Modern Poetry in Translation

Modern Poetry in Translation (MPT) is a tri-annual poetry magazine edited by Khairani Barokka that publishes poetry from all over the world in English translation. Founded in 1965 by Ted Hughes and Daniel Weissbort it has consistently published the very best of world poetry in the very best translations, and has introduced a number of famous poets and iconic translations to the English-speaking world.

MPT prints work of unsurpassed range and quality. Over the last decade it has featured over 90 languages, 463 poets and 349 translators. Boyd Tonkin in The Independent wrote that MPT ‘has a rare and precious talent’. The Sunday Times called it a ‘necessity’. There is no other magazine that has the same reach and the same consistent quality of poetry.

The trial issue features six poems by Tsvetanka Elenkova translated by Jonathan Dunne, three poems from Aldeburgh by Taha Muhammad Ali and Gabriela Mistral’s poem The Foreigner translated by Arthur McHugh.

Other features include a review by Jo Balmer of classic French and German translations, Charlie Louth examines the work of Don Paterson, Martyn Crucefix and Rilke and Stephanie Norgate presents two haiku versions of Lucretius.

‘Wrap It in Banana Leaves’ features a focus on food poetry, with new translations of Adriana Lisboa, Lena Yau, Fu Hao, Federico Garcia Lorca, Jhio Jan Navarro, Birendra Chattopadhyay, and AW Priatmojo. Our first Language Justice column is by historian and food writer NA Mansour, on the ethics and emotions involved in translating food words under present-day colonialism; there is also an essay by Salma Harland, on her translation in this issue of Kushajim’s epicurean verse, that a caliph demanded be cooked in real life—and a whole menu elaborating on it. 

Also: new Italian poems self-translated by Jhumpa Lahiri, alongside a translated interview with the poet from the Non Solo Muse project, on her first foray into English poetry that only arose through self-translation. There are also exciting new translations of Mozambican poet Hirondina Joshua, Indigenous Guatemalan poet Humberto Ak’abal, and Kosovar Albanian poet Ervina Halili. All this and more in the new issue of the groundbreaking magazine dedicated to poetry in translation: for the best in world poetry, read MPT.