Mother Tongue

The globetrotting poetry series. Poet Imtiaz Dhaker explores exciting voices from around the world in their own languages and in translation.

In this episode, she hears poems written in Catalan, Turkish, Kurdish and Livonian - an endangered language from the Baltic coast. As she thinks about the phrase 'a sense of belonging', she discovers how homelands and ties of the heart have inspired these three poets.

Catalan poet Manuel Forcano draws his inspiration from countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Speaking from his home city of Barcelona, he tells Imtiaz about his connection to ancient civilisations and why his poems are often charged with a heady eroticism. He reads poems from his collection Maps of Desire, translated by Anna Crowe.

Bejan Matur writes in both Turkish and Kurdish. She grew up in south east Turkey in a Kurdish Alevi family, and her almost mystical poems engage with the experience of the Kurdish people in Turkey. The English versions are read by the translator, poet Jen Hadfield, who was paired with Bejan Matur by the Poetry Translation Centre. Canan Marasligil produced the literal translations from Turkish to English.

Finally, there's Valts Ernštreits, who writes poems in the Livonian language. It's an ancient Finnic language, once widely spoken in Latvia but now classified as critically endangered by UNESCO. Valts talks to Imtiaz about his proud heritage and being part of possibly the smallest literature group in Europe. The English versions of his poems are read by the translator, Ryan Van Winkle.

Producer: Caroline Hughes
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Poet Imtiaz Dhaker hears poems written in Catalan, Turkish, Kurdish and Livonian.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

The globetrotting poetry series. Poet Imtiaz Dhaker explores exciting voices from around the world in their own languages and in translation.

In this episode, she hears poems written in Catalan, Turkish, Kurdish and Livonian - an endangered language from the Baltic coast. As she thinks about the phrase 'a sense of belonging', she discovers how homelands and ties of the heart have inspired these three poets.

Catalan poet Manuel Forcano draws his inspiration from countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Speaking from his home city of Barcelona, he tells Imtiaz about his connection to ancient civilisations and why his poems are often charged with a heady eroticism. He reads poems from his collection Maps of Desire, translated by Anna Crowe.

Bejan Matur writes in both Turkish and Kurdish. She grew up in south east Turkey in a Kurdish Alevi family, and her almost mystical poems engage with the experience of the Kurdish people in Turkey. The English versions are read by the translator, poet Jen Hadfield, who was paired with Bejan Matur by the Poetry Translation Centre. Canan Marasligil produced the literal translations from Turkish to English.

Finally, there's Valts Ernštreits, who writes poems in the Livonian language. It's an ancient Finnic language, once widely spoken in Latvia but now classified as critically endangered by UNESCO. Valts talks to Imtiaz about his proud heritage and being part of possibly the smallest literature group in Europe. The English versions of his poems are read by the translator, Ryan Van Winkle.

Producer: Caroline Hughes
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Poet Imtiaz Dhaker hears poems written in Catalan, Turkish, Kurdish and Livonian.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

Globetrotting poetry series, presented by poet Imtiaz Dharker.

In this episode, Imtiaz hears poets from Poland, Cuba and Taiwan - in their original language and in translation. Starting with the phrase Double Takes, she reflects on how these three poets have the knack of making their readers look, and look again, at the world around them - shifting perspectives with their idiosyncratic takes on details and experiences.

Imtiaz speaks to Adam Zagajewski, widely considered to be the leading Polish poet of his generation. He writes with great humanity and wry humour, with the ability to elevate the most ordinary things, such as airports and sandals, to epic levels. He takes a walk around his home city, Krakow, and talks about his approach to writing poetry. With poems from his collection, Asymmetry, translated by Clare Cavanagh.

We also hear poems from Legna Rodriguez Iglesias, an up-and-coming Cuban voice, now living in Miami. Her intense and sometimes unnerving work often has an absurdist focus on close-up details. Imtiaz speaks to the poet Abigail Parry who, with Serafina Vick, has translated a new selection of Rodriguez's poems in a collection called A Little Body are Many Parts.

