Poetry & Translation

         The Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street London WC2H 9BX             

Wednesday 31st October at 7.30pm

Tickets at the door: £5

A new look at Yiddish folksongs

Norbert Hirschhorn will talk about his project of ‘reimagining’ Yiddish folksongs into English poems. Several of these poems have been published in UK journals including Modern Poetry in Translation.

Yiddish folksongs are meant to be sung in public by the audience or at social events, and celebrate the human conditions and emotions of their time. Bearing this in mind Norbert Hirschhorn will first enable us to listen to a song before presenting his version in English.

Norbert Hirschhorn

Norbert Hirschhorn is a physician specializing in the public health of women, children and communities in the USA and the Third World. In 1993 he was commended by President Bill Clinton as an “American Health Hero”. He currently lives in London and Beirut.  His first pamphlet, Renewal Soup and his first full collection, A Cracked River, were published by Slow Dancer Press, London, UK, in 1996 and 1999.  Two pamphlets followed resulting from competitions: The Empress of Certain from Poet’s Corner Press, Stockton, California, in 2005; and Sailing with the Pleiades from Main Street Rag Publishing Co., Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2007.

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A fourth pamphlet, The Terrible Crystal, was published in 2008 by Hearing Eye Press, London, UK. A second full collection, Mourning in the Presence of a Corpse, appeared in 2008 from Dar al-Jadeed, Beirut, Lebanon. A third collection, Monastery of the Moon, has just been published by Dar al-Jadeed, and will be available for sale.

Poetry & Translation is organised by Holland Park Press

www.hollandparkpress.co.uk