In poems that are precise, frank and finely tuned, here Wittner explores the specificities of parental and familial love, life after marriage, and the re-ignition of the self in middle age.
The ‘things’ of life – bus journeys, potted plants, thunder at night, coffee-stained books, fleeting conversations and the rest – are made full through Wittner’s ability to pinpoint in them the consequential, and even the metaphysical, manipulating language with a translator’s delicate skill. There are funny, moving pen-portraits of Wittner’s two children, suddenly grown, as well as bell-clear descriptions of the task of writing. For this is also a collection about language itself – as an interface, as a surface, and as vital communication.
The poems in this edition, Wittner’s first collection available in English translation, have been translated by the Mexican-Scottish bilingual poet and translator Juana Adcock, acclaimed author of Manca and Split.
Translation of the Route is co-published by the Poetry Translation Centre and Bloodaxe Books and available to order here.
This October, Laura Wittner will tour the UK to celebrate this landmark book. She’ll visit Glasgow, Sheffield, Oxford, Norwich and London, reading and speaking alongside her translator and acclaimed Mexican-British poet Juana Adcock. Find more information below.
