Throughout 2024, the Poetry Translation Centre is celebrating its 20th birthday with a jam-packed programme of events, workshops, publications and prizes.

To celebrate the poets and translators we’ve worked with over the past two decades, we’ve planned five themed showcases in Norfolk, Newcastle, Ledbury, London, Sheffield and Manchester. In preparation, we’ve been building relationships with communities in those regions, partnering with an array of leading cultural and community organisations to run informal workshops and events exploring ideas around translation.

But that’s not all! As we turn twenty, we’re also getting a new look - keep your eyes peeled for a rebrand and a refresh of our website very soon.

The PTC will also publish four astonishing books in 2024, including our groundbreaking anthology Living in Language: International Reflections for the Practising Poet; a new World Poet Series title, Real by Turkish poet Karin Karakaşlı, translated by Canan Marasligil and Sarah Howe; a new title by Mexican poet Victor Terán, translated by Shook from Zapotec; and Translations of the Route, a collection by Argentine poet Laura Wittner translated by Juana Adcock, published in partnership with Bloodaxe Books. Laura will be touring her book with Juana here in the UK in October.

Photo by Pexels via Pixabay.

In September, back at SOAS where the PTC was founded, we’ll celebrate the winners of the Sarah Maguire Prize for poetry in translation, and then make way for an all-out birthday party. The Sarah Maguire Prize closed for submissions on 31 December 2023 - stay tuned for the shortlist announcement in the Spring, and events featuring the shortlistees throughout the Summer.

We are also developing a new hybrid event format, which we’ll be evaluating throughout the year. Each showcase will feature one blockbuster hybrid event that won’t not remind you of Eurovision, as we connect poets, translators and audiences virtually across borders, limiting our carbon footprint.

On top of that, we’re running our regular workshop seasons at home in Deptford and online, and have more plans for UNDERTOW, our programme for polylingual young poets.

How can I take part?

The PTC is nothing without its network of poets, translators and language-enthusiasts. It wouldn’t be a birthday party without you there, so we heartily invite you to join in.

Come to an event

There’s no better way to celebrate than to join us at one of our events this year, whether online or in-person. Whether you’re an old friend of the PTC, or you’ve always meant to come to one of our events and never found the time, add it to your New Year’s Resolution list to find out what’s on near you and book a ticket.

Buy a book

Invite poetry in translation into your home! Enjoy one of our unique (and often award-winning) bilingual publications from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Order now.

Share a memory

Since our founding in 2004 by Sarah Maguire, the PTC’s work has touched so many lives. In 2024, we’re inviting you to share your memories of the PTC over the past two decades. We’ll update this page soon with details on how to do this.

Join our mailing list

You won’t want to miss out on all we’re doing this year. Sign up to our free mailing list to be the first to know.

Thank you

In this landmark year, we wanted to say an enormous thank you to all the poets, translators, audiences and generous donors who have been a part of the PTC’s first twenty years. We hope to see and celebrate as many of you as possible in 2024, and beyond.

We also want to thank our funders Arts Council England and the T. S. Eliot Foundation, and the many, many partner organisations who are working with us to make 2024 a year to remember:

• for our Exile and Arrival Showcase, the National Centre for Writing, red herring press, ICORN Malmo, Dawit Izaak Library, and Världspoesidagen;

• for our Women and Non-binary Poets Showcase, New Writing North, Poet in the City, Newcastle Poetry Festival and Out of Your Head;

• for our Latinx Showcase, Ledbury Poetry Festival, the British Library, Un Nuevo Sol, Latin America House and the University of San Andrés;

• for our Somali Showcase, Kayd Somali Arts and Culture, Off the Shelf Festival, Israac Somali Community Organisation and Hargeysa Cultural Centre;

• and for The Future is Now Showcase, Manchester Poetry Library, Singapore Writers’ Festival and SingLit Station.

Finally, we want to honour Sarah Maguire, our founder and first director. Without Sarah, the Poetry Translation Centre would not exist, and the UK poetry translation sector would be much poorer. Thank you to Sarah, and to everyone who was involved in our inception twenty years ago.

We can’t wait to see you in 2024.