The Corneliu M Popescu Prize for European Poetry Translation 2007 Uncovers Estonian Treasure

Ilmar Lehtpere wins the Corneliu M Popescu Prize for European Poetry Translation 2007 with his translation of Drums of Silence by Estonian Kristiina Ehin and published by Oleander Press.

The Judges of the Corneliu M Popescu Prize , Anne Born and Francis Jones, had a tough time picking this year's overall winner. But after much deliberation they agreed the prize should be awarded to Ilmar Lehtpere for his translation of one of Estonia's most popular poets, Kristiina Ehin's collection The Drums of Silence.

Judges

 

 

 

 Anne Born          Francis Jones

Winner

Ilmar Lehtpere (below) had a bilingual upbringing in Estonian and English. His translations of Estonian poetry have appeared in various literary journals in Europe and America. With The Drums of Silence Lehtpere provides a faithful and precise translation from the original Estonian, allowing the poems to graduate with sincerity and literary authority to another life in a new language.

Lehtpere described winning the award as "The greatest honour that a poetry translator can receive." He went on to say that poetry translation in the UK is under-represented, particularly by bookshops. He hopes that this prize will counter this, but he also felt that translation needed to be promoted and supported more, by grants and similar support for translators' fees. "In Estonia," he said, "translators' fees are fully paid for by the Estonian Cultural Foundation."

Kristiina Ehin is one of Estonia’s most beloved poets, having won the country’s most prestigious poetry prize. Her work reflects the influence of the traditional Estonian folk song, which dates back over two thousand years. It is honest, uncompromising, deeply personal, universal and utterly free from poetic fashion and convention. In Ehin's poetry the judges found an approach to describing the natural world that was at once shamanic, drawing on deep historical traditions, but at the same time extremely of the moment all - of which are reflected beautifully by Lehtpere’s translations.

Kristiina Ehin shared a few words with us  in Estonian in response to her poetry's translation winning the Popescu Prize:

What impressed the judges so much about this translation was that “the translator is clearly bilingual and could capture both languages’ subtleties; poetically familiar in one sense but strange in another.” They were also delighted to have encountered a female poet from a culture that is relatively ‘new’ to British and even other European readers. Both judges agreed that this book would challenge cultural assumptions and celebrate the sophistication of poets and poetry all over Europe.

The Poetry Society is delighted with our judges’ decision. Ehin and her translator Lehtpere are both emerging voices. Their work and the work of Oleander Press gives voice to an identity that is only just beginning to flourish in the European consciousness, let alone on the shelves of lovers of poetry in English.

Find out more about Oleander Press

Click here to read about the other shortlisted titles.

The Corneliu M Popescu Prize will now be closed until the Poetry Society's Centenary Year, in 2009.