From DONALD GARDNER, poet and translator
I am a London-born poet and translator, resident for many years in the Netherlands (see: www.donaldgardner.net). My book of translations of Dutch poet Remco Campert, ‘I Dreamed in the Cities at Night’, was published by Arc in 2007. Remco Campert is the most famous living Dutch poet; yet, prior to Arc’s book, one has to go back to 1968, for a UK collection of his poetry.
This may give some idea of the importance of Arc, as publishers in the UK poetry world. Their series of ‘Visible Poets’ – contemporary European poets in parallel translation – provides a vital link between Britain and the European mainland. This series, now numbering over thirty books, is of course only one of Arc’s lists. They are also a major publisher of British poets.
I am proud of my book of Campert translations. I like that this is a book of parallel translations. I like the restrained elegance of its appearance and am grateful to the experienced and sympathetic editorial support I received at each stage of its production. Arc’s poets and translators will, I think, be unanimous in finding the decision to cut funding to a long-standing publisher with a consistent track record of professionalism hard to understand.
In my view the decision to cancel Arc’s structural subsidy lacks seriousness and motivation. Arc’s poets may not all be well known in the UK, but that is exactly the point. Over the years Arc has brought to the attention of a British readership a large number of poets who are famous in their own countries. Arc is the leading publisher in the UK of poetry in translation and while translated poetry may not have a huge market, it is a vital niche for poetry. Moreover, the process is reciprocal. Bringing the work of poets from other countries into the British poetry world draws attention to British poetry abroad. Translation is a two-way street, and I hope that the ACE will think again and reverse what can only be seen as a hasty and destructive decision.