The Poetry Society

Poetry Society
press room

The Corneliu M Popescu Prize
for European Poetry Translation 2005

After the success of the first ever Corneliu M Popescu Prize for European Poetry Translation in 2003, the Poetry Society and the Ratiu Family Foundation are pleased to announce that they are once again accepting submissions for this internationally acclaimed prize. The prize is open to collections of poetry published between March 2003 and March 2005 which feature poetry translated from a European language into English. The judges for this year are Alan Brownjohn and Dr Mike Phillips.

The first winner of the prize was David Constantine for his translation of Lighter than Air by the eminent and widely respected poet, Hans Magnus Enzensberger. Constantine is not new to winning awards for his translation skills. In 1996 he was the winner of the European Poetry prize for Poems of Hölderlin . His other poetry books include Selected Poems, Caspar Hauser, The Pelt of Wasps and Something for the Ghosts. His co-translations include editions of Henri Michaux and Philippe Jaccottet in the Bloodaxe Contemporary French Poets series. He has recently translated Goethe's Faust for Penguin Classics.

To celebrate the launch of the 2005 Corneliu M Popescu Prize for European Poetry Translation, David Constantine will be giving a lecture, "Translation is Good For You", to be presented by the Poetry Society at the London Review Bookshop on Thursday 27 January. This will be the first of six readings and lectures on the subject of translation presented by the Poetry Society at cultural venues around the country.

-Ends-

For further information about the Corneliu M Popescu Prize for European Poetry Translation telephone 0207 420 9892 or visit www.poetrysociety.org.uk/comp/popesc05.htm

Notes to editors

• To book tickets for "Translation is Good For You" with David Constantine at the London Review Bookshop, 14 Bury Place, London WC1A 2JL on Thursday 27 January telephone 020 7420 9895 or email marketing@poetrysociety.org.uk. Tickets £6 (£4 concessions and Poetry Society members)
• To submit book(s) send three copies of the publication to Popescu Prize, 22 Betterton Street, London, WC2H 9BX.
• The Corneliu M Popescu Prize for European Poetry Translation was set up to acknowledge the extraordinary talent of a young Romanian translator, Corneliu M Popescu, who had beautifully translated the poems of Mihai Eminescu. Unfortunately Popescu had died in the 1977 earthquake in Romania and the prize is a tribute to this prodigiously talented young man and indeed translators all over Europe.
• For more information about the Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation visit : www.ratiufamilyfoundation.com
• For more information about the Poetry Society visit www.poetrysociety.org.uk
• To join the Poetry Society's e-mail list to find out more about Popescu Prize results and information about readings and lectures in the translation series, email competition@poetrysociety.org.uk with 'subscribe to translation e-mail' in the subject line.