Erica Hesketh

Director (on partial sabbatical until March 2024)

Erica Hesketh joined the Poetry Translation Centre from English PEN, where she managed the Writers in Translation programme. She previously worked as an editor at Bloomsbury Publishing, a literary events programmer at Southbank Centre, and the book campaigns director at The Pigeonhole. She is also a musician and poet, with poems in Ink, Sweat & Tears, harana poetry and The North among others. She is a trustee of Adverse Camber Productions, and serves on the editorial board of the translation journal In Other Words.

What I do:

From September 2023 to March 2024 I'm on a partial sabbatical. I am reducing my hours to one day per week and will focus on commissioning and editing the PTC's list of incredible dual-language poetry collections. Please feel free to contact me about them, but for anything else please contact my cover Ellen McAteer.

You can contact Erica at erica@poetrytranslation.org.

Ellen McAteer

Director (sabbatical cover) and Publishing Manager (job-share)

Ellen McAteer is a poet and songwriter. Their first collection is forthcoming from Verve Poetry Press in October 2024. Their poetry pamphlet Honesty Mirror, published by Red Squirrel Press, won First Prize in the New Writer pamphlet competition judged by Helen Mort. They have been a visiting lecturer at the Glasgow School of Art and on the University of Oxford Creative Writing MSt, a mentee of Rachel Long under an Arts Council DYCP grant, and of the Clydebuilt Verse Apprenticeship Scheme, under Alexander Hutchison, and they have an MA in Creative and Life Writing from Goldsmiths. As well as working with the Poetry Translation Centre, they are Founder and trustee of Tell It Slant poetry bookshop in Glasgow.

What I do:

From September 2023 to March 2024 I'm providing cover for Erica's sabbatical. In this capacity I'm responsible for running and leading the charity, reporting to our board of trustees, liaising with funders and supporters, and developing partnerships to keep the PTC flourishing well into the future.

As Publishing Manager, I develop and maintain the PTC’s key relationships with co-publishers, retailers and distributors. I also manage the biennial Sarah Maguire Prize for new books of poetry in translation from beyond Europe. If you are interested in buying or stocking our books, featuring our prize shortlist, or entering the prize, I am the person to talk to.

You can contact Ellen at ellen@poetrytranslation.org.

Cornelius Gibbons

Publishing Manager (job-share)

Cornelius Gibbons is an arts administrator and project coordinator based in London. He has an MA with distinction in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy from Goldsmiths, and a BA in Art History from the University of Birmingham. Having held various positions across the cultural sector, his primary aims are to facilitate and enable the production of arts and culture. He has a keen interest in the crossovers between film and poetry.

What I do:

As Publishing Manager (job-share) I share publications duties with Ellen McAteer. This includes handling direct sales to our online bookshop, as well as to institutions, retailers and partners. I liaise with our current and potential partners on issues related to our publications and sales, as well as produce and update publication catalogues for marketing campaigns and/or publishing events. I also assist Ellen in the management of the Sarah Maguire Prize 2024. If you are interested in enquiring about any of the above, please feel free to email me.

You can contact Cornelius at cornelius@poetrytranslation.org.

Bern Roche Farrelly

Participation Producer

Bern Roche Farrelly is a writer, dramaturg and producer with ten years of experience as an arts administrator. His work includes writing and directing Determine, a choose your own adventure style play set in a world without free will at The Yard Theatre in 2014. He produced The People Versus Democracy, an interactive theatre game for Hobo Theatre. Performed at London's Free Word Centre during the 2015 UK general Election the show was called 'A provocative piece of theatre' by RemoteGoat and received a five-star review from BritishTheatre.com. He was the dramaturg and producer of Freud The Musical, at the King's Head Theatre in 2016 & VAULT festival in 2018. He is a founding member of Working Birthday theatre company.

What I do:

As Participation Producer, I manage the PTC’s collaborative translation workshops, our UNDERTOW development programme, the Queer Digital Residency and the Radical Approaches Reading Group. I also produce our Dual Poetry Podcast. If you are interested in running a poetry translation workshop in your community, I am the person to talk to.

You can contact Bern at bern@poetrytranslation.org.

Helen Bowell

Events Producer (20th Birthday Programme)

Helen Bowell is a poet, producer and editor joining the Poetry Translation Centre from The Poetry Society, where she was an Education Officer for nearly six years running its Young Poets Network and Poets in Schools programmes. Since 2015, she has also been a co-director of Dead [Women] Poets Society, a collective that seeks to ‘resurrect’ women poets of the past through events and online, and which completed an Arts Council England funded national tour in 2021. She co-guest-edited the Autumn 2020 Modern Poetry in Translation focus on dead women poets and has had co-translations published in Poetry London and Modern Poetry in Translation. She also runs poetry workshops for organisations like Spread the Word and the Royal Society of Literature, and translation workshops for the PTC. In 2023-24, she is running Bi+ Lines, a community poetry project that will result in the first anthology of bi+ poets in English published by fourteen poems. She is also a Ledbury Poetry Critic with reviews in Magma, Poetry Wales and Ink, Sweat & Tears. Her debut poetry pamphlet The Barman was published by Bad Betty Press in 2022 and was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice. Photo courtesy of Hayley Madden.

What I do:

I'm the Events Producer responsible for running the PTC's 20th birthday programme of events in 2024. I will be organising showcases, readings, workshops and community events with a number of local and international partners in cities across England, featuring some of the poets and translators the PTC has worked with over the past 20 years. Get in touch with me if you'd like to partner on an event.

You can contact Helen at helen@poetrytranslation.org.

Ecre Karadag

Marketing and Communications Manager

Ecre Karadag is a translator and marketer with an arts and community engagement background. She has an MA Translation degree from SOAS, University of London and most recently an MA in Japanese Studies from Sophia University, Tokyo. While studying in Tokyo, she was head of editorial and rights at The COMM, a multilingual Japanese street fashion magazine that has been recognised in Vogue, i-D, Glamour and the 2020 British Fashion Awards. As well as working at the PTC and as a Japanese-English translator, Ecre works at Fitzrovia Community Centre, supporting their fundraising, monitoring and evaluation and runs a weekly community poetry group there with poet and translator Yvonne Green.

What I do:

As Marketing and Communications Manager, I oversee the PTC’s communications strategy, social media accounts and website and work with our poets, translators and partners to promote our workshops, publications and events through digital campaigns. If you would like to discuss anything marketing, digital and promotion, please get in touch.

You can contact Ecre at ecre@poetrytranslation.org.

Sam Dodd

Operations Manager

Sam Dodd is a writer, editor and facilitator, and comes to us with a history of ops and office management spanning almost a decade at small literature orgs such as The Poetry Society, First Story, Prison Reading Groups, Free Word, and English PEN. Sam is also a writing mentor for Arkbound and a trustee for Spread the Word, and has project managed community engagement life writing project, CityLife Stories, since 2014.

What I do:

As Operations Manager I look after the day-to-day operations of the PTC, including bookkeeping, banking, HMRC, HR, Companies House, Charity Commission, budgets and financial reports; systems, suppliers and services; and board/governance organisation and administration.

You can contact Sam at sam@poetrytranslation.org.