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The PTC's second World Poets' Tour, which took place in October 2008, featured the poetry of six leading international poets - listed on the right - co-translated by half-a-dozen distinguished British poets presented in twenty-one extraordinary events and readings in venues across the UK.

On these pages you can find descriptions of the events, together with blogs, essays, photos and videos.

1. Poetry in Translation - W. N. Herbert and Sarah Maguire at the Bristol Poetry Festival

   Sunday 7th September 2008

   To kick of our 2008 World Poets' Tour, W N Herbert and Sarah Maguire appeared at the Bristol Poetry Festival on to talk about their experiences...

2. World Poets' Tour 2008 Launch Party

   Monday 6th October 2008

   We launched our World Poets' Tour with a fabulous party at the October Gallery in London.

3. Poets in the Community: the poetry of Kajal Ahmad at Cardiff Central Library

   Wednesday 8th October 2008

   Choman Hardi visited Cardiff Central Library to read and discuss the poems of Kajal Ahmad with a local Kurdish audience.

4. Farzaneh Khojandi, Gaarriye and the poetry of Kajal Ahmad with Choman Hardi at the BayLit festival

   Wednesday 8th October 2008

   Farzaneh Khojandi and Gaarriye travelled to Cardiff for this reading at Kemi's Cafe at which Choman Hardi also read Kajal Ahmad's poems.

5. Reception at the House of Lords

   Thursday 9th October 2008

   Lord Victor Adebowale hosted a reception to celebrate the World Poets' Tour at the House of Lords.

6. Gaarriye at Somali Week

   Friday 10th October 2008

   As part of the 2008 Somali Week Festival at Oxford House, Gaarriye and his translator, Martin Orwin, read some of his most famous work.

7. Farzaneh Khojandi, Lavinia Greenlaw, Choman Hardi and Nadeem Aslam at Ilkley Literature Festival

   Sunday 12th October 2008

   Readings by Farzaneh Khojandi, Choman Hardi, Nadeem Aslam and Lavinia Greenlaw.

8. Farzaneh Khojandi, Jo Shapcott and Nukhbah Langah at the Birmingham Book Festival

   Tuesday 14th October 2008

   Readings by Farzaneh Khojandi and Jo Shapcott, with Noshi Gillani's poems read by Nukhbah Langah.

9. Gaarriye and W N Herbert at the Bluecoat Centre in Liverpool

   Tuesday 14th October 2008

   Readings by Maxamed Xaashi Dhamac 'Gaarriye' and W.N.Herbert

10. Echoing Seeds: An Encounter with Corsino Fortes at King's College, London

    Wednesday 15th October 2008

    Readings by Corsino Fortes accompanied by a documentary on Cape Verde and the poet's work.

11. Gaarriye and the poetry of Kajal Ahmad with Mimi Khalvati at Canterbury Festival

    Wednesday 15th October 2008

    Readings by Maxamed Xaashi Dhamac 'Gaarriye' and the poetry of Kajal Ahmad, with Mimi Khalvati.

12. Poets in the Community: Farzaneh Khojandi at SOAS

    Friday 17th October 2008

    Farzaneh Khojandi gave a special reading at SOAS with an audience from the Iranian, Tajik and Afghan communities.

13. Gala Readings: Poetry in Seven Languages at the British Library

    Saturday 18th October 2008

    The Gala Reading at the British Library was an unprecdented literary event featuring the poems of six international poets read in translation by...

14. Corsino Fortes, Gaarriye and the poetry of Noshi Gillani at Manchester Literature Festival

    Monday 20th October 2008

    Readings by Corsino Fortes, Gaarriye and the poetry of Noshi Gillani, with Sean O'Brien, W N Herbert, Lavinia Greenlaw and Nukhbah Langah.

15. Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi plus a talk on Wordsworth and Arabic Poetry at SOAS

    Tuesday 21st October 2008

    A talk by Professor Sabry Hafez on Wordsworth in Arabic translation, followed by a reading by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi and Sarah Maguire.

16. Corsino Fortes at The Camoes Institute in Oxford

    Friday 24th October 2008

    Corsino Fortes reads his poetry at the Camoes Institute at Oxford University

17. The World Poets' Tour at Dove Cottage: Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi, Sarah Maguire and Sabry Hafez

    Saturday 25th October 2008

    A talk by Sabry Hafez on Wordsworth in Arabic translation was followed by a reading by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi and Sarah Maguire

18. Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi and the poems of Kajal Ahmad with Choman Hardi and Sarah Maguire

    Thursday 30th October 2008

    Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi read his poems in Arabic, with Choman Hardi reading Kajal Ahmad's poems in Kurdish and Sarah Maguire reading the...

19. Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi, Gaarriye and the poems of Kajal Ahmad, Farzaneh Khojandi and Noshi Gillani

    Saturday 1st November 2008

    The last time most of us were together for the 2008 tour was when we visited Lancaster LitFest for three readings celebrating five of our...

20. Newcastle University - Gaarriye and W.N. Herbert

    Tuesday 9th December 2008

    The Northern Writers’ Centre and the School of English at Newcastle University presented an evening of readings with Gaarriye and W.N....

21. An Evening with Scottish P.E.N. - Gaarriye and W.N. Herbert

    Thursday 11th December 2008

    Gaarriye,W.N.Herbert, Iyad Hayatleh and Valerie Thornton read at a special event for Scottish P.E.N. at the Glasgow School of Art on Thursday...