Today the Poetry Translation Centre announces their new Director and Editor, following the departure of Erica Hesketh, who has been Director of the PTC since 2016.
Nariman Youssef will take up the role of Director on the 12th August 2024, and Nashwa Nasreldin will start as Editor on the 22nd July 2024.
Nariman Youssef is a literary translator and cultural worker with expertise in the arts & heritage sector in Egypt and the UK. During nine years at the British Library, she led a bilingual editorial team and created the library’s first in-house translation operation. As well as being a long-time collaborator of the Poetry Translation Centre, Nariman has facilitated workshops with the British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT), Shadow Heroes, Shubbak Festival and Africa Writes. She has recently completed a residency at the BCLT, where her focus was multilingualism as a creative prism and the work of bidirectional translators.
Nariman says: “One day in 2005, I turned up at a PTC workshop after picking up a flyer that said, ‘No knowledge of Somali necessary’. I soon became a regular, and those workshops formed the early foundation of my toolkit as a practicing literary translator. Fast-forward to today, the PTC marks its 20th year as a dynamic presence in the worlds of poetry, translation, and publishing. As its new Director, I am honoured to be joining a team of talented individuals in upholding the PTC’s mission of committed creativity and shaping the next chapter in its evolving story.”
Meanwhile, Nashwa Nasreldin is a writer, editor, and a translator of Arabic literature whose book translations include the collaborative novel by nine refugee writers, Shatila Stories, Talib Alrefai’s debut novel, Shadow of the Sun, and a co-translation of Samar Yazbek’s memoir, The Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria. A former current affairs documentary producer and journalist, Nashwa has reported on stories from around the Middle East and North Africa. She holds an MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and her poems have appeared in a number of literary journals in the UK and further afield. As well as translating and writing poetry, Nashwa writes feature articles and reviews for literary and cultural publications.
Nashwa says: “I am thrilled to be returning to the PTC as Editor, trusted with the responsibility of shaping the book list as the organisation enters an exciting new phase. We have some wonderful plans in the pipeline that we look forward to sharing!”
Bohdan Piasecki, Interim Chair of Trustees for the PTC says of the new appointments: “We are thrilled to welcome Nariman Youssef as the new Director of the Poetry Translation Centre, and to see Nashwa Nasreldin join as Editor. Both fantastic additions to the PTC team, they bring with them a wealth of experience across translation, research, writing, and editing, which will help build on our 20 years of history and help map out an exciting future.”
The news comes as the Poetry Translation Centre celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2024. The PTC was founded in 2004 by the late poet Sarah Maguire, and since then has worked to champion diverse poets and poetries from around the world as well as translators from under-represented languages. The PTC has had a significant impact on the UK creative and cultural sector for two decades, powerfully making the case for poetry translation, introducing vital literary voices to English audiences, and uplifting diaspora communities in the cultural space.
