Modern Poetry in Translation (MPT) is a tri-annual poetry magazine edited by Clare Pollard 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.

Latest issue

MPT’s spring issue ‘Dream Colours’ focuses on Japan, featuring two of Japan’s most popular post-war poets, Shuntaro Tanikawa and Noriko Ibaragi; new work by Sawako Nakayasu; an essay by Polly Barton on the complications of translating Japanese concrete poetry; and a poetic manifesto regarding dreams from the surrealist Shuzo Takiguchi (1903–1979). Also featured: Chris Beckett introduces the young Ethiopian poet Misrak Terefe; Kit Fan translates Bei Dao’s ‘June’ in the light of Hong Kong’s recent protests; and a tribute to Elaine Feinstein’s translations of Marina Tsvetaeva by Sasha Dugdale. All this and more in the groundbreaking magazine dedicated to poetry in translation: for the best in world poetry read MPT.