Poetry Connections

  • David Greenslade performs in Poetry Connections 2015
    David Greenslade performs in Poetry Connections 2015
  • Poetry Connections 2015
  • Poetry Connections
    Poetry Connections 2010
  • Poetry Connections India workshop 1
    Poetry Connections 2010
  • Translation Workshop, India 2010
    Poetry Connections 2010
  • Poetry Connections 2015
    Poetry Connections 2015
  • Poetry Connections 2015

(Sampurna Chattarji and Arjun Bali at the Sangam House translation workshop…. see more photos on our facebook page)

Poetry Connections is a series of translation workshops run by LAF in collaboration with our partners, bringing together writers from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds to translate each other’s works.

Working through a ‘bridge’ language such as French or English the poets learn about the literary traditions and contemporary contexts in which each of them writes. They explore the microcosm of each literary text, as well as wider issues of translation practice.

‘Poetry Connections’ from DW Gibson on Vimeo.

The aims of Poetry Connections are to:

• Facilitate translation of the participating poets’ work into several languages.
• Build connections between the participating poets and poetry facilitators (organisers of events, editors of magazines etc) focusing on translation from and into the languages of the participants.
• Highlight the multilingual and multicultural nature of the poetry scene in both Europe and abroad.
• Connect with LAF’s poetry projects (poetry translation workshops, Metropoetica, Word Express Project and Poetry Unlimited – a project focusing on interaction between poetry and other art forms – performance, music, multimedia)
• Seek publishing and performance outcomes for the resulting translations.

The project consists of several phases and multiple encounters and collaborations among poets from different countries. The workshops are combined with multilingual performances and have resulted in publications of different kinds (anthologies, online magazines, CDs, blogs).

Recently workshops have been held in India , Morocco and Turkey – visit the workshops’ event pages for more information about the workshops and their participants!
As an example of the results of the workshops, visit Dubious Saints, a blog the poets from the workshop in India have set up to share their collaborations. There, you can read some of the translations and other thoughts on the poetic process.

Read more about the different Poetry Connections workshops in our Translation Workshop section.