Olivia E. Sears

Olivia E. Sears is a writer and literary translator. Her translation work focuses primarily on poetry by Italian women from the past 100 years, from early Dada poetry to 1960s/70s avant-garde writing to contemporary work by dramatist Mariangela Gualtieri. She recently published the first complete translation of a 1915 master work of experimental poetry, Simultaneities and Lyric Chemisms, by Italian futurist painter and poet Ardengo Soffici (World Poetry Books, 2022).

Her original writing on the natural world, often in collaboration with visual artist Aline Mare (Self/Cell, PhotoSynthesis), has appeared in multimedia installations and performances in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco. Most recently, she worked with botanical fabric artist Samuel Spurrier to create a 7-foot silk banner poem (“Unfurl Your Cosmos”) accompanied by a leather/cloth book (Hide) for the Erotic Impulse exhibit in Los Angeles (Mash Gallery, 2022).

Sears founded the Center for the Art of Translation and the journal Two Lines, which she edited for more than a decade, and she continues to serve on the editorial board of Two Lines Press. A graduate of Yale University, she holds a doctorate in Italian literature from Stanford University. A long-time musician, Sears has performed and recorded with Indonesian gamelan ensemble Pusaka Sunda for more than 25 years.

She lives in San Francisco.