“The poets gathered in the room weren’t just making history... they wanted to mark history”
We're delighted to announce our inaugural PBS World Choice which aims to champion Non-European poetry and / or translation which may have been previously overlooked, goes to I am Rohingya - an anthology of poetry from the refugee camp at Cox's Bazaar and beyond, edited by Shehzar Doja & James Byrne and published by Arc. This new award has been founded in partnership with our Translation Selector Ilya Kaminsky to help champion neglected voices and books of non-European poetry from the last five years.
Speaking about his selection the poet and translator Ilya Kaminsky claimed: "In making this inaugural PBS World Choice selection... I especially considered the history of how I am Rohingya came to be: Shehzar Doja, Bangladeshi/French poet, and James Byrne, British poet, came to Cox Bazaar refugee camp to work with twenty refugees. So this book is the direct result of the first writing collective on record ever facilitated in the camps, since 1797. According to the editors of this book, they “quickly realized that the poets gathered in the room weren’t just making history by being part of the poetry collective, they wanted to mark history.” - PBS Translation Selector, Ilya Kaminsky
PBS Members can read Ilya Kaminsky's full review of I Am Rohingya in our forthcoming Autumn Bulletin. Join the PBS here today for the Autumn Bulletin and order I Am Rohingya with your 25% PBS Member discount here.