Announcing our new World Poet Series titles!
The Poetry Translation Centre is thrilled to announce the next titles in our World Poet Series, by poets Mona Kareem and Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi, and translators Sara Elkamel, Bryar Bajalan and Shook!
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Introduction
The Poetry Translation Centre gives the best contemporary poems from Africa, Asia and Latin America a new life in the English language, working with diaspora communities for whom poetry is of great importance.
Top Featured
Summer Workshops at The Albany
Join the PTC in The Albany, Deptford this Summer for a new season of in-person workshops translating from Vietnamese, Spanish, Hebrew & Arabic poetry.
Poetry Translation Centre to celebrate 20th birthday with a year-long programme supported by Arts Council England
Poetry Translation Centre to celebrate 20th birthday with a year-long programme supported by Arts Council England
Featured
Divided by a Common Tongue - Translating a Global Language (PTC @ London Book Fair)
Join Nariman Youssef, Nashwa Nasreldin, Bryar Bajalan and Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi for the Poetry Translation Centre’s seminar at the London Book Fair on 20th April
Book Launch: Mona Kareem's 'I Will Not Fold These Maps,' Tr. Sara Elkamel
Join the Poetry Translation Centre and ArabLit for the online launch of Mona Kareem's I Will Not Fold These Maps, translated by Sara Elkamel!
Translate Vietnamese poetry by Linh San with Phuong Anh Nguyen
Join us to translate the prose poem 'on a species of bird that doesn’t fly away' by Vietnamese poet Linh San with Phương Anh Nguyen.
Translate Spanish poetry from Nicaragua by Carola Brantome with Helen Dixon
Join activist, academic, poet and translator Helen Dixon to translate Carola Brantome, an award-winning feminist poet from Nicaragua.
Translating Arabic poetry by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi with Bajalan and Shook
Translating lyric poems of exile and connection by Sudanses poet Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi with his translators Bajalan and Shook.
Featured Poem
He Tells Tales of Meroe
As if his croak sounds from stone itselfAs if his voice in darkness is stained with the timbre of eternityWhen I first saw him alone, lost in thought,poised behind glass,I…كأنَّما يروي عن مروي
كأنَّما صوت نقيفه يطلعُ من كسوتِه الحجريةْكأنَّما طبقات صوتِه تتلوَّنُ في الظلمةِ مغسولةً في طبقاتِ الأبديةْحينما رأيتُه ساهياً ووحيداًفي "فترينة" المتحفِتذكرتُ نطفتَه الأولى مختلطةً بطينتِه الأمِّكان يقنصُ الفرائسَ باللُّعابِيموِّه مفترسيه باللّون وأحابيلَ أخرىيستيقظُ مثل أقرانه مِنْ سُباته الموسميّْلموسم التزاوج الجديدْقبل أن يصبح أثراً غامضاً خلف الزجاجْكأنَّما يروي عن مرويشاهداً على غروبها مرةً ومرة على شموخِ مجدها ..كأنَّه في سُباته الأخيرِ يتأهبُ ثانيةًللحياة بلباسٍ وتاجٍ جديدْ - بلسانٍ جديدْ.
He Tells Tales of Meroe
Original poem by
Translated by
with