Description

Publisher Review

This bilingual chapbook offers an introduction to the work of the prize-winning Belarusian poet Volha Hapeyeva, in Annie Rutherford’s beautifully modulated translations.

“The themes which Volha Hapeyeva deals with are not the easiest: war, death, gender. But she doesn’t make it hard for the reader to follow her lyrical confrontation with these themes. Hapeyeva’s language gains its power from its almost laconic simplicity. Her poetry evokes melody; combativeness exudes from all the text pores of the poems.”
Jury’s statement on selecting Hapeyeva as the Graz City Writer, 2019/20

Volha Hapeyeva is an award-winning Belarusian poet who also writes prose, drama and occasional books for children, and who collaborates with electronic musicians and visual artists to create audio-visual performances. Her work has been translated into more than 10 languages and she has participated in numerous literary festivals and conferences all over the world. She was awarded the 2019/20 ‘Writer of the City of Graz’, scholarship (Austria) and curated the Days of Poetry and Wine Festival (Slovenia) in 2020.

Annie Rutherford is a writer, a translator from German, French and Belarusian, and Programme Co-ordinator for StAnza, Scotland’s international poetry festival. She co-founded the literary magazine Far Off Places and Göttingen’s Poetree festival and is currently the fictions editor for The Interpreter’s House.