Starting with a quote from the poet Sarah Maguire, founder of the PTC, who said ‘Translating poetry is the opposite of war’ the panel will reflect on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Georgia has its own recent history as the focus of Russian aggression, and the poet, her translators and Janney will be selecting poems that speak to the ongoing conflict between Georgia’s closest neighbouring countries.
Anphimiadi’s book Why I No Longer Write Poems is the first full-length selection in English from one of Georgia’s most acclaimed poets. Her poems range from the contemporary thrum of a train carriage to the ancient grievance of Greek myth, navigating the heartache and absurdity of love, and offering profound reflections on the limits and possibilities of language itself. The book has been collaboratively translated from the Georgian by translator Natalia Bukia-Peters and poet Jean Sprackland.
‘This is gorgeous, fabulising verse’ – Fiona Sampson, The Guardian
To celebrate the launch of this fantastic collection, the Poetry Translation Centre is pleased to invite you to join Diana, Natalia and Jean for readings in Georgian and English, conversation about Diana and her work, and an exploration of the collaborative process of translating it.
Diana Anphimiadi’s tour has been co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
About the Poets and Translators
Diana Anphimiadi is a poet, publicist, linguist and teacher. She has published five collections of poetry: Shokoladi (Chocolate, 2008), Konspecturi Mitologia (Resumé of Mythology, 2009), Alhlokhedvis Traektoria (Trajectory of the Short-Sighted, 2012) and Kulinaria (Personal Cuisine, 2013). Her poetry has received prestigious awards, including first prize in the 2008 Tsero (Crane) literary contest and the Saba literary award for best first collection in 2009. She lives in Tbilisi with her son.
Natalia Bukia-Peters is a freelance translator, interpreter and teacher of Georgian and Russian. She studied at Tbilisi University and she has an MA in Russian and Eurasian Studies at Leiden University, the Netherlands. She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists in London and has worked collaboratively with the PTC since 2013. Her translations have been published both in the UK (Fal Publications, Francis Boutle) and USA (Dalkey Archives). Her other recent poetry books are Diana Aphimiadi’s Beginning to Speak (PTC, 2018), translated in collaboration with Jean Sprackland, and Salome Benidze’s I Wanted to Ask You (PTC, 2018), translated in collaboration with Helen Mort.
Jean Sprackland is the author of five poetry collections, most recently Green Noise (Cape, 2018). Her collection Tilt won the Costa Poetry Award in 2007. She is also an acclaimed prose writer, winning the Portico Prize for Non-Fiction for her book Strands (Cape, 2012). Her most recent book is These Silent Mansions: A life in graveyards (Cape, 2020), which was shortlisted for the PEN Ackerley Prize. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was Chair of the Poetry Archive from 2016 to 2020.
