
The Verb from the Contains Strong Language Festival
Ian McMillan presents Radio 3's Cabaret of the Word with Clare Pollard and other guests, exploring the pleasures and pitfalls of translating poetry.
Ian McMillan gets into different kinds of 鈥榓rgument鈥� with poets from around the world - not real arguments, but the arguments and discussions had by translators, the language of dispute, the history of debate poems in English and in Arabic - and he explores the poetic presence of quarrelling birds. Recorded in front of an audience at the Contains Strong Language Festival in Hull.
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William Letford

William Letford reads a poem that captures the sound of squabbling birds and his experience of working on rooftops (including the creatures and the aerial perspective that are woven through his writing). He also reads a poem inspired by his involvement in the Indigenous Language Poetry Exchange British Council project. As part of the exchange, William travelled to Indonesia and wrote alongside a group of its poets. Williams鈥檚 latest poetry collection is 鈥楤evel鈥� (Carcanet).
Jami Massa

Jamil Massa is an Indonesian poet, short-story and essay writer. His poems are collected in the anthologies 鈥楽ayembara Tebu鈥� (2016) and 鈥楶emanggil Air鈥� (2017). For The Verb Jamil reads a poem about a game called 鈥楤ilubilulu鈥� which is also the Hulontalo ( Jamil鈥檚 home dialect) word for quail鈥�.
Adil Latefi

Adil Latefi is one of the poets from North Africa who took part in a British Council collaboration in Tunisia called 鈥楾he Illuminated Paths鈥� ; here he shares work that inspired translation workshops in this country - a poem that takes the form of a philosophical debate. He also reads a poem which details an argument between a man and a woman; Ian invites the guests to work out the tone of the argument without access to a translation from Darija (Adil鈥檚 native dialect).
Clare Pollard

Clare is an acclaimed poet and 聽the editor of the magazine 鈥楳odern Poetry in Translation鈥�. She shares her involvement in the British Council鈥檚 Maghreb project 鈥楾he Illuminated Paths鈥� with The Verb by reading a version of Adil Latefi鈥檚 poem 鈥� one which emerged from a translation workshop on the day The Verb was recorded. Clare also gives us a preview of her forthcoming pamphlet聽 鈥楾he Lives of the Female Poets鈥� (Bad Betty Press) 聽which uses her knowledge of poetic lives from around the world to create an alphabet of reasons why many women writers are not better known.
Imtiaz Dharker

Imtiaz Dharker is a poet, artist and documentary film-maker. Awarded the Queen鈥檚 Gold Medal for Poetry in 2014, she is a recipient of the Cholmondley Award and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. 聽Imtiaz explores the way her experience as a film-maker influenced her poem 鈥楾he Right Word鈥� and reads a brand new poem 鈥極de to O鈥�. Her latest collection is 鈥楲uck is the Hook鈥� (Bloodaxe).
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- Fri 4 Oct 2019 22:00成人快手 Radio 3
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The Verb
Radio 3's cabaret of the word, featuring the best poetry, new writing and performance