Dual Poetry Podcast

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...

Translated by Alireza Abiz and The Poetry Translation Workshop 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...

Translated by Canan Marasligi and Sarah Howe. 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...

Translated by Anna Murison and the Poetry Translation Workshop. 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 h...

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 w...

Translated Anna Murison & the Poetry Translation Workshop

Translated by Canan Marasligi and Sarah Howe. There is a constant struggle in Turkey between being oneself and having to fit into a mould – a mould shaped by nationalistic values and imposed by a majority – which makes daily life extremely difficult for people who come from one of the many minority communities. This state of struggle and in-betweenness is described in the poem ‘Uniform’ – from sch...

Translated by Sarah Howe and Canan Marasligil. 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 a...

Translated by Sarah Maguire and Atef Alshaer. This week's poem is by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi from Sudan. The poem is read first in English translation by Sarah Maguire and then in Arabic by Saddiq himself. If you enjoy this poem and would like to find out more about Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi and all the other poets we’ve translated, please visit our website www.poetrytranslation.org. If you would like to supp...

Translated by Alireza Abiz & The Poetry Translation Workshop 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 usin...

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 dir...

Listen to the 'The Lost Button' by Fatena Al-Gharra, Translated from the Arabic by Anna Murison and Sarah Maguire. The poem is read first in English by the poet-translator Sarah Maguire and then in Arabi by the poet Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi. If you would like to support the Poetry Translation Centre please visit poetrytranslation.org/support-us.

Bejan Matur is an award-winning Kurdish-Alevi poet from Turkey writing in Turkish and Kurdish. Her poetry has been translated into more than twenty languages. She currently lives in London. Her poems were translated by Jen Hadfield and Canan Marasligil.

Last week we received the sad news that the PTC's founder and Artistic Director, Sarah Maguire, had died. Over the years she produced many wonderful translations for the PTC. This week to celebrate her work we are releasing this extended podcast featuring 11 poems by Partaw Naderi from Afghanistan, that Sarah translated with her good friend and Yama Yari. Each poem is read first in English transla...

‘The Mark’ by Asha Lul Mohamud Yusuf is addressed directly to the men ruling of Somalia / Somaliland, urging them to find peace, to bring clans together and to raise the country up. Translated by Said Jama Hussein & Maxamed Xasan ‘Alto’and Clare Pollard As with many of her poems, it begins with an intro about how Asha Lul hasn't recited for a while but now she must speak. The main body of the poem...

Bejan Matur is the most illustrious poet among a bold new women’s poetry emerging from the Middle East. Her poetry engages directly and concretely with the struggles of her people, and yet there is also a mysticism in her writing, a closeness to nature, an embracing of mythology – a dialogue with God. This poem and many others that appear in her PTC chapbook 'If This is a Lamnet' were translated b...

This week's poem podcast contains three short poems by Kurdish-Turkish Poet Bejen Mature, translated by Canan Marasligil and UK poet Jen Hadfield. The poems are 'Dead Sun', 'There is no Sun' and 'Truth'. You can buy a chapbook of Bejan's poems entitled 'If This Is a Lament' from the PTC shop. If you would like to support the Poetry Translation Centre please visit poetrytranslation.org/support-us.

Uniform by Armenian-Turkish Poet Karin Karakaslı was translated by the poet Sarah Howe and the bridge translator Canan Marasligil. 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-fi ction and children’s literature. The deep pain and scars lef...

Bejan Matur is the most illustrious poet among a bold new women’s poetry emerging from the Middle East. Her poetry engages directly and concretely with the struggles of her people, and yet there is also a mysticism in her writing, a closeness to nature, an embracing of mythology – a dialogue with God. This poem and many others that appear in her PTC chapbook 'If This is a Lamnet' were translated b...

This week's poem is by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi from Sudan. The poem is read first in English translation by Sarah Maguire and then in Arabic by Saddiq himself. If you enjoy this poem and would like to find out more about Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi and all the other poets we’ve translated, please visit our website www.poetrytranslation.org.

This week’s poem is by Abdellatif Laabi from Morocco. The poem is read first in English translation by Andre Naffis-Sahely and then in French by Abdellatif. If you enjoy this recording and would like to find out more about Abdellatif Laabi and all the other poets we’ve translated, please visit our website www.poetrytranslation.org.

This week's poem is by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi from Sudan. The poem is read first in English translation by Sarah Maguire and then in Arabic by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi himself. If you enjoy this recording and would like to find out more about Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi and all the other poets we’ve translated, please visit our website www.poetrytranslation.org.

This week’s poem is by David Huerta from Mexico. The poem is read first in English translation by Jamie McKendrick and then in Spanish by David.

This week’s poem is by Reza Mohammadi from Afghanistan. The poem is read first in English translation by Nick Laird and then in Dari by Reza. If you enjoy this poem and would like to find out more about Reza Mohammadi and all the other poets we’ve translated, please visit our website www.poetrytranslation.org.

The Poem Tree by Abdellatif Laâbi Podcast by Poetry Translation Centre