Credit: Wikimedia Commons |
Sofia Capel and Lucy Durneen
Image: Ian McLachlan |
James Coghill and Lucy Leagrave
Image: IanMcLachlan |
Jen Calleja and Marta Kowalewska
Image: Ian McLachlan |
Gabrielle Nolan and Kirsten Irving
Image: Ian McLachlan |
Poets read translations of their own work across French, German, Swedish and Polish, alongside non-translated poetry and the work of their partners. We got Brechtian love poetry, anxiety and shape-shifting, memories and adventure.
Jon Stone hosted, reading translations of Dutch and Spanish work (with thanks to a brave audience member who stepped up to read the original Spanish in one case!). You can read his run-up Europoetry posts on Paul Celan and Raymond Queneau on the Sidekick blog.
Music was provided by the late Jacques Brel and visual stimulation by a beautiful array of European cinematic classics, provided by Sofia, including this well-timed still:
Image: Ian McLachlan |
We had a Mini Translation Quiz, which you can take here (and the answers are here).
The ten-point question asked for three-line poems on a time when words failed you, and one of my favourites came from Sian Moore:
It was a fantastic night, and we’d like to thank all of the performers for such great sets. It was also a brilliant opportunity to meet people involved in other poetry projects around translation, such as Giorgia Cacciatore from the Movimento per l’Emanzipazione Poesia, who furnished us with a stash of beautiful Italian poetry to read, enjoy and pass on:
Thanks to the Nines for having us, the wonderful audience who embraced their curiosity, the readers and the Stockholm Review of Literature. Here’s to more collaborative projects in the future!