Finally, there's Amang Hung, a Taiwanese poet and filmmaker who writes with playful and inventive flair about nature, the digital world and her life in Taipei. She reads poems from her collection Raised by Wolves. The English translations are by Steve Bradbury.

Reader: Vera Chok.
Producer: Caroline Hughes
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

The globetrotting poetry series presented by poet Imtiaz Dharker.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

Globetrotting poetry series, presented by poet Imtiaz Dharker.

In this episode, Imtiaz hears poets from Poland, Cuba and Taiwan - in their original language and in translation. Starting with the phrase Double Takes, she reflects on how these three poets have the knack of making their readers look, and look again, at the world around them - shifting perspectives with their idiosyncratic takes on details and experiences.

Imtiaz speaks to Adam Zagajewski, widely considered to be the leading Polish poet of his generation. He writes with great humanity and wry humour, with the ability to elevate the most ordinary things, such as airports and sandals, to epic levels. He takes a walk around his home city, Krakow, and talks about his approach to writing poetry. With poems from his collection, Asymmetry, translated by Clare Cavanagh.

We also hear poems from Legna Rodriguez Iglesias, an up-and-coming Cuban voice, now living in Miami. Her intense and sometimes unnerving work often has an absurdist focus on close-up details. Imtiaz speaks to the poet Abigail Parry who, with Serafina Vick, has translated a new selection of Rodriguez's poems in a collection called A Little Body are Many Parts.

Finally, there's Amang Hung, a Taiwanese poet and filmmaker who writes with playful and inventive flair about nature, the digital world and her life in Taipei. She reads poems from her collection Raised by Wolves. The English translations are by Steve Bradbury.

Reader: Vera Chok.
Producer: Caroline Hughes
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

The globetrotting poetry series presented by poet Imtiaz Dharker.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

Poet Imtiaz Dharker hears poems written in Persian, Korean and Torwali - an endangered language, indigenous to Pakistan. Starting with the phrase "Lost and Found", she reflects on how ideas of memory, loss and preservation have inspired these poets.

Imtiaz speaks to Azita Ghahreman, an Iranian poet now living in Sweden. Her poems address themes of loss and exile, drawing on experiences of Iran's book-burning years and tender memories of family and her childhood. The poems featured are from her collection Negative of a Group Photograph, with the English versions read by the translator, poet Maura Dooley. They were paired by the Poetry Translation Centre. Elhum Shakerifar produced the literal translations.

Kim Hyesoon is South Korea's leading poet. Her latest collection, Autobiography of Death, is an intense and startling sequence of poems, representing the forty-nine days during which, according to Buddhist belief, the spirit roams after death. She was driven to write them by the anger she felt at the deaths from the sinking of the Sewol ferry in South Korea, in 2014. Imtiaz speaks to Kim Hyesoon along with the translator, poet Don Mee Choi.

Finally, we hear poems in the Torwali language, an indigenous language from the Swat Valley in northern Pakistan which appears on UNESCO's list of endangered languages. Activist Zubair Torwali has collected several hundred ancient Zo poems from local elders, as part of his work to preserve and revive the Torwali language. We hear from British poet Chris McCabe, who has translated some of them and has edited an anthology of poetry in endangered languages, Poems from the Edge of Extinction, in which they appear.

Produced by Caroline Hughes
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Globe-trotting poetry series presented by poet Imtiaz Dharker.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

Poet Imtiaz Dharker hears poems written in Persian, Korean and Torwali - an endangered language, indigenous to Pakistan. Starting with the phrase "Lost and Found", she reflects on how ideas of memory, loss and preservation have inspired these poets.

Imtiaz speaks to Azita Ghahreman, an Iranian poet now living in Sweden. Her poems address themes of loss and exile, drawing on experiences of Iran's book-burning years and tender memories of family and her childhood. The poems featured are from her collection Negative of a Group Photograph, with the English versions read by the translator, poet Maura Dooley. They were paired by the Poetry Translation Centre. Elhum Shakerifar produced the literal translations.

