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.

List of Poets

All contributors to the New Divan Project are listed here. (66 poets total listed).

Khaled Mattawa

(Translator from Arabic)

By Khaled Mattawa:

Lavinia Greenlaw

(English-language poet)

By Lavinia Greenlaw:

Lulu Norman

(Essay Translator)

By Lulu Norman:

Matthew Sweeney

(English-language poet)

By Matthew Sweeney:

Maureen Freely

(Translator from Turkish)

By Maureen Freely:

Mbarek Sryfi

(Translator from Arabic)

By Mbarek Sryfi:

Mohammed Bennis

(Arabic-language poet)

By Mohammed Bennis:

Mourid Barghouti

(Arabic-language poet)

By Mourid Barghouti:

Narguess Farzad

(Translator from Persian; New Divan Essayist)

By Narguess Farzad:

Nick Laird

(English-language poet)

By Nick Laird: