Join our online collaborative workshops. These unique sessions offer the opportunity to get closer to the translation process. In these sessions, you can enjoy a unique insight into contemporary Sri Lankan culture and discover Tamil poet Anar. No need to know the language being translated, simply log in and connect with like-minded people over a shared creative experience.

Connect online with like-minded poetry fans and give your brain a workout with the creative and problem-solving challenges of our collaborative translations sessions. Perfect for translators, poets and language lovers stuck inside for the foreseeable future.

The PTC's third online Poetry Translation Workshops will be taking a deep dive into the work of Sri Lankan Tamil poet Anar (Izzat Rehana Mohammed Azeen). A distinguished voice in the Tamil poetry scene, her work carries a unique, feminine perspective informed by nature, regional folklore and the Islamic Sufi tradition.

This online workshop season will take place over two 90-minute sessions on Zoom over two consecutive Tuesday evenings. This format will let us spend time with a single poetic voice. The workshops will be lead by the Tamil translator, artist, writer and critic Hari Rajaledchumy and the poet Edward Doegar.

All the details:

• The PTC will deliver these workshops online via Zoom.
• This online series will follow our usual workshop format, working as a group to translate the poem line by line.
• Working from a guide translation of the original poem, guided by a translator and poet to facilitate the sessions.
• Two sessions lasting 90 minutes each over two weeks working on one longer poem
• In advance of the beginning of the series, we will share the original poem and the bridge translation that the group will be working from as well as further materials to aid the experience like audio examples of the poetry and a video introduction to the poet by the translator
• On consecutive Wednesday evenings 8 and 15 July, 18:30-20:00.
• Pay-What-You-Can donation when reserving your ticket.
• Reserve one ticket for both sessions.
• We want to keep our workshop experience as accessible as possible, especially as we are aware that Covid has put many people at a financial disadvantage. Therefore, whilst the cost of running this tandem workshop is £50 per person, we are operating this activity on a 'Pay-What-You-Can' donation basis.

To try and make the online experience as enjoyable and manageable as possible, places will be restricted - if you book please do make sure you can attend both sessions.

Workshop materials and the log-in details to join the sessions through Zoom, with joining instructions, will be sent out by email when you book your place.

The Poet

Anar (Izzat Rehana Mohammed Azeem) is a distinguished voice in the Sri Lankan Tamil poetry scene with 5 critically acclaimed collections to her name. She has been contributing her poems and articles to literary magazines and national media since the early 90s. Several of her poems have been translated into English and have appeared in anthologies and journals. Her poems often address what it is like to be a Muslim woman living under war and violence, and how language or poetry can transform life and experience. Her poetry is acutely aware of the violence, risk and horror of being a woman under conditions of religious extremism, islamophobia and state oppression.

Her books have won several awards, most notably the Government of Sri Lanka's National Literature Award, the Tamil Literary Garden’s (Canada) Poetry Award, Aaathmanam Award (Chennai), SPARROW Award (Mumbai), and the Vijay TV Excellence in the Field of Literature (Sigaram Thotta Pengal) Award.

The Translator

Hari Rajaledchumy is an artist, writer, and poet based in London. She primarily works in installation, text, and poetry. Rajaledchumy was recently an artist associate at the studio-based Open School East programme. Her works have been published in Puthiya Sol (Sri Lanka), Sari Nihar (Sri Lanka), Manal Veedu (India) and Aakkaddi (France).