The winner of the 2024 Sarah Maguire Prize for poetry in translation is On the Contrary by Lia Sturua, translated by Natalia Bukia-Peters and Victoria Field, published by Fal and supported by Writers’ House Georgia.
Ian McMillan, Chair of Judges, said: ‘This book encapsulated what this award is about. It encompasses all the vibrancy that poetry has to offer, while reflecting the turbulence of our fractured society.’
The winner was announced at the prize ceremony on Monday 9th September at the Brunei Gallery, SOAS, University of London.
The PTC is known for giving voice to those who find it difficult to be heard, and we are proud that this year’s Sarah Maguire Prize shortlist contains books by poets from Mexico, South Korea, Iran, Lebanon, China, Georgia and Palestine.
On the Contrary
LIA STURUA was born in 1939 and is a prominent Georgian poet. She graduated from Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University’s Faculty of Philology. In 1974 she defended her PhD thesis on The Artistic function of Colour in Galaktion Tabidze’s Poetry. She lectured at the University and was a senior researcher at the Shota Rustaveli Institute for Georgian Literature. Since 1999 she has been a literature consultant at the Galaktion Tabidze Museum. Her first collection, Trees in the City was published in 1962, followed by twelve more books. As well as poetry, Lia Sturua has published prose, including three novels. Her poetry has been translated into German, French, English and Finnish.
NATALIA BUKIA-PETERS is a freelance translator, interpreter and teacher of Georgian and Russian. She studied at Ilia Tbilisi State University, and has an MA in Russian and Eurasian Studies from Leiden University, the Netherlands. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists, and has worked with the Poetry Translation Centre since 2013. Her translations have been published in the UK (fal publications, Francis Boutle, Bloodaxe Books) and USA (Dalkey Archive). Her most recent poetry books are Diana Anphimiadi’s Why I No Longer Write Poems (Bloodaxe Books), co-translated with Jean Sprackland; and Lia Sturua’s On the Contrary (fal publications), co-translated with Victoria Field.
VICTORIA FIELD is a writer, researcher and poetry therapist. Her most recent poetry collection is A Speech of Birds (Francis Boutle, 2020). The Lost Boys (Waterloo, 2013) won the Holyer an Gof prize for poetry and drama. Her memoir of marriage and pilgrimage, Baggage: A Book of Leavings was published by Francis Boutle in 2016. She has co-edited three books on therapeutic writing and publishes and presents widely on writing and healing. Her PhD was on narratives of transformation in pilgrimage and she is an Associate in the Academy of Sustainable Futures at Canterbury Christ Church University.
