The first collection in English by renowned Georgian poet, Lia Sturua has been shortlisted for a major prize. Lia Sturua was born in Tbilisi in 1939 and throughout her long career has maintained an innovative and sometimes controversial style. She is an inspiration to many younger poets.

On The Contrary is a selection of her most recent poems, some from collections, some from literary journals, which exemplify her themes of the body, aging, painting, music, and poetry itself, and how uncertainty pervades our lives. The translations were made jointly by Natalia Bukia Peters, professional translator and interpreter, and Victoria Field, widely published poet, writer and researcher.

The Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation is awarded every two years in memory of Sarah Maguire who founded the Poetry Translation Centre. The judges this year were Ian McMillan, English poet and presenter on The Verb on BBC Radio 3, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Irish poet, academic, and translator, and Ghareeb Iskander, a prizewinning Iraqi poet and translator. More details about the shortlist here: https://www.poetrytranslation.org/sarah-maguire-prize

The book is available from Waterstones and other bookshops, or directly from https://falpublications.co.uk/ You can also see a video of Lia talking about her work on the website page.

The prize winner will be announced on Monday 9^th September 2024.

For more information:

Dr Victoria Field – tel 07887 560018 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.