Josephine Balmer

Josephine Balmer (born 1959) is a British poet, translator of classics and literary critic. ^{[1] [2]} She sets the daily Word Watch and weekly Literary Quiz for The Times . ^[2]

She was born in 1959 in Hampshire and now lives in East Sussex. ^[3] She studied classics at University College, London and was awarded a PhD degree by publication by the University of East Anglia. ^[3]

She was Chair of the British Translators' Association from 2002–2005, and reviews editor of the journal Modern Poetry in Translation from 2004–2009. She was a judge of poetry translation for the Stephen Spender Prize in 2006–2009 and 2015. ^[4]

In 1989 her translation Sappho: Poems and Fragments was shortlisted for the inaugural US Lambda Literary Awards. ^[5] In 2017 her collection The Paths of Survival was shortlisted for the London Hellenic Prize. ^[6]

Works

• Sappho: Poems and Fragments (1984, 1988 & 1992) ^[7]
• Classical Women Poets (1996) ^[8]
• Catullus: Poems of Love and Hate (2004) ^{[9] [10]}
• Chasing Catullus: Poems, Translations and Transgressions (2004) ^{[11] [10]}
• The Word for Sorrow (2008) ^{[3] [12] [13]}
• Piecing Together the Fragments: Translating Classical Verse, Creating Contemporary Poetry (2013) ^[14]
• The Paths of Survival (2017) ^{[15] [16]}
• Letting Go: thirty mourning sonnets and two poems (2017) ^{[17] [18]}
• Sappho: Poems and Fragments New Expanded Edition (2018) ^[7]
• Ghost Passage (2022) ^[19]

References

1. Josephine Balmer, Royal Literary Fund, 2018
2. Survival, The Paths of (13 April 2012). "Josephine Balmer". The Paths of Survival. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
3. "Josephine Balmer", Modern Poetry in Translation
4. The Stephen Spender Prize 2015 for poetry in translation, Stephen Spender Trust, 2015
5. Team, Edit (13 January 2010). "1st Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
6. "The 2017 Prize Shortlist | London Hellenic Prize". Archived from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
7. "Poems & Fragments | Bloodaxe Books". www.bloodaxebooks.com. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
8. "Classical Women Poets | Bloodaxe Books". www.bloodaxebooks.com. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
9. "Poems of Love and Hate | Bloodaxe Books". www.bloodaxebooks.com. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
10. Bassnett, Susan (2011), "Translation or Adaptation", Reflections on Translation, Multilingual Matters, pp. 40–41, ISBN   9781847694089
11. "Chasing Catullus | Bloodaxe Books". www.bloodaxebooks.com. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
12. Salt. "The Word for Sorrow". Salt. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
13. "Josephine Balmer | Practitioners' Voices in Classical Reception Studies | Open University". www.open.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
14. Balmer, Josephine (26 September 2013). Piecing Together the Fragments: Translating Classical Verse, Creating Contemporary Poetry. Classical Presences. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780199585090.
15. "The Paths of Survival by Josephine Balmer". The Poetry Book Society. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
16. Marriott, James (2 December 2017). "Best poetry books of 2017". The Times. ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 21 January 2019.
17. "Agenda Poetry, Poem, Poetry, Articles, Essays, William Cookson, Patricia McCarthy, Magazine, Critic, Review". www.agendapoetry.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
18. "Jo Balmer | Practitioners' Voices in Classical Reception Studies | Open University". www.open.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
19. "Josephine Balmer – Ghost Passage". Shearsman Books. Retrieved 4 June 2022.