2022 Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation

 

The winner of the second Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation will be announced this Tuesday, 1 November. Awarded every other year, the prize recognises the best book of poetry by a living poet from Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Middle East, published in English translation. In 2020 it was awarded to Anniversary Snow by Yang Lian, translated from Chinese by Brian Holton and others. 

In 2022, the prize was judged by Rosalind Harvey, Kit Fan and Kyoo Lee, and the shortlist is as follows:

• Come, Take a Gentle Stab by Salim Barakat - translated from Arabic by Huda J Fakhreddine and Jayson Iwen (Seagull Books)

• Exhausted on the Cross by Najwan Darwish - translated from Arabic by Kareen James Abu-Zeid (New York Review Books)

• Migrations: Poem, 1976-2020 by Gloria Gervitz - translated from Spanish by Mark Schafer (New York Review Books)

• Unexpected Vanilla by Lee Hyemi - translated from Korean by Soje (Tilted Axis Books)

• The River in the Belly by Fiston Mwanza Mujila - translated from French by J Bret Maney (Deep Vellum)

• Cargo Hold of Stars: Coolitude by Khal Torabully - translated from French by Nancy Naomi Carlson (Seagull Books)

You can book a ticket here to watch the announcement on Zoom (for free) on 1 November: https://www.poetrytranslation.org/events/winner-announcement-the-sarah-maguire-prize-for-poetry-in-translation-2022 

Sarah Maguire was the founder of the Poetry Translation Centre, an organisation which was very important to me personally in my poetry development during the past decade or so. Sarah died in 2017, leaving the PTC and her own remarkably impressive body of work. In a time when cross-cultural understanding seems more important than ever, I'm glad that the Sarah Maguire Prize has become another part of her legacy.

You can find more details about the prize and the shortlisted works here: https://www.poetrytranslation.org/sarah-maguire-prize 

Yang Lian's Anniversary Snow wins the Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation

 

The inaugural Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation, which recognises the best book of poetry by a living poet from Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Middle East published in an English translation, was awarded last Thursday 25th March. The prize is an endeavour of the Poetry Translation Centre and is in memory of its founder, the late Sarah Maguire, who I knew for a few years before her untimely death and who was a brilliant poet in her own right as well as a champion of poetry from parts of the world often under-recognised in English translation. 

Out of a fascinatingly diverse field, the award went to the collection Anniversary Snow by Yang Lian, translated from Chinese by Brian Holton with further translations from WN Herbert, L. Leigh, Liang Lizhen, Pascale Petit, Fiona Sampson, George Szirtes and Joshua Weiner. Anniversary Snow is published by Shearsman Books and you can find it on their website here: https://www.shearsman.com/store/Yang-Lian-Anniversary-Snow-p140803770  

The panel of judges commented: "The book is grounded in the historical roots of Chinese culture, poetry and art, but goes far beyond it, reinterpreting with poise and intelligence the very essence of our existence, from the changing landscape that surrounds us, the appeal of the natural world and the inner beauty of language, exemplifying its political force and its political teachings." 

The PTC website has several excellent articles regarding the prize but I particularly recommend this fascinating and touching article by the winning poet Yang Lian: https://www.poetrytranslation.org/articles/where-did-anniversary-snow-fall

I'm delighted to be able to share a poem from Anniversary Snow. It appears below first in the original Chinese and then in its English translation. 

三，诗学探讨——另一个嵌入的声音

不能真 是不是美的错? 想象一件河底撒开的衬衣

浸进柏林秋夜的黑
想象那双眼睛呛满水 水呛满母亲

谁说死不是湿淋淋的和声? 河底的小窗亮着那演奏 河底 一个不停跃下的词

不停找到漏下的呜咽 叶子向下而伤口向上

房子向下 品尝的雪意向上 舌尖 钩住的毁灭是否远远不够?

想象一个滚落的自我 呛满历史的黑水 滚落如卵石

没别的时间除了抽缩的肺

没别的语法除了剥开生命那件衬衣 说 死侧身人形的茫茫

再淤积是否仍然不够?

     沉溺之诗里只有正在到来的词

摸进这儿 他奋力追赶自己的河底

母亲飘散的白逆着美的方向 成为它 拓展噩耗 谁没目睹这首诗急急赶来

粉碎
辉煌如

我们的美学?

3. Poetic Inquiry − Another Embedded Voice

can’t be real is that beauty’s fault?
imagine a shirt spread out on the riverbed

steeping in the black of a Berlin night
imagine two eyes water-choked mother choking on water

who says death isn’t a drenched harmony?
a little window on the riverbed lights up the show riverbed a word that never stops leaping downwards

never stops finding leaked-out sobs leaves go down and wounds go up

houses down enjoyment of imminent snow goes up tongue tip is hooked ruin not enough by far?

imagine a self plunging down drowning in history’s black water plunging like a pebble

there’s no time other than a contraction of the lungs

there’s no grammar other than a shirt that strips life away say death’s immeasurable side-on human shape

is filling up with sediment again still not enough?
in self-indulgent poetry there are only newly-arrived words

touch in here he does all he can to pursue his own river bed to become it

mother’s vaporizing white travels in the opposite direction to beauty spreads the worst of news no one saw this poem coming so quickly

shattering
dazzling as

our aesthetic?

(from Anniversary Snow by Yang Lian, published by Shearsman Books) 

The Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation Shortlist

 

A few days ago, the Poetry Translation Centre announced the shortlist for the inaugural Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation. The Poetry Translation Centre has helped to bring great contemporary work from around the world to English speaking audiences, and this new translation prize is likely to play a significant role in years to come.

This new prize is in honour of the late Sarah Maguire, who founded the Poetry Translation Centre, and it will recognise the best book of poetry by a living poet from Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Middle East, translated into English. This year's judges are Alireza Abiz, Ida Hadjivayanis and Leo Boix. The award winner will be announced on Thursday 25 March.

The shortlist includes the following titles:

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

A Boat to Lesbos and other poems by Nouri Al-Jarrah (Banipal Books, 2018. Translated from Arabic by Camilo Gómez-Rivas and Allison Blecker.)

Incomprehensible Lesson by Fawzi Karim (Carcanet Press, 2019. In versions by Anthony Howell after translations from the Arabic made by the author.)

Hysteria by Kim Yideum (Action Books, 2019. Translated from Korean by Jake Levine, Soeun Seo and Hedgie Choi.)

Tiawanaku: Poems from the Mother Coqa by Judith Santopietro (Orca Libros, 2019. Translated from Spanish by Ilana Luna.)

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

You can read more here about this year's prize and associated events and publications: https://www.poetrytranslation.org/articles/sarah-maguire-prize-for-poetry-in-translation-shortlist