Sometimes reading a new book is like meeting a new friend. Chika Sagawa was born over a century ago, and this new volume of her writing is slim, but it was enough to seal the friendship for me. It may…
Blog Archives
waiting for Christmas, Japanese style
Tagged with: Chika Sagawa, Collected Poems, Japanese, modernism, PEN, Poetry, Sawako Nakayasu, Translation
Posted in books, poetry, translation
Posted in books, poetry, translation
Searching for Sappho
New poems by a woman who died over two millennia ago – of course I was interested. And this book does get off to a cracking detective-like start, which reminded me of a book I loved, Sisters of Sinai: What happens after…
Tagged with: Anne Carson, Greek, Mary Barnard, Philip Freeman, Sappho, Searching for Sappho, Translation
Posted in books, gender, history, poetry, Uncategorized
Posted in books, gender, history, poetry, Uncategorized
points of gold in the dark
The first Mongolian poetry book in English translation to be published in the US after The End of the Dark Era – it’s no surprise it’s from Phoneme. Tseveendorjin Oidov, like so many artists in the Soviet sphere of influence,…
Tagged with: Buddhism, modernism, Mongolian, Poetry, Simon Wickhamsmith, The End of the Dark Era, Tranlsation, Tseveendorjin Oidov
Posted in books, history, poetry, translation
Posted in books, history, poetry, translation
Night-Sky Checkerboard
Phoneme Media has done it again. Oh Saw-Young’s Night-Sky Checkerboard looks simple enough – an elegant slim volume of bilingual poetry from a language not many people would be able to read otherwise; Korean. The powerful juxtapositions of natural imagery reminded me of Regentonnenvariationen.…
Tagged with: books, Brother Anthony of Taizé, Korean, Night-Sky Checker Board, Oh Sae-Young, Phoneme Media, Poetry, Translation
Posted in books, poetry, translation
Posted in books, poetry, translation
We need more Akhmatova
With some books, you have to be ready.This poet is one of Russia’s best, but it took me this long to sit down and read her. It’s time you did, too. Anna Akhmatova’s Selected Poems in Richard McKane’s English translation…
Tagged with: Anna Akhmatova, Bloodaxe Books, Poetry, Richard McKane, Russian, Translation, Women in Translation Month
Posted in books, faith, history, literature, poetry, translation, Women in Translation Month
Posted in books, faith, history, literature, poetry, translation, Women in Translation Month
Rilke Shake
Two! Brazilian women in English translation on the ALTA national translation award long list. Is it the Olympic effect? Clarice Lispector is a heavyweight contender, but here’s something new, featherlight and deft from the south. It probably weighs less than…
Tagged with: Angélica Freitas, Brazil, BTBA 2016, Hilary Kaplan, NTA long list, Phoneme Media, Poetry, Portuguese, Queer, Rilke Shake, Translation
Posted in Best Translated Book Award, books, gender, poetry, translation, Women in Translation Month
Posted in Best Translated Book Award, books, gender, poetry, translation, Women in Translation Month
Women in translation month: Lydia Grigorieva
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…
Tagged with: Glagoslav, John Farndon, Lydia Grigorieva, Olga Nakston, Richard McKane, Russian, Shards from the Polar Ice, Translation, Ukrainian, Women in Translation Month
Posted in books, gender, poetry, translation, Women in Translation Month
Posted in books, gender, poetry, translation, Women in Translation Month
Sur’s Ocean
“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
Posted in books, faith, poetry, translation
reflected in the rainwater butt: Regentonnenvariationen
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
Posted in books, poetry, translation
A Polish contribution to statistics
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
Posted in international, poetry, translation
found in translation 