My translation backbone was Highly Commended for the prize and will be published by the Stephen Spender Trust in 2024!
I recently sent a translated poem from my work-in-progress to the annual Poetry in Translation Prize by the Stephen Spender Trust (SST). The SST celebrates multilingualism and literary translation through a range of initiatives, including this prize. They also work with multinational youths in the UK to celebrate their languages. Founded in honour of Stephen Spender, a poet, translator of poetry and champion of rights of creative artists, founding members included Valerie Eliot, Seamus Heaney, Ted Hughes, Czesław Miłosz, Harold Pinter and Natasha Spender.
The original poem sinsla was written by Nadia Mifsud, current poet laureate of Malta, and published in her book Varjazzjonijiet tas-Skiet (EDE Books, 2021).
My translation backbone was Highly Commended for the prize and will be published by the Stephen Spender Trust in 2024!
The judges of the prize were Jennifer Wong, Taher Adel, and Samantha Schnee. Read Jennifer Wong’s comment below.
A standout example was Miriam Calleja’s Highly Commended translation of ‘Backbone’ by Malta’s current Poet Laureate Nadia Mifsud, which captured intimacy between people in the handling of evocative metaphors and precision in language.
Judge’s Commentary 2023: Jennifer Wong – Stephen Spender Trust (stephen-spender.org)
