I am writing this as Afghanistan descends once more into horror. A tiny Welsh part of me still thinks “the bloody English colonials, look what they started and didn’t finish – again.” And you could read the Gododdin this way,…
Blog Archives
Lament for the Fallen
Tagged with: Aneirin, books, Cynghanedd, Faber, Gillian Clarke, Gododdin, Hay Festival, Poetry, Translation, Welsh
Posted in books, history, literature, poetry
Posted in books, history, literature, poetry
Monsters and heroes: Beowulf
Dragons, magic, heaps of gold and jewels, superhuman strength, slaying monsters – both monsters who are slain and monsters who slay. In the ancient and modern senses of the word. It’s fun. It’s fantasy. It’s the perfect read for a…
Tagged with: Beowulf, books, Grendel's mother, Maria Dahvana Headley, Old English, Poetry, Translation
Posted in books, poetry, translation
Posted in books, poetry, translation
A window left open
If some of these poems feel like song lyrics, that’s because they are. Pentti Saarikoski’s best-loved work was set to music for the sixties folk group, Muksut. You can watch their original videos in the national treasure trove that is…
Tagged with: books, Dublin Literary Award, Emily Jeremiah, Finland, Finnish, Fleur Jeremiah, Muksut, Norvik Press, Pentti Saarikoski, Poetry, Translation
Posted in books, Dublin Literary Award, poetry
Posted in books, Dublin Literary Award, poetry
Poems from the edge of extinction
The last line of the refrain in the Welsh national anthem is O bydded i’r hen iaith barhau (“O may the old language endure” in W.S. Gwynn Williams’ translation). I remember learning it when I was about seven or eight;…
Tagged with: Ainu, books, Chiri Yukie, faroese, Frankie Sewell, Gearóid Mac Lochllain, Hobyot, Ireland, Irish Gaelic, Japan, John McMurray Press, Kim Simonsen, Kristang, Kyoko Selden, Martha Fernandez, Miranda Morris, Poems from the Edge of Extinction, Poetry, Singapore, Translation, W.S. Gwynn Williams, Wales, Welsh, Yemen
Posted in Uncategorized
Posted in Uncategorized
New snow, old words
New year, fresh snow. Fresh snow, old words. I first came across Gwerful Mechain this time last year through her most famous poem of all, translated as ‘Ode to My Cunt’ by Zoë Brigley Thompson for Modern Poetry in Translation.…
Tagged with: books, Broadview, Broadview Press, Gwerful Mechain, Katie Gramich, New Year, Poetry, Translation, Welsh
Posted in books, history, literature, poetry, translation
Posted in books, history, literature, poetry, translation
Sergius Seeks Bacchus
A fellow queer Christian, from an utterly different context. Indonesian literature has been in the literary news since the country guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2015. But now it gets personal: Sergius Seeks Bacchus. This slim…
Tagged with: books, Indonesian, Norman Erikson Pasaribu, Poetry, Sergius Seeks Bacchus, Tiffany Tsao, Tilted Axis Press, Translation
Posted in books, faith, gender, poetry, translation
Posted in books, faith, gender, poetry, translation
Negative Space
A voice from Albania, somewhere I’ve never been, seems to know exactly what I’m thinking. This is all the more interesting as for a long time, the poet, Luljeta Lleshanaku, couldn’t go anywhere at all. Born in 1968, she grew…
Tagged with: Albania, Albanian, Ani Gjika, Bloodaxe Books, books, Luljeta Lleshanaku, Negative Space, Poetry, Translation
Posted in books, poetry, translation
Posted in books, poetry, translation
Come into the story
I’m on the way home from Gdańsk, from the choral festival which my choir achieved silver in the equal-voice category yesterday – we are thrilled. For the competition we had to sing two songs in our own language and two…
Tagged with: Finland, Finnish, international, music, Pentti Linkola, Poetry, Sirkka Turkka, Translation, Tule kanssani satuun
Posted in international, music, poetry, translation
Posted in international, music, poetry, translation
Hell, freshly translated
Lent starts next week, so what better time to get your hands on a book about sinners, in their infinite variety, and where they end up? The gates of Hell open onto what some might consider the worst of the…
Tagged with: Alastair Gray, books, Dante, Divina Commedia, Hell, Illustration, Italian, Poetry, Translation
Posted in books, Illustration, literature, poetry, translation
Posted in books, Illustration, literature, poetry, translation
The year was so new, it yawned and stretched…
I was in London over new year, and there was one place I had to go. The British Library to see the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms exhibition. It is stuffed with treasures, including some of the earliest works ever written and translated…
Tagged with: books, Middle English, Poetry, Simon Armitage, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Translation
Posted in books, Christmas, Folklore, history, literature, translation
Posted in books, Christmas, Folklore, history, literature, translation
