The Chinese translator, Chenxin Jiang joined us to lead a workshop on Chinese poetry from Taiwan. This is the first time we’ve translated poetry written in Chinese, and the first time we’ve translated poets from Taiwan, so this was a very special workshop.
We translated three small poems: ‘Woods’ by Liu Qiyu and the delightful ‘Portrait: Mr Dreamer of Butterflies After a Long Illness in Bed’ and ‘Improvisation on a Poem’ by Chen Yuhong. It was fascinating to gain an insight into Chinese poetry for the first time and we’ll be looking at more poetry from Taiwan with Chenxin Jiang in 2011.
Our poetry translation workshops are one of the PTC’s core activities. Through them we’ve first encountered some of the poets we’ve gone on to translate, publish and record at length. A significant number of the poets who’ve visited the UK to take part in our tours were introduced to us by a translator bringing their poems to a workshop.
The workshops are open to anyone who can contribute a translation of a poem by a living African, Asian or Latin American poet who has an established reputation in their own language.
Workshops are free but places are limited so advance booking is essential. If you’ve not attended one of our workshops before, please read this before requesting a place.
To book a place click here or follow the link below.
