For the fifth workshop in our ‘Translating Lewisham’ series, we will be translating poems written in Spanish by Piedad Bonnett, one of Colombia’s most celebrated writers, who has been widely recognized as a leading voice in contemporary Latin American poetry, with guest translator Yvette Siegert. In a change from our original lineup, Poet Leo Boix will be facilitating.

There is no need to know the language being translated, just come along!

Yvette Siegert is a Latinx poet, critic and translator who immigrated to the UK in 2018. She is the author of Atmospheric Ghost Lights, selected for the 2021 Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship Award, and her debut collection, a winner of the James Berry Poetry Prize, is forthcoming from Bloodaxe Books. Recent translations include Chantal Maillard’s Killing Plato (New Directions), shortlisted for the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, and Alejandra Pizarnik’s Extracting the Stone of Madness: Poems 1962–1972 (New Directions), which won the Best Translated Book Award. She is reading for a doctorate in Colombian literary geography and intellectual history at Merton College, Oxford.

Leo Boix is a Latino British poet, translator and journalist based in the UK. He has published two collections in Spanish, Un lugarpropio (2015) and Mar de noche (2017), and was included in many anthologies, such as Ten: Poets of the New Generation (Bloodaxe) and Why Poetry? (Verve Poetry Press). His English poems have appeared in Poetry, The Poetry Review, Modern Poetry in Translation, PNReview, The Rialto, Litro, Magma, Brittle Star, Letras Libres, South Bank Poetry, The Morning Star, The Laurel Review and elsewhere. Boix is a fellow of The Complete Works Program and co-director of ‘Invisible Presence’, a scheme to nurture new young voices of Latino poets in the UK.

Piedad Bonnett, one of Colombia’s most celebrated writers, has been widely recognized as a leading voice in contemporary Latin American poetry. The author of several award-winning collections, including El hilo de los días (1995), Todos los amantes son guerreros (1998), Explicaciones no pedidas (2011; XI Premio Casa de América; Premio José Lezama Lima), and Los habitados (2016; Premio Generación del 27), she has also published works in prose, such as the novel Siempre fue invierno (2007) and the highly acclaimed Lo que no tiene nombre (2013), as well as works of literary criticism – The World According to García Márquez (2005) – and various plays, anthologies, and art books. Bonnett was born in Amalfi, about ninety miles north-east of Medellín, in 1951. She writes a regular column for El Espectador (Bogotá) and has taught at the Universidad de los Andes for over thirty-five years.

Social Prescribing

You can attend our Translating Lewisham workshops for free via Lewisham’s Social Prescribing service. Social prescribing helps to improve your well-being by connecting you to non-medical support in the community. To refer yourself or someone else to the service head over to the One Health Lewisham website and fill in a simple form.

Lewisham Borough of Culture

This project is supported by the Lewisham Borough of Culture scheme, a year-long programme of events that puts Lewisham and its community in the spotlight, focusing on the themes of diversity and climate change, encouraging locals and visitors to take action.

Season Pass

You can get a great value season pass giving you access to all eight workshops in our Translating Lewisham series at a lower price: £110.00 for general admission or £70.00 concession for students, the unwaged or Lewisham residents. The discount means you will be getting on workshop for free.

Get your season pass here.