{{Short description|Canadian translator and visual artist}} {{Infobox person | name = Vivian Felsen | image = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_date = | birth_place = | alma_mater = University of Toronto | occupation = translator, artist | awards = Canadian Jewish Book Award, J. I. Segal Award }}
'''Vivian Felsen''' is a Canadian translator from French and Yiddish into English, and a visual artist of Jewish origin. She is the recipient of the Canadian Jewish Book Award (2001) and J. I. Segal Award (2004, 2018) for her translations dealing with Canadian Jewish history and Holocaust memoirs.
== Early life and education == Vivian Felsen comes from Toronto,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eoN1DwAAQBAJ&dq=Vivian+Felsen&pg=PR11 |title=Kanade, di Goldene Medine?: Perspectives on Canadian-Jewish Literature and Culture / Perspectives sur la littérature et la culture juives canadiennes |date=2018 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-37941-1 |pages=XI-XII |language=en |chapter=Contributors; Vivian Felsen}}</ref> her grandfather was the Jewish journalist Israel Medres.<ref name=":1" /> She holds a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Toronto,<ref name=":0" /> where she studied French and Russian language and literature,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Vivian Felsen |url=https://49thshelf.com/Contributors/F/Felsen-Vivian |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=49th Shelf}}</ref> and a law degree from York University.<ref name=":0" />
== Career ==
=== Translation === Felsen works as a translator from French and Yiddish into English.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> She began her career with translations of two books by Israel Medres, for which she received a Canadian Jewish Book Award (2001) and a J. I. Segal Award (2004).<ref name=":1" /> She has since translated books on Canadian Jewish history, Holocaust memoirs as well as short stories written by Jewish women writers.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> The stories were published, among others, in ''The Exile Book of Yiddish Women Writers'', an anthology edited by Frieda Johles Forman, which was awarded with a Canadian Jewish Book Award (2014).<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> Felsen's translation of Rabbi Pinchas Hirschprung's Holocaust memoir titled ''The Veil of Tears'' was awarded a gold medal in the autobiography/memoir category of Independent Publisher Book Awards as well as a J. I. Segal Award (both 2018).<ref name=":2" /> She was also nominated for the Governor General's Award for her rendition from French of the book ''J. I. Segal: a Montreal Yiddish Poet and His Milieu'' (2018).<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Yiddish Voices of Kensington Market, with Vivian Felsen |url=https://www.committeeforyiddish.com/events/past-lectures/the-yiddish-voices-of-kensington-market |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=Committee For Yiddish |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Csillag |first=Ron |date=2018-10-24 |title=Translator named a finalist for GG Literary Award |url=https://thecjn.ca/arts/books-and-authors/translator-named-a-finalist-for-gg-literary-award/ |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=The Canadian Jewish News |language=en-US}}</ref> Her translations of poems by J. I. Segal later appeared in the journal ''Canadian Jewish Studies''.<ref name=":2" />
Apart from translating, Felsen has also authored texts on Yiddish culture and literature. She has contributed to ''New Readings of Yiddish Montreal — Traduire le Montréal yiddish'' edited by Pierre Anctil, Norman Ravvin and Sherry Simon (2007), written an essay on Canadian Yiddish literature for ''Kanade, di Goldene Medine?: Perspectives on Canadian-Jewish Literature and Culture / Perspectives sur la littérature et la culture juives canadiennes'' (2018),<ref name=":2" /> articles on Dora Shulner and Lili Berger for the Jewish Women's Archive website<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Vivian Felsen |url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/author/felsen-vivian |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=Jewish Women's Archive |language=en}}</ref> and on Israel Medres for the second edition of ''Encyclopaedia Judaica''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Medres, Israel Jonah |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/medres-israel-jonah |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref>
=== Visual arts === Felsen works as a visual artist, with a career spanning several decades.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=2015-05-10 |title=Vivian Felsen at Gallery Arcturus |url=https://kolajmagazine.com/content/content/collage-exhibitions/vivian-felsen-gallery-arcturus/ |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=Kolaj Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> She taught drawing and painting at the Max the Mutt College of Animation, Art & Design, as well as through the Toronto Board of Education.<ref name=":4" /> Felsen's works have been exhibited, among others, at Palacio das Artes in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and at the Gallery Arcturus.<ref name=":4" /> She has also been among the jurors for the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, the Ontario Society of Artists, and the Society of Canadian Artists.<ref name=":4" />
== Private life == One of her sons studied at Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem and is now an Orthodox rabbi.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Felsen |first=Vivian |date=2019 |title=A Translator's Reflections |journal=Canadian Jewish Studies / Études juives canadiennes |volume=27|doi=10.25071/1916-0925.40100 |s2cid=211982144 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
== Book translations ==
=== From Yiddish ===
* Israel Medres: ''Montreal of yesterday: Jewish life in Montreal, 1900-1920''<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Vivian Felsen |url=https://www.nli.org.il/en/a-topic/987007261187905171 |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=National Library of Israel |language=en}}</ref> (''Montreal fun nekhtn''), 2000<ref name=":0" /> * Israel Medres: ''Between the wars: Canadian Jews in Transition''<ref name=":3" /> (''Tsvishn tsvey velt milkhomes''), 2003<ref name=":0" /> * Yankl Nirenberg: ''Memoirs of the Lodz Ghetto'', 2003<ref name=":3" /> * Michael Kutz: ''If, by Miracle'', 2013<ref name=":3" /> * Bronia and Joseph Beker: ''Joy Runs Deeper'', 2014<ref>{{Cite web |title=Joy Runs Deeper |url=https://secondstorypress.ca/azrieli/joy-runs-deeper |access-date=2022-03-29 |website=Second Story Press |language=en-US}}</ref> * Pinchas Hirschprung: ''The Veil of Tears'' (''Fun natsishen yomertol''), 2016<ref name=":2" />
=== From French ===
* Paul Schaffer: ''The Veiled Sun: From Auschwitz to New Beginning'' (''Le Soleil voilé, Auschwitz 1942–1945''), with original introduction by Simone Veil, 2015<ref name=":2" /> * Pierre Anctil: ''J. I. Segal (1896–1954): A Montreal Yiddish Poet and His Milieu'', 2017<ref name=":1" />
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* [https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/oral-histories/interviews/woh-fi-0000834/vivian-felsen-2016 Interview with Vivian Felsen] at the Yiddish Book Center website
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Felsen, Vivian}} Category:21st-century Canadian translators Category:Yiddish–English translators Category:French–English translators Category:Artists from Toronto Category:University of Toronto alumni Category:York University alumni Category:Living people Category:Year of birth missing (living people)