Rate My Professor Jennifer Ratbun

Jennifer Rathbun, poet and translator, is a Professor of Spanish, Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, and Interim Chair of the Department of Philosophy at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. She holds a PhD in contemporary Latin American literature from the University of Arizona. Rathbun serves as Associate Editor of Ashland Poetry Press and editor of two anthologies of poetry. Her academic interests encompass contemporary Latin American literature, poetry, and literary translation. She maintains her office in room NQ 178, with phone contact at 765-285-1363.

Rathbun has published poetry collections Precipicio / Precipice (2023, UP National Autonomous University of Honduras) and El libro de traiciones / The Book of Betrayals (2021, Artepoética Press, New York). As a translator, she has rendered numerous poetry books by Hispanic authors into English or bilingual formats, including Hojas de Papel Volando / Paper Leaves in the Wind by Patricia Ariza (2023, Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Artepoética Press, Bogota and New York), Giros de faros / Circling Beacons by Alberto Blanco (2022, Guernica Editions, Toronto), Blue Window / Ventana Azul by Indran Amirthanayagam (2021, Díalogos, New Orleans), Beloved / Adamar by Minerva Margarita Villarreal (2020, Arte Poética Press, New York), and Afterglow / Tras el rayo by Alberto Blanco (2011, The Bitter Oleander Press, New York). In 2021, Rathbun received the Ambroggio Prize from the Academy of American Poets for translating Cardinal in My Window With a Mask on its Beak by Colombian author Carlos Aguasaco. She participated in The Americas Poetry Festival of New York 2021, reading at the City University of New York on October 13-15.