From MONIZA ALVI, poet
I am writing to register my shock and dismay at the decision to axe the funding of Arc Publicaitons. Arc is a longstanding and highly respected poetry publisher. Apart from its publication of strong and popular English Language poets such as the T.S. Eliot Prize shortlisted Jackie Wills, and the Australian-born Katherine Gallagher, Arc has a rich and remarkable list of poets in translation. Translated books include Bartolo Cattafi’s Anthracite, a Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation, and Valerie Rouzeau’s Cold Spring in Winter, translated from the French by Susan Wicks, which won the Scott-Moncrieff Prize, and was (very unusually for a work of translation) shortlisted for the Griffin International Poetry Prize. I recently reviewed for the journal ‘Modern Poetry in Translation’ another outstanding Arc book, Amarjit Chandan’s Sonata for Four Hands( translated from Punjabi) a collection which I considered ‘essential reading’. Arc has also published the major Pakistani poet Alamgir Hashmi whose work Ted Hughes described as “a delight – sinuous and assured, serious with a light touch, full of character, surprise, authenticity. “
If Arc Press is to close, it will be a serious cultural loss. I do hope Arts Council England will reconsider this decision.