London’s Poetry Translation Centre is marking its tenth anniversary with a collection — titled My Voice — and a series of readings:
According to the PTC:
On Sunday 6 July we’re delighted to be returning to the wonderful Ledbury Poetry Festival who’ve supported our work for many years and who always make our poets feel incredibly welcome. Travis Elborough will read a selection of translations from My Voice with Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi andReza Mohammadi reading the original poems in Arabic and Persian. Tickets cost £8 and can be booked online via the festival website.
London Calling, an event at the City of London Festival on Monday 14 July, will showcase the outstanding contemporary poetry written in three languages widely spoken in London – Arabic, Persian and Somali. International poets Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi from Sudan, Caasha Lul Mohamud Yusuf from Somalia/ Somaliland and Reza Mohammadi from Afghanistan, will be
joined by UK poets and translators of their work, Clare Pollard, Jo Shapcott and Sarah Maguire . Tickets cost £8 and can be booked via the festival website.
Finally, don’t miss our gala reading onFriday 18 July at the Southbank Centre’s Poetry International Festival. On the evening, poets Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi (Sudan, Arabic), Caasha Lul Mohamud Yusuf (Somalia/Somaliland, Somali) and Reza Mohammadi (Afghanistan, Persian) will read poems in their original language. They’ll be joined by poets Clare Pollard, Jo Shapcott, Katherine Pierpoint, Mark Ford, Maura Dooley, Mimi Khalvati, W N Herbert and Sarah Maguire who will read their translations. Tickets for this event are free, but do please reserve your place in advance by clicking here or calling the Box Office on 0207 960 4200.
What’s the Poetry Translation Centre?
Partner and Group Translation: A Q&A With the Poetry Translation Centre’s Sarah Maguire:
All of our translations are based on the principle that the most important person is the international poet. British poets who work with us are asked to put their talents at the service of the poet whom they’ve been commissioned to translate. We are not interested in fancy show-off versions of poetry which are more about the poet who produces them than the original poet.
