Arc World Poets: Turkey and Brazil

Description

A Poetry Reading and In Conversation with Bejan Matur and Antônio Moura.

Don't miss this rare opportunity to hear two internationally acclaimed poets read new work in both their original languages and in English. There will be a discussion on the importance and processes of translation after the readings.

Bejan Matur was born of an Alevi Kurdish family in 1968 in Southeast Turkey. Her poems have been published worldwide. In 2011 she published her first prose book, about the PKK Guerillas. Her poetic sequence, How Abraham Abandoned Me (Arc Publications 2012), is a personalised iconography based on Islamic references and imagery. Matur devotes much of her writing time to Kurdish politics, Armenian and women’s issues. She is currently the British Council writer-in-residence at the Writers' Centre Norwich.

Antônio Moura’s first English publication Silence River (Arc Publications 2012) presents a poet who balances a satirical, political and spiritual voice. He is considered to be among the most resilient of Brazilian poets writing today, and has published two previous books of original poetry in Brazil.  Earlier versions of some translations in Silence River have appeared in Shearsman and Modern Poetry in Translation.

This free event is a unique opportunity for poetry lovers. The evening will begin with the authors reading form their work in their mother-tongue, and then reading from the English translations, followed by a discussion between the poets which will touch on the issues of translation.  

More information about the poets can be found on www.arcpublications.co.uk
Arc Publications is the UK’s leading publisher of contemporary poetry in translation.

This evening is a partnership event from Arc Publications, the Writers' Centre Norwich, the British Centre for Literary Translation and the University of East Anglia.

This reading is part of the Poetry in Translation Mini Series.

Funded by Arts Council England, Lottery Fund