The Times Stephen Spender Prize for poetry translation

Download the Entry Form in pdf format
Download the 2011 prize poster in pdf format

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How to enter

Entries must be submitted on a printed entry form, available at the link above and will not be accepted by email.

Entries, with the entry form, should be sent to:
The Times Stephen Spender Prize
Stephen Spender Trust
3 Old Wish Road, Eastbourne
East Sussex BN21 4JX

Entries must be postmarked no later than the last post on
Friday 27 May 2011

While we can only accept entries submitted by post to this address,
we can deal with enquiries sent by email to:
info@stephenspender.org

Conditions of entry

Entrants

1. Entrants must be British residents or British citizens. (The Stephen Spender Trust encourages submissions from children and adults who are British residents but have roots in other countries.)

 

Adjudication and prizes

2. There will be three prizes in the Open and 18-and-under categories. The winners of the Open prizes will receive £750 (first), £500 (second) and £200 (third); the winners of the under-18 prizes will win £250 (first), £150 (second) and £100 (third). There will be one prize (£100) awarded in the 14-and-under category.

3. The Prize will be administered by the Stephen Spender Trust and judged by Susan Bassnett, Edith Hall, Patrick McGuinness and George Szirtes. Their decision will be final and the organisers will not enter into any correspondence about the results.

4. The winners will be notified and the results publicised in The Times and on the Trust's website (www.stephen-spender.org) by 5 November 2011. The winning entries and any others the judges wish to select will be published in a commemorative booklet.

 

Entries

5. All entries for the competition must be sent no later than the last post on Friday 27 May 2011. We cannot accept entries sent by fax or email.

6. Entrants are invited to submit a translation of a published poem from any language, modern or classical, into English, together with a commentary of no more than 300 words (see below for guidelines). The submitted translation should be no more than 60 lines long, so entrants may submit an extract if their chosen poem is longer. Self-translation is not accepted.

7. Each translation must be the original work of the entrant and not a copy or substantial copy of someone else's translation and it must not have been previously published or broadcast.

8. Entries will be judged without the panel of judges knowing the identity of the competitors. The competitor's name must not be typed or written on the translation, original poem or commentary. The latter should be attached to an entry form or to a separate sheet of paper giving the entrant's name, postal address, e-mail address (if applicable), telephone number and the name and contact details of an adult referee if the entrant is under eighteen.

9. Entries will be judged without the panel of judges knowing the identity of the competitors. The competitor's name must not be typed or written on the translation, original poem or commentary.

10. Competitors may submit as many entries as they like, so long as each entry is accompanied by an entry fee of £3.00 (pounds sterling). Anyone eighteen or under on 27 May 2011 is exempt from this charge

11. The entry fee must be paid either by postal order or crossed cheque drawn on a bank in the United Kingdom, made payable to the Stephen Spender Trust.

12. There will be no acknowledgement of receipt unless a stamped addressed envelope, marked RECEIPT, is enclosed.

13. The worldwide copyright of each prize-winning and commended translation and commentary will remain with the translator but The Times and the Stephen Spender Trust will have the unrestricted right to read the translation on television, radio or the stage, or to publish it in whole or in part in periodical or book form when the winners are announced, or at any time up to twelve months after that date.

14. By entering, all competitors shall be deemed to have read and accepted all the conditions of entry for The Times Stephen Spender Prize.

 

Guidelines for the commentary

15. The commentary of no more than 300 words should briefly cover such matters as:

• Your reason for translating this particular poem.
• Problems encountered in translating between the language of the original and English.
• Problems encountered in translating the poem you have chosen.
• Your approach to the poem. For example, if the original is in a particular form — rhyme or a regular metre — have you or have you not attempted to preserve that form in English?

Entry checklist

I am a British resident or British citizen and I enclose:

1. Translations, commentaries and original poems entered for the competition with the entry form.
2. A cheque or postal order, payable to the Stephen Spender Memorial Trust, for the correct entry fee @ £3.00 per entry (those aged 18 or under on 27 May 2011 are exempt from this).
3. A separate self-addressed and stamped envelope marked RECEIPT if you wish to receive acknowledgment that your entry has been received.

The Rex Nettleford Fellowship in Cultural Studies 2011

Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates for the Rex Nettleford Fellowship in Cultural Studies 2011. The closing date for receipt of applications is April 30, 2011.

Description: The fellowship was established by the Rhodes Trust to mark the centenary of the Rhodes Scholarships in the Caribbean in 2004 and to honor the distinguished contribution of Professor the Honorable Rex Nettleford O.M. to higher education and to the cultural life of the Caribbean. The prize is awarded annually.

The terms and conditions of the Fellowship are: the awardee should be a resident of the Caribbean under the age of 35 years; all areas of scholarship in the field of Cultural Studies, including the creative and visual arts, may be pursued; the value of the award will be ₤10,000 with an associated travel grant of ₤2,000; the award holder will be expected to use the tenure of the award to either complete an existing piece of work or to develop a new project; the award holder will be expected to give a number of public lectures, which would be made more generally available on the website of the Rhodes Trust; and the Selection Panel for the Fellowship will comprise representatives of the Rhodes Trust and other distinguished persons in the intellectual and cultural life of the Caribbean. [The award is not intended to be used to assist graduate students with the completion of their thesis or graduate studies.]

A candidate is required to submit the following materials: a birth certificate (original or certified copy); a proposal (maximum 750 words) outlining how the candidate would utilize the award; copies of evidence of examinations passed (including original or certified copy certificates), diplomas or degrees obtained, academic achievements and/or awards; letters of reference from three (3) persons who can speak to the candidate’s talent, scholarship and promise. [The letters should be sealed and sent directly by the referees to the Secretary]; three (3) copies of a resume (no more than two foolscap pages long) setting out the candidate’s personal details, educational achievements and awards and general interests; and a letter from the candidate enclosing the above and applying for the Fellowship.

