Poetry Translation Centre

25/05/2026

🦅 Our final poetry workshop from our collaboration with the Aga Khan Centre is this Saturday with Elhum Shakerifar!

In this classic PTC-style collaborative poetry translation workshop, participants will co-translate the 12-century Persian poem 'The Conference of the Birds' by Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar, which inspired the new exhibition at the Aga Khan Centre.

Give yourself the space to develop your craft in a low-barrier (but highly-aesthetic!) setting—our workshops are a great way to break down some of the composite skills involved in the arts of poetry and translation.

Lovers of words in all languages welcome—poets and non-poets, translators and non-translators.

More details and tickets here: https://buff.ly/1elt405

18/05/2026

🦅 Our next poetry workshop from our collaboration with the Aga Khan Centre is this Sunday, led by Leo Boix!

Responding to Michaela McMillan’s sculptural birds and Mike Collier’s moving-image work, participants will write across Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Indigenous languages—exploring how stories travel; how they transform and take root in new contexts.

Lovers of words in all languages welcome—poets and non-poets, translators and non-translators.

More info and tickets here: https://buff.ly/KklwHoD

11/05/2026

🦅 Our first poetry workshop from our collaboration with the Aga Khan Centre starts this Saturday! Join April Yee to explore the thin line between art and poetry through this poetry and collage workshop.

Inspired by the Aga Khan Centre’s Canticle of the Birds exhibition—itself rooted in The Conference of the Birds, the 12th-century Persian poem by the Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar—this workshop series continues the exhibition’s spirit of translation and transformation.

Lovers of words in all languages welcome—poets and non-poets, translators and non-translators.

More info and tickets here: https://buff.ly/BneQTQc

05/05/2026

🦅 Join us this May for three poetry workshops at the Aga Khan Centre in Camden with April Yee, Leo Boix and Elhum Shakerifar!

Inspired by the Aga Khan Centre’s Canticle of the Birds exhibition—itself rooted in The Conference of the Birds, the 12th-century Persian poem by the Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar—this workshop series continues the exhibition’s spirit of translation and transformation.

Across the month, we’ll explore poetry through collage, alongside a collaborative translation workshop in the PTC’s signature style (where many of our now-legendary translators got their start!).

Lovers of words in all languages welcome—poets and non-poets, translators and non-translators.

Book now: https://www.poetrytranslation.org/event-series/birdwatchers-poetry-workshops-series-at-the-aga-khan-centre/

See you there! 🦅

21/04/2026

The Poetry Translation Centre is very keen and thrilled to be at the Free Verse Poetry Book & Magazine Fair this Saturday!

Join our director Nariman Youssef for a panel discussion on AI in poetry and translation, chaired by Judith Palmer (Director, The Poetry Society) and with Ruth Irwin (Poet and teacher), in the Upper Hall.

Book your ticket here: https://poetrysociety.org.uk/news/free-verse-book-magazine-fair-2026-line-up-confirmed/

We will also have a stall! Get your poetry book goodies from 12-6:30pm.

The PTC is the only UK organisation that publishes poetry in translation solely from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and purchasing our books is a fantastic way of supporting our mission.

See you there!

15/04/2026

We are deeply concerned by the detention of our advisory board member, lisa minerva luxx, under the Terrorism Act this past weekend.

luxx is an important part of our community and a vital voice in poetry and activism. We stand in solidarity with them, and with the right of all writers and artists to express their views without fear of harassment or intimidation.

02/04/2026

The videos from our 20th birthday programme showcases are now up on our YouTube channel! 🎉

Check out the playlist here for free, multinational poetry readings in translation:

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

30/03/2026

The theme of our fourth showcase was Somali poetry, and we were delighted to work with long-time collaborators Kayd Somali Arts & Culture, Off the Shelf Festival (Sheffield), Southbank Centre (London) and international partners at Hargeysa Cultural Centre in Somaliland.

Poetry is vital to Somali culture and bringing Somali poetry to new audiences has been core to the PTC’s work from its very beginning. We’re thrilled to celebrate the Somali poets and translators we’ve worked with over the past twenty years with two of our biggest events of 2024. And if you’ve never read a Somali poem – start now!

Watch the event here: https://youtu.be/NTt4YU3Kofs

We would like to thank our funders Arts Council England and the T. S. Eliot Foundation, and the many, many partner organisations who worked with us to make our 20th anniversary a year to remember.

28/03/2026

We close out this week of looking back on our 20th birthday programme with a showcase of our most recent UNDERTOW cohort at this multinational, multilingual event that brought together young poets from the UK and Singapore!

This video showcases the UK side of the readings: our 6 UNDERTOW poets take to the digital stage reveal what they've worked on through the programme.

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/CzymOgwVYA0

About the Poetry Translation Centre & UNDERTOW

The Poetry Translation Centre gives contemporary poems from Africa, Asia and Latin America a new life in the English language, working with diaspora communities for whom poetry is of great importance. UNDERTOW is the Poetry Translation Centre’s Youth programme that focuses on working with people from mixed heritage and diaspora backgrounds to unlock the creative potential of polylingualism.

About Sing Lit Station

Sing Lit Station is a platform where readers and writers can meet. Their core mission is to serve the local literary community of writers and readers in Singapore: by creating a space for writers to grow their artistic and professional lives; and inviting readers to explore our literary culture.

We would like to thank our funders Arts Council England and the T. S. Eliot Foundation, and the many, many partner organisations who worked with us to make our 20th anniversary a year to remember.

27/03/2026

Our Q***r Latinx Poetry & Translation Showcase at Ledbury Poetry Festival during our 20th birthday programme was a fitting conclusion to Pride Month, celebrating diverse voices and creative collaborations across continents.

The event highlighted the PTC’s commitment to bringing international poetry to English-speaking audiences. Comprised of two live events occurring simultaneously – one in Ledbury and one in Buenos Aires, Argentina – this showcase offered a broad perspective on poetry through a ‘queer’ lens.

Bern Roche Farrelly, Participating Producer at the PTC, opened the showcase with a thought-provoking speech on the inherent queerness of translation. While translation might seem 'predicated on binaries' (altering a text from one language to another), Roche Farrelly argued that in reality, 'translation complicates everything.' It 'does away with neatness and binaries,' resulting in texts that 'don’t easily fit into categories, but embrace ambiguity or bothness' – an experience familiar to members of the LGBTQI+ community.

Watch the event here: https://youtu.be/1-JCo2l7ylA

And read more about the event here: https://ledburypoetry.org.uk/queer-latinx-poetry/

We would like to thank our funders Arts Council England and the T. S. Eliot Foundation, and the many, many partner organisations who worked with us to make our 20th anniversary a year to remember.