March 11, 2024
Our guest today is a man with two names and two professions. For decades he has been a prominent poet and translator under the name AM Juster, which are the initials of his baptismal name, Michael J. Astrue. Over the years he has been a lawyer, a biotech executive, and a public servant, most notably as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration from 2007 to 2013. During this time, his political opponents tried to dig up dirt on him, but all they found was that he wrote poetry on the side.
Juster has published several collections of his own original poetry, most recently Wonder and Race She made her debut as a translator in 2020. Her work as a translator includes works by Petrarch, Horace, Tibullus, and the Latin poem Mysteries of the Anglo-Saxon Bishop St. Aldhelm. Upcoming projects include a collection of Petrarch’s poems and a children’s book about a female manatee cub. Gala Teaand a collection of poems about the legendary phoenix from Ovid to Shakespeare.
In this episode, Juster talks about his two careers, his interest in early Latin Christian poetry, the Mysteries of St. Aldhelm, and translating his own original poetry.
Link
AM Juster’s Twitter https://twitter.com/amjuster
The Mysteries of Saint Aldhelm https://www.hfsbooks.com/books/saint-aldhelms-riddles-aldhelm-juster/
Wonder and Race https://www.pauldrybooks.com/products/wonder-and-wrath
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