Kim Hyesoon is South Korea's leading poet. Her latest collection, Autobiography of Death, is an intense and startling sequence of poems, representing the forty-nine days during which, according to Buddhist belief, the spirit roams after death. She was driven to write them by the anger she felt at the deaths from the sinking of the Sewol ferry in South Korea, in 2014. Imtiaz speaks to Kim Hyesoon along with the translator, poet Don Mee Choi.

Finally, we hear poems in the Torwali language, an indigenous language from the Swat Valley in northern Pakistan which appears on UNESCO's list of endangered languages. Activist Zubair Torwali has collected several hundred ancient Zo poems from local elders, as part of his work to preserve and revive the Torwali language. We hear from British poet Chris McCabe, who has translated some of them and has edited an anthology of poetry in endangered languages, Poems from the Edge of Extinction, in which they appear.

Produced by Caroline Hughes
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

Globe-trotting poetry series presented by poet Imtiaz Dharker.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

The globe-trotting poetry series returns. Poet Imtiaz Dharker explores exciting voices from around the world in their own languages and in translation.

In this episode, she hears poems written in Icelandic, in Hindustani from India, and in Amharic from Ethiopia. While thinking about the phrase "The State We're In", she explores how these three poets have written about injustices and citizenship in very different ways.

There's Krist퀀n Svava T　masd　ttir, an impressive young voice from Reykjavik's vibrant poetry scene. She serves up perceptive social criticism and environmental concern with wry humour and understated Scandinavian dread. Imtiaz talks to her about poems inspired by the Icelandic financial crisis of 2008 and internet search engines. The English translations are by KB Thors.

Hussain Haidry is a spoken word poet living in Mumbai. In his poem Hindustani Musalmaan, or Indian Muslim, he explores the many influences that make up his identity and refuses to be defined by just one aspect - being a Muslim. It struck a chord a couple of years ago when it was widely shared on social media. Imtiaz talks to him and recalls her time living in Mumbai.

Finally, Imtiaz discovers Ethiopia's rich tradition of "wax and gold" poetry, where satire runs just below the superficial meaning. We hear poems with a political twist from Zewdu Milikit, a poet from the ancient city of Gondar in the north west of Ethiopia. The translations from the original Amharic are by poet Chris Beckett, who we also hear.

Producer: Caroline Hughes
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

The globe-trotting poetry series returns, presented by poet Imtiaz Dharker.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

The globe-trotting poetry series returns. Poet Imtiaz Dharker explores exciting voices from around the world in their own languages and in translation.

In this episode, she hears poems written in Icelandic, in Hindustani from India, and in Amharic from Ethiopia. While thinking about the phrase "The State We're In", she explores how these three poets have written about injustices and citizenship in very different ways.

There's Krist퀀n Svava T　masd　ttir, an impressive young voice from Reykjavik's vibrant poetry scene. She serves up perceptive social criticism and environmental concern with wry humour and understated Scandinavian dread. Imtiaz talks to her about poems inspired by the Icelandic financial crisis of 2008 and internet search engines. The English translations are by KB Thors.

Hussain Haidry is a spoken word poet living in Mumbai. In his poem Hindustani Musalmaan, or Indian Muslim, he explores the many influences that make up his identity and refuses to be defined by just one aspect - being a Muslim. It struck a chord a couple of years ago when it was widely shared on social media. Imtiaz talks to him and recalls her time living in Mumbai.

Finally, Imtiaz discovers Ethiopia's rich tradition of "wax and gold" poetry, where satire runs just below the superficial meaning. We hear poems with a political twist from Zewdu Milikit, a poet from the ancient city of Gondar in the north west of Ethiopia. The translations from the original Amharic are by poet Chris Beckett, who we also hear.

Producer: Caroline Hughes
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4

The globe-trotting poetry series returns, presented by poet Imtiaz Dharker.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

The first edition of a new globe-trotting poetry series. Poet Helen Mort explores exciting voices from around the world. This week, she hears poetry in Arabic, German and Spanish while thinking about the phrase 'Bodies in Motion': seeing how movement, through space and time, filters through the work of some very different poets.

