Translating Performance Poetry

Since 2022, Eleonora Fisco has been taking her performances abroad, exploring ways to make her poetry accessible to audiences who don’t speak her language. In 2024, she joined an artistic residency at the University of Chicago as part of the slampapi Marc Smith project, One Poetic Voice. This innovative approach focuses on performing the translation, transcending language barriers through a bilingual experience.

Alongside Italian poet and scholar Alessandro Minnucci and Chicago-based poets Andy Karol and Ryan Doyl, Eleonora performed at the historic Green Mill, the birthplace of poetry slam, with the show One Poetic Voice: the Italian Connection.

Using a performance practice as research approach, she transformed this experience into an academic essay (soon to be published) and a practical workshop, bringing the power of performative translation to new audiences. In 2025 Eleonora worked with the founder of the New York slam scene Bob Holman for a bilingual performance of his poem “We are the Dinosaur” at the City University of New York.