DUAL Poetry Podcast

Listen to the 'Movements' by Fatena Al-Gharra, Translated from the Arabic by Anna Murison and the Poetry Translation Workshop.

The poem is read first in English by the poet-translator Sarah Maguire and then in Arabic by the poet Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi.

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. The deep pain and scars left by Turkey’s negationist state discourse on the Armenian genocide of 1915 are visible throughout Karakaşlı’s oeuvre and are omnipresent in her poetry. The Turkish state’s continual suppression of the forming of a common memory affects people not only of Armenian descent but from many communities such as the Greeks and the Kurds. This denial is an example of how, government after government, those in power in Turkey have consistently erased the history of whole parts of their population. It is in this context of past and present violations of basic rights, freedoms of expression and human dignity that Karin Karakaşlı seeks to exist with her poetry.

Canan Marasligil, from her introduction to Karin's Chapbook History-Geography

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

The poem was originally one of the songs in the play Wadnahaan far ku hayaa but it became so overwhelmingly popular that, eventually, it completely overwhelmed performances of the play itself. As readers will discern, the reason for its popularity - and why it enraged the military dictatorship of the time - is because its vivid, skilful metaphors are open to a variety of interpretations. This poem, which led to Hadraawi's five-year imprisonment in Qansaxdheere, goes to the very heart of his genius.

WN Herbert, Poet-translator

Karin Karakaşlı’s pain can be deeply felt in most of her poems. However alongside this we encounter an enormous amount of love for the geography she lives in, especially the city of Istanbul. Karakaşlı has an almost synergetic relationship with this city, as we can see in this
poem ‘Galata’ – with the history embedded in every stone, every
building and every landscape.

The poem is about the poet's love of a medieval stone tower in Istanbul, Turkey.

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 'Please bring a token home from each journey' by Noshi Gillani from Pakistan. The poem is read first in English translation by Lavinia Greenlaw and then in Urdu by Shamila Kamsie.

If you enjoyed this recording and would like to learn more about Noshi and all the other poets we've translated, please visit our website at www.poetrytranslation.org.

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

This week's poem is by Victor Teran from Mexico.  The poem is read first in English translation by David Shook and then in Zapotec by Victor himself. If you enjoy this recording and would like to find out more about Victor Teran and all the other poets we’ve translated, please visit our website www.poetrytranslation.org.

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

All Iranian men are required to do military service and this small poem gives a very clear insight into how they feel about that experience!

Like the other three poems of Ali Abdollahi's we translated in this workshop, it was a pleasure to engage with the compact, concise way in which he conveys complex ideas in an understated idiom using clear imagery. A real example of the effectiveness of poetry that 'shows rather than tells'.

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

Asha Lul Mohamud Yusuf‘s 'Our land' is a classic 'pastoral' poem, nostalgic for the beauty and harmony of the Somali countryside, water, flowers, birds, trees, camels, all feature. It is a vision of peace and plenty.

The poem was written in London in 2011 many years after Asha Lul had left the Somali countryside.

The poet herself, and many people who hear the poem live in cities and don't have direct access to the idyllic way of life described in the poem.

This makes the poem feel like a shared but distant memory.

Asha’s Friend and longtime translator Clare Pollard will read the English translation. Then you will hear Asha read in the original Somali

We are thrilled to announce that Asha Lul's collection 'The Sea-Migrations' has been named the Poetry Book of the Year by The Sunday Times.

You can buy The Sea-Migrations here.

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