Helen Mort travels to Paris to meet Syrian poet Golan Haji. He's drawn inspiration from many sources, including Bill Viola's video art and a pet ram. Being multilingual, for him, every piece of writing is an act of translation. They meet up with veteran American poet and translator Marilyn Hacker, to hear her version of a Haji poem and talk about the friendship struck up through this translation partnership.

A journey to the centre of the Earth; watching the Berlin Wall fall on a badly tuned TV; and a futuristic German language, have all inspired poems by the compelling German poet and performer, Ulrike Almut Sandig. She tells Helen Mort about her early political 'guerrilla poetry' project, 'eyemail', which found her pasting poems onto lampposts, and its live performance equivalent, which she calls, 'earmail'.

Exploring the fascinating process of translating a poem into another language, Helen Mort takes part in a poetry translation workshop at the Poetry Translation Centre in London. In this case, the original Spanish language poem is by Cuban poet Legna Rodriguez, about her experience of moving from Cuba to Miami. Progressing from the line-by-line literal translation towards a version made collectively, involves discussions on clich退 and idioms - and on nuances of the noun 'sofa bed'!

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Helen Mort explores how movement filters through the work of some very different poets.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

The first edition of a new globe-trotting poetry series. Poet Helen Mort explores exciting voices from around the world. This week, she hears poetry in Arabic, German and Spanish while thinking about the phrase 'Bodies in Motion': seeing how movement, through space and time, filters through the work of some very different poets.

Helen Mort travels to Paris to meet Syrian poet Golan Haji. He's drawn inspiration from many sources, including Bill Viola's video art and a pet ram. Being multilingual, for him, every piece of writing is an act of translation. They meet up with veteran American poet and translator Marilyn Hacker, to hear her version of a Haji poem and talk about the friendship struck up through this translation partnership.

A journey to the centre of the Earth; watching the Berlin Wall fall on a badly tuned TV; and a futuristic German language, have all inspired poems by the compelling German poet and performer, Ulrike Almut Sandig. She tells Helen Mort about her early political 'guerrilla poetry' project, 'eyemail', which found her pasting poems onto lampposts, and its live performance equivalent, which she calls, 'earmail'.

Exploring the fascinating process of translating a poem into another language, Helen Mort takes part in a poetry translation workshop at the Poetry Translation Centre in London. In this case, the original Spanish language poem is by Cuban poet Legna Rodriguez, about her experience of moving from Cuba to Miami. Progressing from the line-by-line literal translation towards a version made collectively, involves discussions on clich退 and idioms - and on nuances of the noun 'sofa bed'!

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Helen Mort explores how movement filters through the work of some very different poets.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

The fourth edition of this new globe-trotting poetry series. Poet Helen Mort explores exciting voices from around the world. This week, she hears poems in Somali, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese and Polish - and in translation.

Reflecting on the phrase "Close Encounters", she explores how the very stuff of being human - relationships, identity, empathy - play a part in the work of these four distinct poets.

Asha Lul Mohamud Yusuf is fast emerging as one of the most outstanding Somali-language poets writing today. Her bold and striking poems are translated by British poet Clare Pollard. They join Helen to talk about the place of poetry in Somali culture and their translation partnership, which came about through the Poetry Translation Centre. With poems from her collection The Sea Migrations.

Helen then travels to Paris to meet the Syrian poet Maram al-Masri and hear poems from her collection Barefoot Souls, which imagines the lives of women who have experienced domestic violence, and from Liberty Walks Naked, al-Masri's response to recent events in Syria.

There's deadpan humour from Angelica Freitas, a brilliantly wry voice from Brazil. She takes a novel approach to exploring female identity in her poem A Woman Goes, and a bittersweet reflection on being alone in I Sleep With Myself.

We also hear a lost poem from the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. It's one of a small number of previously unpublished poems recently discovered among his papers and published in the collection Then Come Back.

