George McWhirter, left, and Scott Griffin, founder of the Griffin Poetry Prize, pose in this Wednesday, June 5, 2024 handout photo. Self-Portrait in the Zone of Silence, written in Spanish by Homero Aridjis and translated into English by Irish-Canadian writer George McWhirter, won the Griffin Poetry Prize.
Canadian poet-translator George McWhirter stood alone at a lectern Wednesday night to accept the Griffin Poetry Prize he earned with his friend and longtime collaborator Homero Aridjis for Self-Portrait in the Zone of Silence.George McWhirter, left, and Scott Griffin, founder of the Griffin Poetry Prize, pose in this Wednesday handout photo.
McWhirter, who formerly headed up the creative writing department at the University of British Columbia, has been translating Aridjis's work since 1987. But his translation of poetry goes back as far as his writing does, he said."Even when I was in high school, I started when I was just 16," McWhirter said in a brief interview after the ceremony. "I learned to write poetry by translating poetry.
"Homero is many poets in one," McWhirter said earlier in the night. "He writes about many Mexicos and many Mexicans." "I'm so happy any time someone says the poems resonate with them," she said in an interview ahead of the readings. An attentive audience of poetry lovers and publishing industry insiders packed into Toronto's Koerner Hall for the readings, which were punctuated by laughter and applause.
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