Congratulations to poet Lee Hyemi, translator Soje and the pioneering Tilted Axis Press for being shortlisted for the 2022 Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation with the collection Unexpected Vanilla, published in 2020. Awarded every two years, the prize honours the best book of poetry by a living poet from Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Middle East. The £3,000 prize is split between the poet and translator(s).
The shortlist was announced in September, and the winner will be revealed on 1 November. Unexpected Vanilla is up against Spanish, Arabic and French collections.
Excerpts from the six shortlisted works are gathered together in an anthology published by the Poetry Translation Centre. In a nice touch, the poems are presented in their original language alongside the English translations.
Introducing Unexpected Vanilla, the poet writes:
There is always an exchange of fluids
at the critical moment when a relationship deepens
Soje and the Tilted Axis team explain that
This exchange of liquids often involves sex, but intercourse can be non-sexual as well: drinking tea or alcohol, going to the beach, sitting in the same tub, crying, feeling your lover’s sweat on your palm. In this way, Lee explores a wide variety of relationships, attractions and sensations.
The Vanilla of the title is the norm, the expected: the ordinary but still pleasurable. Lee’s collection explores the deviations from that norm. The poem starts: “It glided along the groove of my ear. Vanilla on the tip of my tongue, dribbling down the subtle bumps.”
Whether or not the collection wins the prize, it’s well worth searching out.
The shortlist for the prize is reproduced below.
The 2022 shortlist
Unexpected Vanilla by Lee Hyemi, tr. Soje. Korean
Written by one of South Korea’s exciting new female poets, Unexpected Vanilla takes on issues of feminism, discrimination, and body image. Lee Hyemi’s words are brought to an English-speaking audience by Soje, who successfully translates the silky yet biting lyrics that conjure up vivid imagery.Exhausted on the Cross by Najwan Darwish, tr. Kareem James Abu-Zeid. Arabic
Exhausted on the Cross is a beautiful collection by one of the Middle East’s best known contemporary poets. Darwish’s graceful verses bring to life notions of displacement, faith and conflict – which are brilliantly conveyed through Kareem James Abu-Zeid’s translations.Come, Take a Gentle Stab by Salim Barakat, tr. Huda J. Fakhreddine and Jayson Iwen. Arabic
Written by the renowned Kurdish-Syrian poet Salim Barakat, Come, Take a Gentle Stab is a collection of his works spanning five decades. Often drawing on ideas of conflict, violence and identity, Barakat pens his poems in Arabic, despite his native language being Kurdish. Fakhreddine and Iwen’s translations successfully bring the flow of Barakat’s creativity to the Anglosphere.Migrations by Gloria Gervitz, tr. Mark Schafer. Spanish
Migrations is an epic poem written between 1976-2020 by the late Mexican poet Gloria Gervitz (1943-2022). The nature of time, the subconscious, and the female body are explored in this piece with striking lyricism and dynamic compositions. Mark Schafer’s radiant translation from Spanish aptly puts Gervitz’s mind across, bringing her illustrious poetry to English.The River in the Belly by Fiston Mwanza Mujila, tr. J. Bret Maney. French.
The meditative, yet forceful Solitudes of Fiston Mwanza Mujila revolve around The Congo River; the beauty, terror and mayhem it delivers along it’s banks. Composed of Solitudes, varying in length, the human condition is explored veering into notions of identity, the body and societal turmoil. And with vivid translations by J. Bret Maney, the imagery of this piece is perfectly illustrated for English speakers.Cargo Hold of Stars: Coolitude by Khal Torabully, tr. Nancy Naomi Carlson. French
Cargo Hold of Stars is a homage to the voyage taken by millions of people from India and China to Mauritius and other former European colonies in the 19th and 20th centuries. Erased from history, the voices of these men and women are brought to life through Khal Torabully’s musical contemplations. Colonialism’s ugly past, along with expressions of identity, migration, and resilience are all presented in this piece. Nancy Naomi Carlson’s masterful translations distinctly deliver Torabully’s unique voice to English speakers.
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