24 May 2018
This year, the chosen work is a poem from Catalunya by the poet Laia Martinez i Lopez (or Laia Malo) who also translates from Russian and who’s a musician in the electronic band, Jansky. This untitled poem was published in her fifth volume of poetry – Venus Volta (Lleonard Muntaner Editor, 2018), but it first appeared on 3 November 2017 in the digital newspaper Vilaweb as part of a series of poems ‘Proclames de Llibertat’ (Freedom Proclamations) introducing poets’ response to the situation in Catalunya.
A prize of £100 provided by Mercator International and a translation challenge staff carved by Elis Gwyn Jones, sponsored by Cymdeithas Cyfieithwyr Cymru will be presented. This year’s judge is Ned Thomas. The deadline for competing is 10 July 2018 and the winner will be announced on 10 August 2018 at the Eisteddfod Genedlaethol in a special event.
Competitors should compete through the Wales PEN Cymru website and a registration fee of £6 must be paid with each attempt. Competitors are allowed to submit more than one attempt when paying the appropriate application fee.
It is our intention to publish the winning translation and adjudication in O’r Pedwar Gwynt online on the day.
The Translation Challenge is part of the Wales Literature Exchange work programme supported by Arts Council of Wales.