Following the extraordinary success of the first World Poets’ Tour in 2005, the Poetry Translation Centre has organised its second World Poets’ Tour which will take place this October.

 

Six leading international poets will visit the UK to take part in a series of country-wide readings and community events. In a unique collaboration, their poems have been translated by distinguished UK poets working closely with translators. The UK poets will also participate in these events, reading their translations alongside the original poems.

 

These lively and entertaining readings will reveal the dynamic nature of the poets’ cultures, as well as their rich literary traditions in which poetry plays a prominent role. The tour will also strengthen links with local communities from the poets’ countries who are now living in the UK.

 

Supported by the Arts Council, the Poetry Translation Centre translates poetry from Africa, Asia and Latin America to a high literary standard.The World Poets’ Tour is the culmination of months of preparation during which poets and translators have worked together across cultural, linguistic and physical boundaries to create new poems in English. 

 

The six international poets taking part in the tour are:

 

• Maxamed Xaashi Dhamac ‘Gaarriye’ (from Somaliland) translated by W.N. Herbert
• Farzaneh Khojandi (from Tajikistan) translated by Jo Shapcott
• Noshi Gillani (from Pakistan) translated by Lavinia Greenlaw
• Kajal Ahmad (from Kurdistan) translated by Mimi Khalvati
• Corsino Fortes (from Cape Verde) translated by Sean O’Brien
• Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi (from Sudan) translated by Sarah Maguire

 

 

The 2008 tour takes place in October and will visit Cardiff (8th), Ilkley (12th), Birmingham(14th), Liverpool(14th), Canterbury(15th), London 1 of 2(18th), Manchester(20th), London 2 of 2(21st), Grasmere (25th), Ediburgh(30th), Lancaster (1st Nov).

Dual-language chapbooks of the poets’ work and new translations, published by Enitharmon Press, will be on sale during the tour.

 

For further information about the poets and their poems, see www.poetrytranslation.org