Poetry in Translation

“The Limits of my Language / are the Limits of my World” (Grace Wells) is a poetry in translation workshop that aims to focus the ear on the sound the poem makes and how this can guide your approach to translation. Learning to hear the music of the poem, and trust what that tells you, you will begin to hear that translation is above all the sound the poem makes.

This workshop is open to all levels from absolute beginners curious about translation to practitioners wishing to improve or sharpen their skills. Participants should have a familiarity with a second language as well as an interest in poetry. Ctizens whose first language is not English are particularly encouraged. You will receive material in advance of the Workshop. 

Keith Payne has published eight collections of poetry in translation and original poetry. He is curator of the Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill Poetry Exchange and recently co-edited A Different Eden: Ecopoetry from Ireland and Galicia (Dedalus Press, 2021). He was John Broderick Writer in Residence 2021-22 and Cork City Library Eco Poet in Residence 2022-23.

Photo: Keith Payne by Javier Teniente

“Get the letter and you miss the spirit, which is everything in poetry; or get the spirit and you miss the letter, which is everything in poetry. But these are false dilemmas... Verse translation at its best generates a wholly new utterance in the second language—new, yet equivalent, of equal value.” John Felstiner, Translating Neruda