Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry shortlist announced

Salim Barakat, Lee Hyemi and Khal Torabully are among those shortlisted for the Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry.

Now in its second year, the biennial prize recognises the best book of poetry by a living poet from Africa, Asia, Latin America or the Middle East published in English translation. The six-strong shortlist includes poets from the Republic of Congo, Korea, Mauritius, Mexico, Palestine and Syria. The winning book will be announced on 1st November and the winning poet and their translators will share a £3,000 award.

The shortlisted poets and translators will take part in a series of online events throughout October, organised by the Poetry Translation Centre in partnership with the British Council, the British Centre for Literary Translation and Manchester City of Literature. The prize will be judged by chair Rosalind Harvey, Kit Fan and Kyoo Lee. 

Harvey said: "Translation is about movement and possibility, and these books all invite us to explore what that movement has meant and might mean. In a world full of endless stark opinions, where nuance often struggles to get a word in, of endless facts and ‘alternative facts’, these collections invite us to uphold poetry’s – and translation’s – innate open-endedness, its ability to allow for possibility, for multiple answers as well as questions."

The shortlist in full

Come, Take a Gentle Stab by Salim Barakat, translated from Arabic by Huda J Fakhreddine and Jayson Iwen (Seagull Books)
Exhausted on the Cross by Najwan Darwish, translated from Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid (New York Review Books)
Migrations: Poem, 1976–2020 by Gloria Gervitz, translated from Spanish by Mark Schafer (New York Review Books)
Unexpected Vanilla by Lee Hyemi, translated from Korean by Soje (Tilted Axis Books)
The River in the Belly by Fiston Mwanza Mujila, translated from French by J Bret Maney (Deep Vellum)
Cargo Hold of Stars: Coolitude by Khal Torabully, translated from French by Nancy Naomi Carlson (Seagull Books)