Martin Orwin is associate professor of Somali language and literature at the University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’ and was previously senior lecturer in Somali and Amharic at SOAS University of London. He teaches Somali language and literature at all levels and has also contributed to courses on comparative literature and translation in the past. He has a PhD in linguistics on the phonology of Somali and his research now centres on language use in Somali poetry with a particular interest in metre and poetry-specific syntax. He has also written on Somali poetry as lyric poetry and on the relationship between language and music from a theoretical perspective with reference to Somali.He has a strong interest in the translation of poetry and has published translations in books and journals of poems by Maxamed Ibraahim Warsame ‘Hadraawi’, Xasan Xaaji Cabdullaahi ‘Xasan Ganey’, Xuseen Sheekh Axmed ‘Kaddare’, Raage Ugaas Warfaa and Maxamed Xaashi Dhamac ‘Gaarriye’ among others. He has worked closely with the Poetry Translation Centre in London since it was founded.
Translated Poems
