Discussion in English

Reading in multiple languages

A New Divan aims to pay homage to a great European poet and to mark the 200th anniversary of the first publication of the West-Eastern Divan by celebrating our common humanity with a new collection of 24 original poems on the themes of Goethe’s work. Published by Gingko and Suhrkamp, respectively, the book features facing English and German versions by contemporary English and German language poets.

This afternoon marks the culmination of this joint project. Mohammed Bennis, Nujoom Alghanem and Gonca Özmen will represent all the participating poets; Fadhil Al-Azzawi and Narguess Farzad, without whose bridge translations and advice this lyrical dialogue could not have been accomplished, will also be present. The four will read poems from A New Divan in their original language as well as the English and German versions and discuss the challenges of poetic translation with Stefan Weidner and Bill Swainson.