Before Simon Armitage's visit to the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh, Melissa Eppihimer interviewed him for the Pittsburgh Review of Books. The topic of conversation was Armitage's new translation of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the world's oldest poem. Armitage, poet laureate of the United Kingdom, teaches poetry at the University of Leeds and is an experienced translator of historical poetry. Their discussion examined the pleasures and challenges of translating the epic, the text's connections to the modern world, and Armitage's own relationship with it.
Read the interview here: https://pghrev.com/simon-armitage-on-translating-gilgamesh/
Photo: Clay plaque featuring the face of Humbaba from Diqdiqqah Iraq © The Trustees of the British Museum