Translation offers a new perspective on language and culture. The Poetry Translation Centre’s online workshops return for a new online season looking at the work of living poets from Asia, Africa and Latin America. We will be exploring Igbo, Pashto and Bangladeshi poetry and returning to a prose poem from Vietnam.
There is no need to know the language being translated. Simply come along and share your passion for words, writing and understanding.
Translating Together
The PTC’s workshops are a unique space for digging deeper into language. At each session we translate a poem by a living poet from beyond Europe into English, opening up a window to other languages and cultures. The sessions are guided by a working poet and a guest translator.
The group start with a rough guide translation and work towards a translation that works as a poem in English. The process invites endless insightful questions and encourages problem-solving and playfulness as everyone works together to understand and reassemble the poem in its new, translated form.
Working directly with leading poets and translators
This season we will be translating from Vietnamese, Pashto, Bangladeshi and Igbo. All the guest-translators bring an intimate knowledge of the language and culture that we are translating from. They are on hand to answer questions about context and weigh in on subtle issues of grammar, tense and syntax, helping the participants grow their understating of language and the translation process.
The workshops will be led by Helen Bowell, poet, critic and founder of Dead Women Poets. Her debut pamphlet The Barman was published by Bad Betty Press in 2022.
Dates And Times
Our Autumn season will be taking place online meaning people can access it from all around the world. We meet on Monday evenings at 6:30 pm GMT and each session is two hours long.
10 Oct – Translating Pashto poet Parween Faiz Zadah Malaal with Dawood Azami
24 Oct- Translating Bangla poet Mohammed Nurul Huda with Shamim Azad
7 Nov – Translating Igbo poet Amarachi Attamah with Joseph Ike
21 Nov – Translating Vietnamese poet Linh San with Phuong Anh Nguye (New Date)
You can get tickets for individual workshops or save money by signing up for a Season Pass.
Single Ticket – £16 (£10 concessions)
Season Pass – £55 (£35 concessions)
