Poets

Contributing poets come from across the ‘East’ – from Morocco to Turkey, Syria to Afghanistan – and from across the ‘West’ – from Germany to the USA, Estonia to Brazil. Writing in Arabic, Persian and Turkish, and English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Slovenian, the poets have each responded to one of the themes of the twelve books of Goethe’s original Divan, including ‘The Poet’, ‘Love’, ‘The Tyrant’, ‘Faith’ and ‘Paradise’, through a contemporary lens. Working directly with the original poems or via bridge translations the English-language poets have created new poems that draw on the poetic forms and cultures of the poets taking part. We are grateful to all the poets, translators and experts involved in the project, including those who provided literal versions for some of the English-language poets to work with.

Scroll down to learn more about the contributing poets and translators.