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Home > Translation > The World Bookshelf > Books > My Voice

My Voice

As this gloriously diverse, revelatory selection of translations from the Poetry Translation Centre’s first decade proves, nothing has invigorated poetry in English more than translation.

Here you will find 111 brilliant poems translated from 23 different languages (ranging from Arabic to Zapotec: all the original scripts are included) by 45 of the world’s leading poets. Arranged on a journey from exile to ecstasy, these powerful poems have been co-translated by some of the UK’s best-loved poets including Jo Shapcott, Sean O’Brien, Lavinia Greenlaw, W N Herbert, Mimi Khalvati and Nick Laird.

Founded by Sarah Maguire, the Poetry Translation Centre aims to transform English verse through engaging with the rich poetic traditions of the UK’s recent immigrant communities for whom poetry is of overwhelming importance. Reading these Somali, Afghan, Sudanese and Kurdish poets (26 countries are represented), you will understand why their scintillating and heartbreaking poems inspire such devotion.

‘This groundbreaking anthology extends the territory of English poetry through a series of generous translations that make welcome the magnificent poetic traditions of many communities now settled here’ – Carol Ann Duffy.

Author

Sarah Maguire

Sarah Maguire

Books

My Voice

Sarah Maguire is the founder and director of The Poetry Translation Centre. She has published four highly acclaimed collections of poetry, most recently The Pomegranates of Kandahar (Chatto, 2007) which was shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize. Her selected poems, Almost the Equinox, will be published by Chatto in 2015.

Translator

Various

Various

Books

The Book of Khartoum

Thoraya El-Rayyes’ translations have appeared in literary journals/magazines, including World Literature Today and Banipal. In 2014 she received the Arkansas Arabic Translation Award for her translation of Hisham Bustani. Mohammed Ghalaieni was raised bilingually and schooled in Gaza from the age of ten, working on translation projects in New York and Gaza. Sarah Irving is the author and editor of several books, and teaches Arabic at the University of Edinburgh. Elisabeth Jaquette is a graduate student at Columbia University, regularly translates for journals/magazines, and has worked with the PEN World Voices Festival. Andrew Leber is based in Doha, and has translated excerpts of Syrian and Palestinian Literature, including Hani al-Rahib and Atef Abu Saif. Adam Talib teaches classical Arabic literature at the American University in Cairo, and is the translator of Fadi Azzam, Khairy Shalaby and Mekkawi Said, to name a few.

Published by

Bloodaxe Books, 2014
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As this gloriously diverse, revelatory selection of translations from the Poetry Translation Centre’s first decade proves, nothing has invigorated poetry in English more than translation.

Here you will find 111 brilliant poems translated from 23 different languages (ranging from Arabic to Zapotec: all the original scripts are included) by 45 of the world’s leading poets. Arranged on a journey from exile to ecstasy, these powerful poems have been co-translated by some of the UK’s best-loved poets including Jo Shapcott, Sean O’Brien, Lavinia Greenlaw, W N Herbert, Mimi Khalvati and Nick Laird.

Founded by Sarah Maguire, the Poetry Translation Centre aims to transform English verse through engaging with the rich poetic traditions of the UK’s recent immigrant communities for whom poetry is of overwhelming importance. Reading these Somali, Afghan, Sudanese and Kurdish poets (26 countries are represented), you will understand why their scintillating and heartbreaking poems inspire such devotion.

‘This groundbreaking anthology extends the territory of English poetry through a series of generous translations that make welcome the magnificent poetic traditions of many communities now settled here’ – Carol Ann Duffy.

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