The Poetry Translation Centre has celebrated women in translation since its inception in 2004 by the poet Sarah Maguire, but this month we’re taking a closer look at some of the women poets we have translated and published over the past 21 years.
After a decade of multilingual book readings, poetry translation workshops, and world poet tours, in 2014 the PTC celebrated its tenth anniversary with a new publishing partnership with Bloodaxe Books and the publication of the seminal poetry anthology My Voice.
My Voice: A Decade of Poems from the Poetry Translation Centre, edited by Sarah Maguire
A gloriously diverse, revelatory selection of translations from the first ten years of the Poetry Translation Centre. 111 brilliant poems translated from 27 different languages, ranging from Arabic to Zapotec, with all the original scripts included.
“This groundbreaking anthology extends the territory of English poetry through a series of generous translations that make welcome the magnificent poetic traditions of many communities now settled here.”– Carol Ann Duffy
The PTC continues to publish poetry collections in collaboration with Bloodaxe Books, by major international names such as Azita Ghahreman (translated by Elhum Shakerifar with Maura Dooley), Legna Rodríguez Iglesias (translated by Abigail Parry and Serafina Vick) and Diana Anphimiadi (translated by Natalia Bukia-Peters with Jean Sprackland).
Translation of the Route by Laura Wittner (tr. Juana Adcock)
The eleventh collection by the award-winning Argentine poet and translator Laura Wittner. In poems that are precise, frank and finely tuned, Wittner explores the specificities of parental and familial love, life after marriage, and the re-ignition of the self in middle age.
“Poems of the radiant everyday. In Juana Adcock’s warm translation, Laura Wittner’s chatty, witty voice comes through with gorgeous clarity. Reading this book is like listening to a wise, beloved friend over coffee.” – Clare Pollard
In 2017 and 2018 the PTC toured leading women poets from Turkey and Georgia, alongside new chapbooks. Work began towards establishing a new literary prize in honour of Sarah’s lifelong commitment to poetry in translation, the Sarah Maguire Prize, which formally launched in 2019 and was first awarded in 2020.
Sarah Maguire Prize Anthology 2020
An anthology featuring a generous selection from each of the six titles shortlisted for the inaugural Sarah Maguire Prize, featuring poetry in Arabic, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Chinese.
“This is an astonishing anthology which ranges around the world to expand our appreciation of poetry and the many forms and realms of thought it can inhabit. I love the constant surprises of technique, the lyric variety and range of themes. Each of the books it showcases are playful, ground breaking and beautifully translated.”– Daljit Nagra
2019 also saw the launch of the PTC’s World Poet Series, a series which introduces leading international poets in a 66-page dual-language pocket edition, with the English and original-language poems displayed side by side. World Poet Series titles have been shortlisted for numerous awards and selected as the Poetry Book Society Translation Choice, by major names such as Mona Kareem (translated by Sara Elkamel), Ribka Sibhatu (translated by André Naffis Sahely) and Yu Yoyo (translated by Dave Haysom with A.K. Blakemore).
I Will Not Fold These Maps by Mona Kareem (tr. Sara Elkamel)
Mona Kareem is a stateless poet, born in Kuwait, whose work has been internationally acclaimed for its power and immediacy. This collection, translated into English by poet and translator Sara Elkamel, offers an overview of Kareem’s 20-year poetry career, in English, for the first time, as part of the World Poet Series.
In these poems, exile is a purgatory, an interrupted horizon. The migrant and the poet share a body. Boundaries are obliterated and overthrown. Kareem inhabits this state of suspension, inviting us to do the same in our reading and thinking.’ – Momtaza Mehri, author of Bad Diaspora Poems
To mark the PTC’s 20th anniversary, the PTC published its first craft book, Living in Language, featuring essays by poets from around the world in English translation, including by Diana Bellessi and Ursula K. Le Guin.
Living in Language: International reflections for the practising poet, edited by Erica Hesketh
The PTC’s first craft book, written by authors and translators from around the world, Living in Language brings together reflections on the craft and purpose of poetry, by 21 leading poets from around the world.
An essential resource for anyone looking to broaden their horizons and engage with the cutting edge of poetry as it is practised, around the world, in the 21st century.
We’re closing out August and Women in Translation month with a flash sale—grab 21% off the entire PTC online bookshop for this week only with the code WIT2025! Ends 31st August 11:59pm BST. We ship worldwide.
Happy reading!
