Sarah Martine Voke
Researcher and translator
My project is to work on the first French translation of Meena Alexander’s writing, beginning with her memoir Fault Lines. This book weaves together her personal life journey from Kerala to New York with profound reflections on the impact of living in exile and the power of poetry. I wish to step into the world she evokes so vividly and to return with a transformed understanding of the roots that grounded her writing.
Sarah Voke completed a PhD in Comparative Literature in Marseille which focused on contemporary women poets (“Meena Alexander, Seher Cakir, Amina Saïd: three feminine voices of exile”, 2022). Her work explores the interconnections between poetry, experiences of exile, multilingualism and identity, from a phenomenological perspective. She is currently preparing a book publication based on her doctoral research. Based in the French Alps, she teaches anglophone literature and translation at the University Savoie Mont Blanc in Chambéry.