Finally, one of the brightest stars in Polish literature - a poet, translator and novelist, Jacek Dehnel. His is an eclectic sort of empathy, with poems about the death of a world-famous musician and a lurid museum exhibit. And we hear his Polish translation of a very famous Philip Larkin poem.

Readers: Raghad Chaar and Alejandro de Mesa
Producer: Caroline Hughes
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Poetry series in which poet Helen Mort explores exciting voices from around the world.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

The fourth edition of this new globe-trotting poetry series. Poet Helen Mort explores exciting voices from around the world. This week, she hears poems in Somali, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese and Polish - and in translation.

Reflecting on the phrase "Close Encounters", she explores how the very stuff of being human - relationships, identity, empathy - play a part in the work of these four distinct poets.

Asha Lul Mohamud Yusuf is fast emerging as one of the most outstanding Somali-language poets writing today. Her bold and striking poems are translated by British poet Clare Pollard. They join Helen to talk about the place of poetry in Somali culture and their translation partnership, which came about through the Poetry Translation Centre. With poems from her collection The Sea Migrations.

Helen then travels to Paris to meet the Syrian poet Maram al-Masri and hear poems from her collection Barefoot Souls, which imagines the lives of women who have experienced domestic violence, and from Liberty Walks Naked, al-Masri's response to recent events in Syria.

There's deadpan humour from Angelica Freitas, a brilliantly wry voice from Brazil. She takes a novel approach to exploring female identity in her poem A Woman Goes, and a bittersweet reflection on being alone in I Sleep With Myself.

We also hear a lost poem from the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. It's one of a small number of previously unpublished poems recently discovered among his papers and published in the collection Then Come Back.

Finally, one of the brightest stars in Polish literature - a poet, translator and novelist, Jacek Dehnel. His is an eclectic sort of empathy, with poems about the death of a world-famous musician and a lurid museum exhibit. And we hear his Polish translation of a very famous Philip Larkin poem.

Readers: Raghad Chaar and Alejandro de Mesa
Producer: Caroline Hughes
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Poetry series in which poet Helen Mort explores exciting voices from around the world.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

The second edition of a new globe-trotting poetry series. Poet Helen Mort explores exciting voices from around the world. This week, she hears poems in Persian, Spanish, German and Chinese - and in translation - all inspired by the everyday objects and people around them. She considers how through the observing eye of poetry, the ordinary becomes extraordinary.

Tea bags, mushrooms and mosquitoes have all inspired German poet Jan Wagner. His poems give surprising perspectives on the most commonplace objects - they are witty, compassionate and novel. Wagner reads from his collection Self-Portrait with a Swarm of Bees, and talks about the process of translation between German and English.

Nicknamed the Poet of Objects in his native Iran, Iraj Ziayi writes about ordinary household items - chairs, slippers - with heightened intensity. In his poem Six Green Polish Chairs, a collection of childhood memories are triggered by the sight of a particular shade of green. Alireza Abiz translates from the Persian.

Helen Mort travels to Oxford to speak to Theophilus Kwek. Kwek is a young poet and translator from Singapore, whose version of Moving House by Malayan-born poet Wong Yoon Wah, recently won second place in the Stephen Spender prize for poetry in translation. Moving House explores the ordinary details of a house move, with a fascinating personal and political subtext.

Finally, there's poetry by Oscar Cruz, direct from the streets of Santiago de Cuba. Speaking to Cruz's translator Serafina Vick, Helen Mort learns about his mission to bring the everyday life and language of his city - in all its frank reality - into his poems. Muy caliente!

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Helen Mort introduces poetry that makes the ordinary becomes extraordinary.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

The second edition of a new globe-trotting poetry series. Poet Helen Mort explores exciting voices from around the world. This week, she hears poems in Persian, Spanish, German and Chinese - and in translation - all inspired by the everyday objects and people around them. She considers how through the observing eye of poetry, the ordinary becomes extraordinary.

