Mary Jean Chan, André Naffis-Sahely and David Shook at Burgess Foundation
Sarah-Clare Conlon, Literature Editor
Following on from the daytime poetry translation workshops, the International Mother Languages Day celebrations continue with readings from some of the session leaders, including Mary Jean Chan, André Naffis-Sahely and David Shook, all poets with a history of translating or being translated. Shortlisted for the 2017 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem with her poem ‘//’, Mary Jean Chan’s debut pamphlet is published by ignitionpress (Oxford Brookes Poetry Centre) this month. Visiting fellows at the Manchester Writing School, David Shook’s first collection of poetry, Our Obsidian Tongues, is out with Eyewear while André Naffis-Sahely’s The Promised Land came out last year on Penguin, and he also translates work from the French and the Italian. The event launches this year’s Manchester Writing series, which is designed to explore authors’ techniques and choices, and debate issues arising from their work. Mary Jean, André and David will be reading from their work, chatting to poet and Manchester Metropolitan lecturer Helen Mort, and answering questions from the audience.
