DUAL Poetry Podcast

This week's poem is 'Last Conversation with the Sky' by Noshi Gillani from Pakistan. The poem is read first in English translation by Lavinia Greenlaw and then in Urdu by Kamila Shamsie.

If you enjoy this podcast and would like to support the work of the Poetry Translation Centre then please visit poetrytranslation.org/support-us

This week's poem is 'Lucky Men' by Partaw Naderi from Afghanistan. The poem is read first in English translation by Sarah Maguire and then in Dari by Partaw himself. 

If you enjoy this podcast and would like to support the Poetry Translation Centre please visit poetrytranslation.org/support-us

This week’s poem is 'Forgotten by Time' by Farzaneh Khojandi from Tajikistan. The poem is read first in English translation by Jo Shapcott and then in Tajik by Farzaneh Khojandi.

If you enjoy this podcast and would like to support the Poetry Translation Centre please visit poetrytranslation.org/support-us.

This poem by was translated ay at a PTC workshop run by our founder Sarah Maguire. In her translation notes, she ponders the origins of rhubarb as the distinctive plant gets referenced in the third line of the poem:

'We Brits tend to think of rhubarb as being a very distinctive British - especially Yorkshire - plant and so we were pleased to come across it the very different context of a poem by a Kurdish poet written when he was living in Moscow. (In fact, the plant originated in China and was brought to Britain during the fourteenth century via the Silk Route and was first known as 'Turkish Rhubarb'.)

This small poem is, of course, a wry reflection on the ancient culture of the Kurds who, although swindled and pushed from pillar to post for centuries, have not (yet) been accepted as a nation.'

If you enjoy this podcast and would like to support the Poetry Translation Centre please visit poetrytranslation.org/support-us.

This poem perfectly encapsulates his strengths as a poet: concision and clarity, delivered in language that is both exact and understated. Poems such as these which seem, at first glance, to be very simple, are extraordinarily difficult to pull off. Their ‘simplicity is, of course, deceptive: these few lines are like a miniature short story in the way they manage to convey the hope and despair of an entire life, in this case an Iranian economic migrant forced into back-breaking labour in Pakistan.

If you enjoy this podcast and would like to support the Poetry Translation Centre please visit poetrytranslation.org/support-us.

Karin Karakaşlı is an Armenian-Turkish poet who lives in Istanbul and writes in Turkish. As well as poetry she pens regular columns and opinion pieces for independent media outlets and writes fiction, non-fiction and children’s literature.

Her PTC Chapbook History-Geography was reviewed by Katrina Naomi who called it 'that rare thing - good, political poetry'.

If you enjoy this podcast and would like to support the Poetry Translation Centre please visit poetrytranslation.org/support-us

Abdullah al Ryami was born in 1965 in Cairo, where his father had taken refuge from the British-backed suppression of the Omani uprising. As a result of this displacement, Al Ryami's life has been that of an outsider. His first collection of poems was published in 1992. He helped to found the avant-garde theatre group A'Shams, where he worked as dramatist and artistic director; and Najma Publications, which specialises in modern poetry, novels and works in translation; in 2000 he returned to Oman where he works as a theatrical director, journalist and cultural commentator.

This week's poem is 'Far-Off Settlements' by Coral Bracho from Mexico. The poem is read first in English translation by Katherine Pierpoint and then in Spanish by Coral herself.

Coral Bracho came to England for the inaugural World Poets' Tour in 2005 and read with her poet-translator Katherine Pierpoint. The Guardian journalist Richar Lea asked Pierpoint how she has found the process of working with the PTC. 'She was quick to stress the help she had from Dr Tom Boll, who gave her literal translations of the Spanish originals. "This three-way process of working in a team has been particularly rewarding," she says, though she did sometimes have doubts about the project. "There are times when you ask yourself whether you're just translating the content of the poem and not the value."She sees the role of a translator as conveying the essence of an original. "It's Coral's party," she says, "you're just there as a channel." '

If you enjoy this podcast and would like to support the Poetry Translation Centre please visit poetrytranslation.org/support-us

This week's poem podcast is 'Woman of Mint' by Fatena Al-Gharra, translated by Sara Vaghefian and Sarah Maguire, the founder of the PTC.

In her notes on the translation, Maguire commented 'Poetry in English is filled with poems that use plants to articulate gender. By and large, it's men poets who continually compare women to fragile, delicate flowers ... It's fascinating to witness a woman poet writing in Arabic using a 'feminine' mint plant and a 'masculine' nettle to express her feelings about gender.'

If you enjoy this podcast and would like to support the Poetry Translation Centre please visit poetrytranslation.org/support-us

This week's poem is 'Rain' by Kajal Ahmad from Kurdistan. The poem is read first in English translation by Mimi Khalvati and then in Kurdish by Kajal Ahmad. If you enjoy this poem and would like to find out more about Kajal Ahmad and all the other poets we've translated, please visit our website www.poetrytranslation.org.