Featured poems

Portrait of Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi

Small Fox

written by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi
translated by Sarah Maguire

Suddenly - a small fox, playful,
floods your wounded heart with joy

[…] read poem in English

ثعلب صغير

ثعلبٌ صغيرٌ
يمرحُ في قلبكِ الملوَّث

[…] read poem in Arabic

video audio We have a podcast related to Small Fox

Portrait of Farzaneh Khojandi

Flute Player

written by Farzaneh Khojandi
translated by Jo Shapcott

Where is the real bazaar?
I want to buy an eyeful of kindness.

[…] read poem in English

Flute Player in the original language

The first two lines of the poem titled Flute Player

[…] read poem in Tajik (Farsi)

video audio We have a book related to Flute Player

Portrait of Maxamed Xaashi Dhamac 'Gaarriye'

Seer

written by Maxamed Xaashi Dhamac 'Gaarriye'
translated by W N Herbert

In my cradle I heard the women sing
‘In the name of God, “Yaasin”’:

[…] read poem in English

Uurkubbaale

'Cawdu billoo balooy baydh.'
'Bismillaahi "Yaasiin"'.

[…] read poem in Somali

video audio We have a book related to Seer

Welcome

Welcome to The Poetry Translation Centre’s website. We’re a small organisation dedicated to translating contemporary poetry from Africa, Asia and Latin America. To date, we've translated 165 poems by 46 poets from 22 countries written in 20 different languages. On our website you'll find poems in translation and in their original languages, photos and videos of our events and information about what we do and how we translate.

What's going on

© Poetry Translation Centre 2004-2010