TRANSLATIONS

When a poem crosses a border

TRANSLATIONS brings Karen Downs-Barton, Alun Hughes and Martha Sprackland together for an afternoon of readings about carrying meaning across borders. Their work moves between Spanish and Romani into English, and between the textures of working-class life and forms that can hold them with care.

Philip Rush chairs a Q&A on the politics and ethics of translation, alongside the craft of rendering lived experience across languages. Downs-Barton's Minx won the John Pollard International Poetry Prize; Sprackland's translation of John of the Cross's Dark Night is published by Penguin Classics. Hughes brings a Stroud perspective shaped by nature-based practice and indigenous perspectives.

The format should suit readers who like a little context with their poems: the festival describes the event as readings followed by conversation, rather than a straight run of performances. If translation is usually something you notice only when it fails, this is a chance to hear the choices in the room.

Ticketed. Book through the organiser's event page.

Friday 16 October 2026 · Lansdown Hall, Lansdown, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL5 1BB · Starts 3.30pm