The Other Tiger

Overview

The Other Tiger is an eclectic anthology of contemporary Latin American poetry in translation from Spanish, drawing together 156 poems by 97 poets from 16 countries in facing page text. Among the mix of poets are established names such as Raúl Zurita, Daniel Samoilovich, Diana Bellessi, Darío Jaramillo, Juan Manuel Roca, Carmen Ollé, Tedi López Mills and Fabio Morábito. Younger poets include Julián Herbert, Wendy Guerra, Luis Felipe Fabre, Andrés Neuman, Alejandro Crotto, and Malú Urriola. The poems are organized thematically and conjure vast landscapes and small moments of tenderness; they explore the detailed introspection of individuals, and confront repressive political regimes and the consequences of narco gang violence. Above all, the book vividly reflects the many contrasts present in the lives and literatures of the peoples of Latin America.

Reviews

All for The Other Tiger: "Richard Gwyn, the editor and translator of this wonderful anthology of contemporary poems from Latin America, has given us an incisive overview of recent, innovative writing we're not likely to find elsewhere in English. The preface is solid: informative, intelligent, and immensely useful to both novices and old hands; the thematic organization is revelatory and moves us far from the rather pedantic, strictly historical or geographical focus of so many other anthologies; and the translations are beautiful and to the point. This is a book that belongs in every library, private or institutional, that has shelf-space for volumes of poetry. I think Alastair Reid, to whom the book is dedicated, would have been very happy with the tribute." Edith Grossman "This big, generous, varied and colourful anthology contains a whole continent of marvellous poetry. It is a feat of translation, but also of empathy." Patrick McGuinness 'By turns delicate and bold, passionate and tender, political and intimate, Richard Gwyn's vivid translations provide a fascinating and timely introduction to this great poetic continent." Daniel Hahn "This is an indispensable and comprehensive introduction to Spanish American poetry of the last forty years which no reader of poetry should be without. We already know it, thanks to Borges, Cardenal, Neruda, Parra, Paz, and Vallejo, as one of the great world poetries, but what is so exciting here is the deepening sense, as you read on through Richard Gwyn's beautifully voiced, meticulous translations, of that illustrious pantheon being replaced by a new generation of urgent voices, some old acquaintances, some entirely new – some, crucially, of equal significance." W.N. Herbert "A glittering bilingual anthology." George Szirtes

Author Biography

Richard Gwyn is the author of six collections of poetry and prose poetry, an anthology of contemporary poetry from Wales, and two novels. His work has appeared in translation in over a dozen languages. His most recent book, a memoir, is The Vagabond's Breakfast (2011). Gwyn is Director of the MA in Creative Writing at Cardiff University and the author of Ricardo Blanco's Blog. He has an Institute of Linguists Postgraduate Diploma in Spanish-English (with distinction). The IoL Dip. Trans. is widely regarded as the gold standard for professional translators in the UK. A volume of his poetry translated into Spanish was published in December 2016 by Trilce (Mexico).