Yearly Archives: 2016

The painter who wrote: Tove Jansson’s letters

Posted on 9 August 2016 by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson — Leave a comment

Tove Jansson was born 102 years ago today. Her letters were published in the original Swedish for her centenary, and you can read extracts in English translation by David McDuff at the Books from Finland archive. They are a treasure…

Women in translation month: Lydia Grigorieva

Posted on 1 August 2016 by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson — Leave a comment

As women in translation month returns, the task is simple – just read! So I went to a new publisher of Slavonic literature, Glagoslav, and found the perfect way to start. Lydia Grigorieva’s Shards from the Polar Ice is out today and…

Sur’s Ocean

Posted on 26 July 2016 by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson — Leave a comment

“What poet, hearing the poems Sur has made, would not nod his head in pleasure?” (Nabhadas). Swim in the ocean of his words, or down-river from his source, in this stout annotated volume of just over 400 of the thousands…

Tagged with: Devanagari, India, John Stratton Hawley, Kenneth Bryant, Murty Classical Library, Old Hindi, Poetry, Sur's Ocean, Surdas, Translation
Posted in books, faith, poetry, translation

reflected in the rainwater butt: Regentonnenvariationen

Posted on 19 July 2016 by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson — 1 Comment

Thistle stars, quince suns, and a buzzing alphabet of midges: Jan Wagner sees nature upside down and inside out. He will make you see the world in a whole new way. I found the young Hamburg poet on a trip…

Tagged with: German, Jan Wagner, Matthew Sweeney, Poetry, Regentonnenvariationen, Translation
Posted in books, poetry, translation

the language is yours, cherish it

Posted on 11 July 2016 by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson — Leave a comment

This week’s number one, slaying Justine Timberlake and Adele, is a song in te reo Māori. What a fantastic end to the 40th Maori Language Week in New Zealand. Here’s the karaoke version of Maimoatia/Cherish it by the team at Pūkana (a…

Tagged with: Aotearoa, Cherish it, Maimoatia, Maori, Maori Language Week, New Zealand, Pūkana & Whānau, te reo Māori, Welsh
Posted in international, language, music, translation, words

Sing your heart out at the football: Calon lân

Posted on 6 July 2016 by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson — Leave a comment

Wales will be singing tonight as they play Portugal in the Euro 2016 football semi-final. And they will be singing this song: According to the BBC, it only takes half an hour to learn the words to calon lân, which means a…

Tagged with: Calon lân, Euro 2016, football, Gwyrosydd, John Hughes, Rees Harris, Translation, Wales, Welsh
Posted in international, language, music, translation

A Polish contribution to statistics

Posted on 28 June 2016 by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson — Leave a comment

Almost 52 per cent of voters in a small group of islands off the west coast of Europe have decided to leave. The immediate result has been panic, fear – and a racist backlash, hitting the biggest minority of non-UK citizens,…

Tagged with: Clare Cavanagh, EU Referendum, Polish, Stanisław Barańczak, Translation, Wisława Szymborska
Posted in international, poetry, translation

The Transmigration of Bodies

Posted on 22 June 2016 by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson — 1 Comment

Having a book subscription can be a bit hit and miss. The new book can be fascinating, and just right for you, but does it land on your doormat when you’re ready to read it? This week, the right thing…

Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets

Posted on 15 June 2016 by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson — 2 Comments

This woman can tell a story or two. Or a hundred. Svetlana Alexievich writes so well because she knows who to ask and how to listen. She received last year’s literature Nobel for her ‘polyphonic writings’ – but she’s not a…

Lady Midday

Posted on 8 June 2016 by Kate Sotejeff-Wilson — 2 Comments

It started with an eight-year-old boy left at the train station by his mother, as the Germans flee the Red Army approaching Szczecin/Stettin in 1945. We need to go back more than twenty years to find out how it came…