Translation was central to Edwin Morgan’s activity as a poet. His Collected Translations (Carcanet, 1996) is as voluminous as his own Collected Poems(Carcanet, 1990) and his lifelong commitment to making the voices of foreign cultures ring out in English and Scots was never a secondary preoccupation. During the years he wrote many of his most popular and enduring collections he was just as busy translating from a vast array of world languages.
In alternate years to the Poetry Award, the Edwin Morgan Trust sponsors biennial translation events that will bring some of the world’s leading foreign language poets to Scotland to participate in workshops and readings alongside Scottish poets.
In May 2017 the Trust funded a workshop with Portuguese and Scottish poets. Three acclaimed Portuguese poets — Andreia C. Faria, Ricardo Marques, Miguel Martins — worked closely with Edwin Morgan Prize-winning poet Jane McKie, the runner-up to the 2016 Edwin Morgan Poetry Award, Miriam Nash, and Whitbread Poetry Prize-shortlisted Richard Price to create new renderings of their poems for a Scottish context. In the days of translation activity at the Scottish Poetry Library, facilitated by poet Tom Pow, the Portuguese poets also translated the work of their Scottish colleagues.
Please read the Portuguese workshop pamphlet with poems and translations: The other side of silence
Edwin Morgan Trust 