The Sarah Maguire Prize For Poetry in Translation Prizegiving

Join the Poetry Translation Centre for this free online prizegiving for the inaugural Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation.

The Poetry Translation Centre announces the winner of the inaugural Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation. with a free online event.

Find out more about each of the shortlisted books and hear a reading from the winning poet.

The Poetry Translation Centre (PTC) launched the Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation to recognise the best book of poetry by a living poet from Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Middle East published in English translation and to champion the art of poetry in translation.

In its first year the prize has been judged by the poets and translators Alireza Abiz, Ida Hadjivayanis and Leo Boix.

The shortlist features books translated from Japanese, Arabic, Korean, Spanish and Chinese. The selection celebrates both the best of modern poetry from across the globe and showcases a range of different translation methodologies highlighting excellence in literary translation. In choosing their shortlist the judges looked for books which speak to UK audiences, but which maintained the unique spark of their original texts. The shortlisted books are:

Factory Girls by Takako Arai

Translated from Japanese by Jeffrey Angles, Jen Crawford, Carol Hayes, Rina Kikuchi, You Nakai and Sawako Nakayasu. (Published by Action Books, 2019)

A Boat to Lesbos and other poems by Nouri Al-Jarrah

Translated from Arabic by Camilo Gómez-Rivas and Allison Blecker. (Published by Banipal Books, 2018)

Incomprehensible Lesson by Fawzi Karim

In versions by Anthony Howell after translations from the Arabic made by the author. (Published by Carcanet Press Ltd, 2019)

Hysteria by Kim Yideum

Translated from Korean by Jake Levine, Soeun Seo & Hedgie Choi. (Published by Action Books, 2019)

Tiawanaku: Poems from the Mother Coqa by Judith Santopietro

Translated from Spanish by Ilana Luna. (Published by Orca Libros, 2019)

Anniversary Snow by Yang Lian

Translated from Chinese by Brian Holton with further translations by WN Herbert, L. Leigh, Pascale Petit, Fiona Sampson, George Szirtes and Joshua Weiner. (Published by Shearsman Books, 2019)

Alireza Abiz, poet and chair of judges, said: “Translation of poetry is a labour of love. Translating poetry from other cultures, especially from those less represented in the anglophone world, not only gives translated poets more exposure, it also enriches English poetry.”