Our launch reading and was an unique and unprecedented celebration of international poetry in the Khalili Lecture Theatre at SOAS.

All the poems read that night were translated in our workshops. The final English translations were read by distinguished British poets, and then the poems were heard in their original language.

Below you’ll find a list of the poets and readers involved. The poems can be found on our website.

The Sudanese poet Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi was read by Michael Donaghy and Hafiz Kheir; the Mexican Coral Bracho by Katherine Pierpoint and Tom Boll; the Ethiopian Mengistu Lemma by David Harsent and Martin Orwin; the South Korean Ch’oe Young-mi by Ruth Padel and Grace Koh; the Mozambiquan Eduardo White by Michael Donaghy and Stefan Tobler; the Indian Gagan Gill by Katherine Pierpoint and Lucy Rosenstein; the Gujarati Suresh Dalal by Michael Donaghy and Bhadra Vadgama; the Peruvian Blanca Varela by Ruth Padel and Gwen MacKeith; and the Somali Maxamed Xasan ‘Gaarriye’ by David Harsent and Martin Orwin.

The PTC's distinguished Patron, the leading Iraqi poet, Saadi Yousef, read his poems in Arabic that he and Sarah Maguire had translated together. Ahmed Mukhtar, the famous Iraqi oud player, gave a wonderful performance that added greatly to the atmosphere of the event..

It was a truly exhilarating evening and an excellent way to launch the PTC.