Translating sorrow

Cambridge University professor James E Montgomery taught the work of 8th-century female Arab poet Al-Khansa for three decades without actually liking it. He thought the poems were cliche-ridden and repetitive.

That changed when his son suffered a serious accident. In Loss Sings, Montgomery writes about his sorrow and the insights this provided which led him to translate 15 of Al-Khansa’s poems. He meets literature professor Daniel Medin for a conversation on translation and how life-changing events can yield new literary insights.

The conversation will be in English.