Send applications to the Jamaica/Caribbean Secretary to the Rhodes Trust by April 30, 2011 to the address below.

The Jamaica/Caribbean Secretary to the Rhodes Trust                                   

21 East Street

Kingston, Jamaica                                           

Further information may be obtained from The Jamaica/Caribbean Secretary to the Rhodes Trust at the address above or by phone at (876) 922-5960 or fax (876)922-7575; you may also write to the Office of Administration, University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica, or call (876) 977-2407.

Online information is available at http://www.rhodes-caribbean.com/rexnettleford.htm

Preview “Talking With The Taxman About Poetry” Starring Steph Jones And Vanessa Simmons

By Cynthia, on February 27th, 2011

Written and directed by filmmaker Lamont Pierre, Talking With The Taxman About Poetry is an indie drama interlaced with poetic flow.

The film stars Kareem Ferguson, singer Steph Jones, Diarra Kilpatrick and Vanessa Simmons (daughter of Joseph “Reverend Run” Simmons and co-founder of Pastry Shoes).

The synopsis for the film states:

Living a comfortably meaningless, anonymous, non-existent life as a recently fired substitute teacher, THEODORE, an uninspired writer and literary scholar, is manipulated back to life when a local, lowly, enigmatic trumpet player, SEVEN, causes an awakening in him of passion, contradiction, and purpose through the medium of the written word.

This will be the third feature film by Pierre who’s previous films have screened at various film festivals including the San Francisco Black Film Festival and Atlanta Underground Film Festival.

 

The Bookworm: Many sides of Marley come through in photo book

 

Posted: February 27, 2011 - 12:21am  |  Updated: February 27, 2011 - 3:19am

 

 

• Photos

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

"Bob Marley and the Golden Age of Reggae 1975-1976: The Photographs of Kim Gottlieb-Walker," drops the feel of summer right into your lap.

The book includes commentary by Cameron Crowe, Roger Steffens and Jeff Walker.

Back in the early 1970s, Kim Gottlieb was an up-and-coming photographer, just starting to make a name for herself when she met Jeff Walker, a music writer working for several California magazines.

Two years later, they were married and Walker was working as a publicist for Island Records. For months, he'd told his friends about a type of music coming out of Jamaica, and it was "the future." Walker had traveled to the island and spent time with the men behind ska, reggae, and dub, and he took Kim with him to capture publicity stills.

The pictures she took then, portraits of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, and other musicians, are in this book. Some of them have gone unseen for over 30 years.

Though there is some narrative here, the pictures truly are worth a thousand words. Gottlieb-Walker, says Roger Steffans, has a "keen eye." Jeff Walker is enthusiastic about her ability to capture "one magical moment after another..." Gottlieb-Walker could put musicians at ease almost instantly, and they trusted her.

These pictures underscore that talent.

Peter Tosh had "the most militant reputation," and Gottlieb-Walker allows him that. But page through this book and you'll see a sweet, contemplative, almost gentle side of the outspoken singer.

It was said that Bunny Wailer was an Obeah Man with "powers." The story goes that interviewers were instructed to "call him" - though Wailer had no phone - so they literally went outside and called to him. The next day, he arrived, ready for an interview. Gottlieb-Walker captured shots of the reclusive and reserved Wailer, who was raised as Bob Marley's brother.

And then there are the photos of Marley himself: laughing with friends, somber in a magazine pose, singing with his band, dancing on stage, having fun. There are photos of Marley playing with a giant pile of ganja; and shots of him reading, contemplative, in his home.

Even if you don't read any of the words in "Bob Marley and the Golden Age of Reggae 1975-1976" you'll still want to page through this album. That's because the narrative isn't the focus of author and photographer Gottlieb-Walker's book.

The pictures of Marley and his contemporaries are, and they're very memorable.

"Bob Marley and the Golden Age of Reggae 1975-1976" isn't a book for everybody, and if you're offended by drugs, you'll definitely want to pass. But if you love reggae or want a feel for the islands, this book is pretty cool.

 

Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was 3 years old and never goes anywhere without a book. She lives in Wisconsin with two dogs and 11,000 books.

"Bob Marley and the Golden Age of Reggae 1975-1976: The Photographs of Kim Gottlieb-Walker" with commentary by Cameron Crowe, Roger Steffens and Jeff Walker
Titan Books, $29.95, 160 pages

Hannah Pool

Eritrea: Discovering Hannah Pool

 

Former BBC correspondent Hannah Pool, adopted by an American mother and English father and growing up partly in Norway, finds out at the age of 20 that her birth father and family were still alive.

CBS and ABC Australia ran a couple of stories last year about American families later discovering the children they've adopted from orphanages in Ethiopia still had families.

But Hannah Pool's adoption and reunion story reminds us of Scottish poet Jackie Kay's adoption/reunion story: ... a lesbian-single mother, her birth mother Scottish, father Nigerian, adopted by a couple of Glaswegian communists "who threw the kind of parties where everybody ended up singing Cole Porter and Rabbie Burns songs" and her journey to Nigeria to meet her homophobe dad.

 

Before the revolution there was creative – feminist – dissidence

by Sokari on February 23, 2011

in African Women, Black Feminism, Civil Rights, Protest, Women making a difference

Nawal El Saadawi Before:

And After!

Writers in Revolution: Nawal El Saadawi

Interview via The Root

 

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