bété poet Azo Vauguy to translate from French and Bété to English Vauguy’s book-length poem, Zakwato, an adaptation of a myth from the Bété ethnic group in Cote d'Ivoire, as well as its follow-up, Loglêdou’s Peril. Both are forthcoming as a double-translation (Action Books, 2023). He collaborates with West African slam poets and storytellers, as well. His poetry, translations, nonfiction, criticism, and editorial curations appear in American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Jacket2, Research in African Literatures, Best American Experimental Writing 2020, Warscapes, and other journals, anthologies, and blogs. He holds an MFA from Arizona State University and a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Southern California. Fredson specializes in contemporary and 20th century poetry and poetics, transnational ethnic studies, decolonial studies, African literature and poetics, and literary translation. He has received Fulbright and NEA fellowships.
 

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