I’ve always loved wordplay, languages, and writing. I read dictionaries for fun and delight in the search for the right word.
SHARON E. RHODES is a literary scholar, writer, and translator working from Danish, Old English and Latin. She was selected as an Emerging Translator by the National Centre for Writing in 2020, and her work has been supported by numerous grants from the Danish Arts Foundation. She was selected as a judge for the 2022 PEN Translation Award and is an active member of the Danish to English Literary Translators (DELT). Her scholarship focuses on translation’s role in the practice and development of Christianity in northern Europe. She earned a master’s degree in literary translation and a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Rochester. She lives in Western New York and is a founding member of the translation collective Sagebrush.
Education
Ph. D., English Literature, University of Rochester, 2016
Dissertation: Turning the Tide: Fathoming the Great Flood in Old English Literature
Literary Translation Studies, Graduate Certificate, University of Rochester, 2015
B.A., English Literature, Minor: Applied Linguistics, Portland State University, 2010
A.S., Northwest Missouri State University, 2005
Selected Translations
“We.” (from the Danish) by Inger Christine Loewe. Atla on Paper 1. April 2021.
Atla on Paper 2—“René”, “and the lilacs!”, “Amager, 17/11/19”, You’re still visible in everything I write”, and “Blue” (from the Danish). August 2021
Lesbian Fairytales about Men. (selected translations from the Danish Lesbiske Evyntyr Om Mænd, Mette Østgaard Henriksen. Basilisk Press, 2014). Asymptote.
Iceland. (sample trans. from the Danish Island, Peter Højrup. Basilisk Press, 2014). In process.
Feathers. (sample trans. from the Danish Fjer, Ursula Scavenius, Basilisk Press, 2015). In process.
Leftover Poems. (trans. from the Danish Efterladte digte, Peter Højrup. Basilisk Press, 2013) Open Letter Books. Spring 2017. Out to publishers. With support from the Danish Arts Foundation.
“The Ruin” and “The Seafarer.” (trans from the Old English) Inventory 7 (2016).
Selected Academic Publications
“Wundor and Wrætlice: Wondrous Wordplay in the Old English Riddles.” How Riddles Work. Eds. Jennifer Neville and Megan Cavell. Manchester University Press, 2018.
“Legible Leprosy: Skin Disease in The Testament of Cresseid, Chaucer’s Summoner and Amis and Amiloun.” Chaucerian Skin Matters. Eds. Nicole Nyffenegger and Katrin Rupp. Anglia, 2018.
“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Co-authored with Thomas Hahn. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature, 2017.
“Translating the Context: Orm’s Pre-Reformation Vernacular Bible Translation.” The Medieval Translator: Translation and Authority — Authorities in Translation, Eds. Pieter De Leemans and Michèle Goyens. Turnhout: Brepols, 2016.
“The Ruin” and “The Seafarer.” (trans. from the Old English) Inventory 7 (2016).
“Riddle 53.” and “Commentary for Riddle 53.” The Riddle Ages. Eds. Megan Cavell and Matthias Ammon, 2016 <https://theriddleages.wordpress.com/2016/06/21/riddle-53-or-51/> <https://theriddleages.wordpress.com/2016/08/05/commentary-for-riddle-53/>.
“Review: The Elizabethan Invention of Anglo-Saxon England by Rebecca Brackman.” Medievally Speaking (2013). <http://medievallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2013/11/brackmann-elizabethan-invention-of.html>.
“Teaching Beowulf and Other Old English Poems: An Annotated Bibliography for Teachers” The Once and Future Classroom. 10.1 (2012). <http://www.teamsmedieval.org/ofc/SP09/Spring2012BeoBib.html>.
“Hali Meiðhad: Normalizing the Sponsae Christi.” Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism 3 (2010).
Selected English Revisions
Højlund, Flemming and Anna Hilton. Tell F3 on Failaka Island: Kuwaiti-Danish Excavations 2012-2017. (Moesgaard Museum, forthcoming).
Shamir, Avner. Incombustible Lutheran Books in Early Modern Germany. London and New York: Routledge, 2019)
Olsen, Niklas. The Sovereign Consumer: A New Intellectual History of Neoliberalism. (Palgrave, 2019).
Beat Literature in a Divided Europe. Eds. Harri Veivo, Petra James, and Dorota Walczak-Delanois. (Brill, 2018).
Sami Art and Aesthetics: Contemporary Perspectives. Eds. Svein Aamold, Elin Haugdal, and Ulla Angkjaer Jorgensen (Aarhus University Press, 2017).
Vandkilde Helle. The Metal Hoard from Pile in Scania, Sweden: Place, things, time, metals and worlds around 2000 BCE. (Aarhus University Press, 2017).
Teaching and Professional Experience
Portland State University — Department of English — British Literature Survey, Part I; Medieval Literature, Advanced Topics in Medieval Lit.: Translation and the Making of Medieval England.
Caribou Digital — Editor
University of Rochester — Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies — Queer Theory; Department of English — British Literature I, Medieval Otherworlds, Classical and Scriptural Backgrounds (Co-taught with Prof. Thomas Hahn)
University of Rochester — Writing, Speaking and Argument Program — Reasoning and Writing in the College: Nostalgia; Reasoning and Writing in the College: Lions and Tigers and Fear.
Basilisk Press, Copenhagen, Denmark — Intern.
Open Letter Books, University of Rochester — Editorial Intern.
Middle English Text Series, University of Rochester — Staff Editor.
Languages
Classical and Medieval Latin, Danish, English, Middle Medieval Academy of America,
English, Old English, Old Norse, Spanish
I am a translator, editor and academic.
As an academic I have written on and taught early medieval literature, translation theory, and gender and sexuality studies.
As an editor I specialize in English revisions for non-native speakers of English.
As a translator I work with Latin, Old English, and Danish literature.
All of these ventures allow me to explore how the stories we tell reflect, impact, and create the reality we live.