Featured Poems

Portrait of Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi

Everything

written by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi
translated by Sarah Maguire

Let the wind blow from a fisherman's mouth,
from the span of a sail to the shell of a boat,

كلُّ شَيْءْ

إطلق الرّيحَ من فَمِ الصيَّادِ
إلى هيكلِ المُرْكَبِ ، من عُمْقِ الشراعِ

Portrait of Kajal Ahmad

Birds

written by Kajal Ahmad
translated by Mimi Khalvati

According to the latest classification, Kurds
now belong to a species of bird

The title of the poem titled Birds

The first two lines of the poem titled Birds

Like a Desert Flower

written by Parween Faiz Zadah Malaal
translated by Workshop

Like a desert flower waiting for rain,
like a river-bank thirsting for the touch of pitchers,

The title of the poem titled Like a Desert Flower

The first two lines of the poem titled Like a Desert Flower

Welcome

Welcome to The Poetry Translation Centre’s website. We’re a small organisation dedicated to translating contemporary poetry from Africa, Asia and Latin America. On these pages you’ll be able to read our translations and find out more about us.

News

  • 11/06/2008 Workshop on Tajik Poetry: Farzaneh Khojandi, 11th June

    For the third in our series of workshops concerning our World Poets' Tour, we were joined by Jo Shapcott and Narguess Farzad for a fascinating discussion about their translations of poems by Farzaneh Khojandi from Tajikistan.

  • 28/05/2008 Workshop on Sudanese Poetry with Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi

    This special workshop that the Sudanese poet, Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi, attended with his translators, Sarah Maguire and Sabry Hafez, gave us a unique insight into his poetry.

  • 30/04/2008 Workshop on Kurdish Poetry: Kajal Ahmad, 30th April

    In the first of our special workshops introducing the six poets who'll be coming to the UK in October for our World Poets' Tour, we discussed the poetry of Kajal Ahmad from Kurdistan with her co-translators, Mimi Khalvati and Choman Hardi.

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