Poetry Parnassus was the largest gathering of international poets ever staged. In the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics, one poet was chosen to represent each of the 204 Olympic countries and we were delighted that ten PTC poets and translators were invited to participate in a remarkable series of events at London’s Southbank Centre from 26th June to 1st July.
The poets we’ve translated who were chosen to represent their country were:
Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi: Sudan
Conceição Lima: São Tomé and Príncipe
Corsino Fortes: Cape Verde
Farzaneh Khojandi: Tajikistan
Mbarka Mint al-Barra’: Mauritania
Reza Mohammadi: Afghanistan
Ribka Sibhatu: Eritrea
Two of the poets who’ve translated with us also represented their country:
Jo Shapcott: Great Britain
Mimi Khalvati: Iran
And the wonderful David Shook was the Poetry Parnassus Translator in Residence.
Sadly, Corsino Fortes, Farzaneh Khojandi and Mbarka Mint al-Barra’ were unable to travel to London for the festival, but their poetry was read at the PTC’s celebration reading on Sunday 1st July at 4pm.