Tea bags, mushrooms and mosquitoes have all inspired German poet Jan Wagner. His poems give surprising perspectives on the most commonplace objects - they are witty, compassionate and novel. Wagner reads from his collection Self-Portrait with a Swarm of Bees, and talks about the process of translation between German and English.

Nicknamed the Poet of Objects in his native Iran, Iraj Ziayi writes about ordinary household items - chairs, slippers - with heightened intensity. In his poem Six Green Polish Chairs, a collection of childhood memories are triggered by the sight of a particular shade of green. Alireza Abiz translates from the Persian.

Helen Mort travels to Oxford to speak to Theophilus Kwek. Kwek is a young poet and translator from Singapore, whose version of Moving House by Malayan-born poet Wong Yoon Wah, recently won second place in the Stephen Spender prize for poetry in translation. Moving House explores the ordinary details of a house move, with a fascinating personal and political subtext.

Finally, there's poetry by Oscar Cruz, direct from the streets of Santiago de Cuba. Speaking to Cruz's translator Serafina Vick, Helen Mort learns about his mission to bring the everyday life and language of his city - in all its frank reality - into his poems. Muy caliente!

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Helen Mort introduces poetry that makes the ordinary becomes extraordinary.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

The third edition of a new globe-trotting poetry series. Poet Helen Mort explores exciting voices from around the world. This week, she hears poems in Macedonian, Old Norse and Russian - and in translation. Reflecting on the phrase 'tracks of time', she discovers how memory and history play a part in the work of these three poets.

Helen travels to Berlin to meet the Macedonian poet Nikola Madzirov. Described as one of most powerful voices in contemporary European poetry, he writes with great lyrical depth, insight and originality. In his collection 'Remnants of Another Age', he reflects on the history of his Balkan homeland and on ideas of shelter and nomadism with a restless, timeless intelligence.

Heading up the North Sea coast to Aberdeen, we hear Scottish poet Ian Crockatt reading his fresh versions of the Old Norse verses of Rognvaldr, Earl of Orkney. The collection, 'Crimsoning the Eagle's Claw', is a treasure trove of vivid snapshots of the life of this twelfth century poet, lover, nobleman and sailor. Like meeting a Viking face-to-face.

Finally, Helen travels to Oxford to meet one of Russia's foremost contemporary poets, Maria Stepanova and her translator, Sasha Dugdale. Stepanova writes formally inventive and thoughtful poetry, teeming with references from her country's cultural memory and political history. Through her journalism and editorship of an independent, crowdfunded site, she is also an important liberal voice.

Producer: Caroline Hughes
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Globe-trotting poetry series. Poet Helen Mort explores voices from around the world.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.

The third edition of a new globe-trotting poetry series. Poet Helen Mort explores exciting voices from around the world. This week, she hears poems in Macedonian, Old Norse and Russian - and in translation. Reflecting on the phrase 'tracks of time', she discovers how memory and history play a part in the work of these three poets.

Helen travels to Berlin to meet the Macedonian poet Nikola Madzirov. Described as one of most powerful voices in contemporary European poetry, he writes with great lyrical depth, insight and originality. In his collection 'Remnants of Another Age', he reflects on the history of his Balkan homeland and on ideas of shelter and nomadism with a restless, timeless intelligence.

Heading up the North Sea coast to Aberdeen, we hear Scottish poet Ian Crockatt reading his fresh versions of the Old Norse verses of Rognvaldr, Earl of Orkney. The collection, 'Crimsoning the Eagle's Claw', is a treasure trove of vivid snapshots of the life of this twelfth century poet, lover, nobleman and sailor. Like meeting a Viking face-to-face.

Finally, Helen travels to Oxford to meet one of Russia's foremost contemporary poets, Maria Stepanova and her translator, Sasha Dugdale. Stepanova writes formally inventive and thoughtful poetry, teeming with references from her country's cultural memory and political history. Through her journalism and editorship of an independent, crowdfunded site, she is also an important liberal voice.

Producer: Caroline Hughes
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.

Globe-trotting poetry series. Poet Helen Mort explores voices from around the world.

Poetry series exploring exciting voices from around the world.