This landmark book brings together, for the first time in English, translations of 75 poems by the renowned Portuguese poet Maria Teresa Horta. It contains selections from each of her 21 volumes of poetry published over a writing career that spans six decades. The poems are presented in their original Portuguese with facing-page English translation by prize-winning poet Lesley Saunders. The book opens with a critical essay by leading scholar in comparative literature, Ana Raquel Fernandes, which - together with the translations - enables an English readership to acquire a sense of the formal, emotional and intellectual power and significance of this poet's work. The book also serves to underline the importance of sustaining cultural connections between the UK and Europe.

About the Author
Lesley Saunders is the author of several poetry collections, most recently 'This Thing of Blood & Love' (Two Rivers Press 2022) and, with artist Rebecca Swainston, 'Days of Wonder' (Hippocrates Press 2021), a document of the Covid-19 pandemic. Her English translations - including the poem that won the 2016 Stephen Spender award - of renowned Portuguese poet Maria Teresa Horta were published as 'Point of Honour' (Two Rivers Press 2019). Lesley works on collaborative projects with visual artists, sculptors, musicians, photographers and dancers as well as other poets. Otherwise, she is a visiting professor at UCL Institute of Education, London, and an honorary research fellow at Oxford University Department of Education. Maria Teresa Horta - one of the most revered writers of modern Portugal - was born in 1937 and began writing before the revolution that deposed the brutal Estado Novo regime; her early work was banned for being 'an outrage to public morals'. One of the Three Marias who in 1971 co-authored the ground-breaking Novas Cartas Portuguesas (New Portuguese Letters), Horta has continued to publish novels, short stories and journalism, although she considers herself a poet above all. Ana Raquel Fernandes, Assistant Professor at the Universidade Europeia and senior lecturer at the Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, is an expert in comparative modern literature and has led several research projects in collaboration with colleagues at English universities. In the course of her long-term engagement with Maria Teresa Horta's work, Fernandes has published several journal articles and book chapters on different aspects of this unique and important writer's corpus.

Reviews

"I am writing to you following my delighted experience of reading Lesley Saunders' translations of Maria Teresa Horta. The quality of the work, as well as the elegance and clarity of the publication are exemplary" - Gerard Noyau

'Point of Honour stands out as a celebration of Horta's poetry. Through the inspired voice of Leslie Saunders, it establishes Maria Teresa Horta as one of the must-read poets of our times, not only within the Portuguese-speaking world, but also in dialogue with other authors and texts, important at this particular moment of growing intolerance and indifference, both in Europe and in Great Britain.' ~ Ana Filipa Prata, Portuguese Studies, Vol. 35, No. 2

Book Information
ISBN 9781909747470
Author Maria Teresa Horta
Format Paperback
Page Count 200
Imprint Two Rivers Press
Publisher Two Rivers Press