Event Details
Thu, September 10, 2026
12:30 – 14:30
Villa Sassetti
Villa La Pietra
Via Bolognese, 120
50139 Florence, Italy
(NYU Florence community only)
A Conversation with Kimiko Hahn (USA) and Sigurbjörg Þrastardóttir (Iceland).
Moderated by poet Elisa Biagini, NYU Florence
Followed by a poetry reading and light lunch.
Featured Biographies
Kimiko Hahn
Poet
Kimiko Hahn is the author of eleven collections, most recently The Ghost Forest: new and selected poems. Her subjects range from identity to current events to science. In the new work, she continues to play with Eastern, Western and hybrid forms–and she invents new forms that pay homage to past writers. Among her honors is the 2023 Ruth Lilly Prize for Lifetime Achievement from The Poetry Foundation and she is a Chancellor at the Academy of American Poets. Hahn teaches in the MFA Program for Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College, City University of New York.
Sigurbjörg Þrastardóttir
Poet
Sigurbjörg Þrastardóttir is the author of ten poetry collections, two novels, flash fiction and a few staged plays. Her poetry cycle Blysfarir (Processioni) was nominated for the Nordic Council Literature Prize in 2009, followed by releases in German and Swedish. Italian versions of her verses first appeared in the volume In forma di parole (2005), and she has appeared at poetry festivals in Genova, Roma, Trieste and Bologna. She was awarded the Premio Ciampi in 2021, annually granted to one Italian poet and one foreign voice, which was marked by the publication of Cicatrici (translations by Silvia Cosimini). Sigurbjörg collaborates with international artists and Icelandic composers alike, and regularly writes columns on language and the everyday. She lives in Reykjavík.