Once again, The Poetry Translation Centre was delighted to be a partner of this year’s Somali Week Festival.
The theme of the 2012 Festival was ‘Courage’, which was introduced by the distinguished US-based poet, Said Salah, whose newly-commissioned translations were read by Clare Pollard to an enthusiastic reception from the capacity audience. Clare also translated a poem by the late Faysal Cumar Mushteeg who tragically died on his journey to London.
Another great loss was, of course, the recent death of the outstanding Somali poet, Maxamed Xaashi Dhamac ‘Gaarriye’. PTC Director, Sarah Maguire, paid tribute to him; and his translator, poet W N Herbert gave an extremely moving reading of Gaarriye’s wonderful poem, ‘Arrogance’.
The Somali Week Festival is organised by Kayd and supported by Arts Council England.
