Gwerful Mechain was writing in the 1400s but I only discovered her in 2019, in Zoë Brigley Thompson’s glorious, full-on rendering of I’r Cedor for Modern Poetry in Translation. That poem opens this collection of half a millennium of Welsh…
Blog Archives
Walesland/Gwaliadir
I bought this because of the translator. Caryl Lewis’s writing is tense and spare and true. I loved Y Gemydd which I read as The Jeweller in Gwen Davies’s translation, and Drift, her first novel in English. Then I found…
Tagged with: Caryl Lewis, Gwaliadir, Nigel Wells, Poetry, Translation, Walesland, Welsh, Y Lolfa
Posted in books, history, poetry, translation
Posted in books, history, poetry, translation
Lament for the Fallen
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,…
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
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
The Jeweller
The jeweller prepares the sanctuary. And you’re lured into it. Mari is a market stallholder in a small North Welsh town. Ordinary enough. Except The Jeweller is written by Caryl Lewis, who also wrote the fabulously dark hit thriller series…
Tagged with: books, Caryl Lewis, Gwen Davies, Hinterland, Honno Press, The Jeweller, Translation, Welsh, Y Gwyll
Posted in books, literature, translation
Posted in books, literature, translation
the language is yours, cherish it
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
Posted in international, language, music, translation, words
Sing your heart out at the football: Calon lân
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
Posted in international, language, music, translation
Blodeuwedd – the flower woman
Once upon a time, there was a woman made for a man. She was created entirely from flowers, just for him. But then she fell in love with someone else, and decided to kill the man, to be with her…
Tagged with: Alan Garner, Blodeuwedd, Charlotte Guest, Gwyneth Lewis, Mabinogion, Sioned Davies, The Meat Tree, Translation, Welsh, Whistles in the Wind
Posted in books, Folklore, literature, translation
Posted in books, Folklore, literature, translation
Black flower
A book that can be turned upside down and read from back to front in another language can be a wonderful thing. Formats like that came through our door in my childhood home, but they were mostly bilingual Welsh-English leaflets…
Tagged with: Black Flower, Clare Sullivan, Irma Pineda, Natalia Toledo, native languages of the Americas, Ploughshares, Poetry, Spanish, Translation, Welsh, Zapotec
Posted in books, language, poetry, translation
Posted in books, language, poetry, translation
found in translation 