Translator Joel Mitchell joined us to lead the first workshop on poetry in Arabic from Mauritania by Mbarka Mint al-Barra'. Known as the country of a million poets, Mauritanian poetry has rarely been translated into English, so this was a very welcome opportunity to encounter the work of Mauritania's leading woman poet.

Translating Mbarka's poetry was far from easy! We took two whole hours to finish 'Poetry and I', but we all felt the effort was well worth the result.

We're having a break for Easter and so our next workshop will be on Wednesday 4th May when we'll be translating more of Mbarka Mint al-Barra's poems with Joel Mitchell.

Our poetry translation workshops are one of the PTC's core activities. Through them we've first encountered some of the poets we've gone on to translate, publish and record at length. A significant number of the poets who've visited the UK to take part in our tours were introduced to us by a translator bringing their poems to a workshop.

The workshops are open to anyone who can contribute a translation of a poem by a living African, Asian or Latin American poet who has an established reputation in their own language.

Workshops are free but places are limited so advance booking is essential. If you've not attended one of our workshops before, please read this before booking a place.

To book a place click hereor follow the link below.