The Poetry Society and EUNIC presents a night of new European poems and translations.
Early in lockdown, one of the first online events we hosted was a European Poetry Night, welcoming writers and readers from across the continent for an evening of poetry and conversation. Building on that relationship with our European partners, we are now delighted to host the second part of that conversation.
We’ve connected poets from Cyprus, Germany and Latvia with those publishing in the UK, and commissioned them in pairs to create brand new pieces for tonight’s event. Tishani Doshi & Ulrike Almut Sandig, Jen Hadfield & Ligija Purinaša, and Jacqueline Saphra & Nora Nadjarian have spent the Spring getting to know each other’s work, and have each written a new piece inspired by their poetic partner.
Tonight, they’ll talk about the translation and inspiration process, and present the world premieres of their new work.
About the Poets
Tishani Doshi is a Welsh-Gujarati poet, novelist and dancer. She has published seven books of fiction and poetry, the most recent of which is A God at the Door, shortlisted for the Forward Prize 2021.
Jen Hadfield is a British poet and visual artist. She has published four poetry collections and is the youngest female poet to be awarded the TS Eliot Prize, with her second collection, Nigh-No-Place, in 2008.
Nora Nadjarian is a Cypriot poet and short story writer. She writes in English and Armenian, as well as Greek. Her writing often centres on the island of Cyprus, though there are numerous works of universal themes. She was a finalist in the 2021 Mslexia poetry competition and was recently nominated for the Forward Prize for best single poem.
Ligija Purinaša (1991) is a Latvian (*Latgalian) poet and journalist, Latgalian being a historical variety of the Latvian language spoken in the Latgale region of Latvia.
Ulrike Almut Sandig was born in the late GDR and now lives with her family in Berlin. She started publishing her poetry by pasting poems onto lamp posts in Leipzig and spreading them on flyers and free post cards. She is a poet, novelist and sound artist.
Jacqueline Saphra is a poet, editor, agitator, teacher, organiser and playwright, and enthusiastic collaborator, working with composers, musicians and visual artists. She lives in London
The poets have been brought together by a partnership between The Poetry Society and EUNIC – European Union National Institutes for Culture – the European network of organisations engaging in cultural relations and collaborations in the service of international relations.
