DUAL Poetry Podcast

The Poetry Translation Centre•www.poetrytranslation.org

The Poetry Translation Centre is dedicated to translating contemporary poetry from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Each week we bring you a new poem podcast from one of the world's greatest living poets, in both the original language and in English translation. To find out more about our work, please visit www.poetrytranslation.org. The Poetry Translation Centre is funded by Arts Council England.

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Episodes

Three Summer Letters by Salome Benidze

Salome Benidze is a respected poet, novelist and translator. She has rendered the work David Beckham and Salman Rushdie into Georgian. Her poetry is direct yet deeply felt, dealing with love and it’s many shadows. Benidze was translated for the PTC multi-award winning poet Helen Mort, host of BBC Radio 4’s Mother Tongue show and Natalia Bukia-Peters, a respected Georgian Translator and academic. You can buy I Wanted to Ask You a short collection of Benidze's poems where she explores romantic lov...

Feb 21, 2019•6 min

Negative of a Group Photograph by Azita Ghahreman

Azita Ghahreman was born in Mashhad in 1962. One of Iran's leading poets, she has lived in Sweden since 2006. She is a member of the South Sweden Writers' Union. Her poems directly address questions of female desire and challenge the accepted position of women. Negative of a Group Photograph is the title poem of her new book published in 2018 by the PTC and Bloodaxe Books. The collection runs the gamut of Ghahreman’s experience: from her childhood in the Khorasan region of south-eastern Iran to ...

Feb 14, 2019•7 min

A Shout by Asha Lul Mohamud Yusuf

Asha Lul Mohamud Yusuf is quickly emerging as one of the most exciting young poets living in the Somali diaspora. Like all Somalis, Asha grew up in a culture steeped in poetry and while she was young she started to compose her own poems. Her work began getting published on Somali websites in 2008 and, since then, she's rapidly garnered a great deal of praise for her ability to infuse her poetry with fresh imagery enlivened by telling details. Her collection The Sea-Migrations was named the Poetr...

Feb 07, 2019•8 min

Prayer Before Bathing by Diana Anphimiadi

Welcome to our rebranded weekly release: the Dual Poetry Podcast , one poem in two languages from the Poetry Translation Centre. As ever we will be releasing a translated poem each week. If you enjoy our podcasts and would like to support the work of the Poetry Translation Centre then please visit poetrytranslation.org/support-us .

Feb 01, 2019•4 min

'Bar' by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi

In this poem, Sudanese poet Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi captured the deep-seated antipathy of the late night bartender ‘Nursing a drink that bores him’ translated by Atef Alshaer and Sarah Maguire. If you enjoy this podcast and would like to support the work of the Poetry Translation Centre then please visit poetrytranslation.org/support-us

Jan 24, 2019•2 min

'On a Colourful Morning' by Partaw Naderi

This week's poem is by Partaw Naderi from Afghanistan. The poem is read first in English translation by Sarah Maguire and then in Dari by Partaw himself. Naderi is now widely regarded as one of the leading modernist poets in Afghanistan, the lyrical intensity of his work coupled with his bold use of free verse distinguishing him as a highly original and important poet. If you enjoy this podcast and would like to support the work of the Poetry Translation Centre then please visit poetrytranslatio...

Jan 17, 2019•2 min

A Standard Shirt by Mohan Rana

This week’s poem is by Mohan Rana from India. The poem is read first in English translation by Bernard O'Donoghue and then in Hindi by Mohan Rana. The poet and critic, Nandkishore Acharya, has written that 'Amongst the new generation of Hindi poets, the poetry of Mohan Rana stands alone; it defies any categorisation. However, its refusal to fit any ideology doesn't mean that Mohan Rana's poetry shies away from thinking - but that it knows the difference between thinking in verse and thinking abo...

Jan 10, 2019•2 min

The Story Of The Poor by Salome Benidze

Poetry is an important part of Georgian literature, and dates back to the 4th century AD. The first known woman poets are Queen Borena and Queen Tamar, who reigned in medieval times. Contemporary Georgian women’s poetry has its origins in the Soviet period, when a new form of free verse appeared. Salome Benidze is a poet, writer, blogger and translator. She has been nominated for and has received many prestigious awards, and her poems have been translated into more than 10 languages. She writes ...

Jan 03, 2019•7 min

The Rain that Stops the Caravan by Asha Lul Mohamud Yusuf

This week's poem is by Asha Lul Mohamud Yusuf. The poem is read first in English translation by Clare Pollard and then in Somali by Asha herself. We are celebrating the launch of the anthology, So At One With You , an anthology of modern poetry in Somali produced in collaboration with Kayd Somali Arts & Culture and Poetry Translation Centre. Asha's poems can be found within this. You can order your copy of So At One With You from the PTC online bookstore....

Dec 27, 2018•7 min

'Snow' by Azita Ghahreman

A chilly poem: ‘Snow’ by the wonderful Iranian poet, Azita Ghahreman, who now lives in exile in snowy Sweden. The seemingly endless snow is a metaphor for the hopelessness the poet feels – she and her lover are lost in its vastness. Only ‘a single stray earring’ can be seen – ‘not a tree, not a rabbit, not a star’. You can buy the book 'Negative of A Group Photo' from the PTC online: petrytranslation.org/shop .

Dec 20, 2018•3 min

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