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The Stephen Spender Prize 2017 in Association With The Stephen Spender Prize 2017 in association with for poetry in translation The Stephen Spender Prize 2017 for poetry in translation in association with Winners and Commended Winner of the 14-and-under category 14-and-under commended Katherine Linaker Hannnah Gillot Natasha Symes Warsan Zubeir Masabo ‘This is the Way’ ‘The Anxious Lotus ‘On our Way Home ‘You will get Wealth by BL Pasternak Flower’ from School’ from the Farm’ (Russian) by Heinrich Heine by Jacques Prévert Traditional (German) (French) (Swahili) Winners of the 18-and-under category 18-and-under commended Isobel Sanders ‘Elegy 3.8’ by Propertius (Latin) First Second Third Ambah Brondum- Euan McGreevy Marina Kisluik Christensen ‘Architectural Pride’ ‘A Mistake’ ‘Per Diem’ by Sergio C Fanjul by Marina Tsvetaeva by Daphne Pratt (Spanish) (Russian) (Krio) Winners of the Open category First Second Third Highly commended Gabi Reigh Andrew Fentham Antoinette Fawcett Deirdre McMahon ‘The Traveller’ ‘Balaton Accident’ ‘Wind-still’ ‘Beneath The World A Storehouse Of Stars’ by Marin Sorescu by András Gerevich by Leo Vroman by Marica Bodrožić (Romanian) (Hungarian) (Dutch) (German) Open category commended Stewart Sanderson Kevin Maynard Antoinette Fawcett ‘Charm to Quiet a ‘Building Walls’ ‘Journey into the Known’ Crying Baby’ by Liu Kezhuang by Han van der Vegt Anonymous (Chinese) (Dutch) (Akkadian) 1 Introduction to the Stephen Spender Prize 2017 aking over the reins for the Stephen Spender Prize for My thanks go to the judges, Sean O’Brien, Olivia T poetry in translation from Robina Pelham Burn has McCannon and Margaret Jull Costa – conscientious, been a wonderful experience. Submissions for the prize thoughtful and good humoured. This year the prize was ranged from aged 11 to 93 and the languages and dialects generously sponsored by the Old Possum’s Practical Trust, have been truly global, from Akkadian to Swahili by way of the Sackler Trust, the John S Cohen Foundation and the Krio and Romanian. Many entrants were from UK residents Rothschild Foundation; I am very grateful for the continued translating from their mother tongue into English and, while support and encouragement, and thank you to our media the European languages were healthily represented, it was partner, The Guardian. wonderful to encounter poems from less accessible languages. Suzanne Joinson Director of the Stephen Spender Trust Judges’ comments What first struck me school’, Natasha Symes also observes rail, hanging from a windowsill…’ She was the sheer variety of how rhyme often forces the translator skilfully maintains the driving rhythm languages and also how away from the original vocabulary and and the helter-skelter imagery leading many of the entrants into new discoveries. us ever onwards. Andrew Fentham’s were translating from Ambah Brondum-Christensen’s version of Hungarian poet András their mother tongue, version of Krio poet Daphne Pratt’s ‘Per Gerevich’s ‘Balaton accident’ is equally having been brought up bilingually or Diem’ is impressively inventive, manag- brilliant at replicating the unremit- having come here as children or having ing to preserve the sly humour of the ting grimness of the poem’s subject grandparents who spoke that other original, while bringing the whole poem matter, with some wonderful imagery, language. The most popular source smartly up to date and, in effect, creating for example: ‘the faces in the crowd/ languages were still Spanish, French a brand-new poem. Euan McGreevy’s rearranged with grief’. And I loved all and German, but it was gratifying to translation of young Spanish poet of Antoinette Fawcett’s translations see such a multitude of other languages. Sergio C. Fanjul’s ‘Architectural pride’ from the Dutch, particularly ‘Wind- The unanimous choice for winner of maintains the simplicity of the original, still’ which makes captivating use of the 14-and-under section was Katherine but very wisely opts for calling the assonance and alliteration to evoke the Linaker for her version of ‘This is the ‘city’ ‘she’ rather than ‘it’, thus breath- stillness of the original: ‘I saw the stock- way’ by Boris Pasternak. Katherine ing necessary life into the inanimate. still silent white/cow-parsley blooming chose not to rhyme, but to use instead Marina Kisluik, in her translation of by the ditch/in a deathly hush…’ I was a 4-stressed syllabic line. The result is Marina Tsvetaeva’s ‘A Mistake’, deftly also very taken with Deidre McMahon’s strikingly confident and compelling, negotiates the seemingly simple lan- bold translation of the German poet with that insistently repeated ‘This guage. I particularly liked her alliterative Marica Bodrožić’s ‘Beneath the world is the way’ drawing the reader on to opening lines: ‘A flying snowflake,/ a storehouse of stars’, with her free that unexpected last line: ‘This is the Falling like a shooting star.’ and fertile use of alliteration, as well as way that true poets are made.’ Hannah The winner of the Open Category the English neologisms she invents to Gillot, on the other hand, chose to is Gabi Reigh’s translation of the match those in which the poet herself keep to the rhyme scheme in her subtle Romanian poet Marin Sorescu’s ‘The delights – ‘falcon-light’, ‘everland’, translation of Heine’s ‘The anxious traveller’, a poem that revels in discom- ‘untetheredness’. lotus flower’, and she remarks on the fort and danger, and Gabi effortlessly My thanks to all the entrants for word choices imposed by both rhyme captures the poet’s comic/ironic delight providing us with such riches, for the and rhythm. In her comments on her in precariousness: ‘I am not well unless/ poems and the commentaries. appropriately playful version of Jacques Confused, uncomfortable,/Standing on Margaret Jull Costa Prévert’s ‘On our way home from one foot on a blister/Clutching on a 2 Judges’ comments This was my first year long traditional poem (Swahili), ‘You and unexpected associations: ‘…the on the judging panel, will get Wealth from the Farm’, with telegrams are encrypted/And you have and I was delighted limpidity and warmth. forgotten the code of leaves’. Andrew to discover so many In the 18-and-under category, many Fentham’s sure-footed rendering of accomplished submis- candidates engaged wholeheartedly András Gerevich, from the Hungarian, sions across such a wide with the complexities of translation, was remarkable for its attentiveness to spread of languages and eras. I especially producing lively and original poems the ‘new confusion in the poet’s work’ enjoyed work that engaged deeply with in English. We were impressed by and its holding of nerve through a the translation process, had a genuine the fiery political energy of Ambah series of disturbing images. We were all ‘felt’ presence, or nourished poetic Brondum-Christensen’s ‘Per Diem’, and struck by a set of atmospheric, nuanced innovation in English. I’ll look forward her confident strategies for turning the poems from the Dutch, translated by to seeing entrants continue to reach differences between Krio and English Antoinette Fawcett – her ‘Wind-still’ out across the globe next year, bringing to her advantage. In Euan McGreevy’s took third place, with her ‘Journey into across contemporary writers, or voices restrained and effective translation of the Known’ also commended. from parts of the world, and the past, Sergio C. Fanjul (Spanish), his consid- Deirdre McMahon’s rendering of that speak to our times. ered importation of gendered pronouns Marica Bodrožić (German) was a pleas- In the 14-and-under category, gave him new possibilities in English. ure to read for the new-coined quality Katherine Linaker’s translation of Isobel Sanders gave us a punchy version of its imagery, and the syntactic tension Pasternak, ‘This is the Way’, stood out of Propertius, confidently treading the of lines hanging together by a thread. for its beautifully sustained handling fine line of modernisation, while Marina I was moved by Stewart Sanderson’s of metre. I appreciated her thoughtful Kisluik thought and felt her way into ‘Charm to Quiet a Crying Baby’ from commentary, charting the transforma- Tsvetaeva, facing the challenges with the Akkadian, speaking to us across the tion of uncertainty into the search for honesty and insight. centuries, vividly and with great human- possibility. I admired Hannah Gillot’s The judges unanimously selected ity, and by the human detail and realism rendering of Heine’s ‘Die Lotosblume’, Gabi Reigh’s translation of Marin of ‘Building Walls’ in Kevin Maynard’s maintaining form without compromis- Sorescu, ‘The Traveller’ (Romanian), as reconstructed version of a Song dynasty ing the flow of the line, and Natasha the winner in the Open Category. We poem. Symes’ inventive and unforced version admired her ear for the restless tone of Thank you all for entering! of Prévert’s ‘En sortant de l’école’, while the poem, her skill in creating a con- Olivia McCannon Warsan Zubeir Masabo brought over a vincing texture out of unsettling shifts Perhaps the most strik- In the 14-and-under category, the Swahili poem, ‘You Will Get Wealth ing feature of this year’s winner Katherine Linaker delivered from the Farm’, a trenchant example of entries for the Stephen a mature and assured translation of a kind of wisdom poetry which English Spender Translation Boris Pasternak’s ‘This is the way…’, seems not to have produced. Competition was the maintaining the momentum of the Winner in the 18-and-under category translators’ widespread piece through the diverse images and was Ambah Brondum-Christensen’s preference for poems that were not moments of recognition that shape the translation from the Krio of Daphne obvious choices, either because they imagination of a poet. Hannah Gillot Pratt. ‘Per Diem: the Need for Expenses’ were less familiar pieces by internation- made an impressive showing with is a dry and damningly funny address to ally famous poets or because the poets her rendering of Heine’s ‘The Lotus those (of all nations) who are never off translated are less familiar or indeed new Flower’, which was marked by rhyth- the political / diplomatic gravy train.
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