Words, Worlds, Whirled: Poets, Place and the Barbican in Translation

For more than four decades, Watts has been compiling a Bibliography of Modern Poetry in English Translation, while working with exiled poets, in celebration of the richness of linguistic diversity. For this unique evening of poetry, reading and discussion, he’ll talk about the project, focussing on two exhibitions Swirl Of Words/Swirl Of Worlds and Explosion Of Words.

Accompanying him will be long-time collaborators and new friends, including British Bangladeshi poet and storyteller Shamim Azad, Bulgarian poet Kristina Apostolova, UK Urdu poet Maliha Haider and Burmese poet and translator Ko Ko Thett. They'll be reading from their own work, discussing their experiences of living and writing in pluri-lingual cultures, and meditating on the practices of translation and the poetries that represent London’s diasporas and communities.