The rare chance to hear all six Celtic languages in Redruth

Most people could name a Celtic language or two. Far fewer have heard all six spoken aloud in one afternoon, by people who speak them fluently.

That is what is on offer in Redruth next Saturday (17 October), when translators from each of the Celtic nations gather at The Ladder for an event called Celtic Languages in Translation. It starts at 2.30pm.

New writing, read twice

The audience will hear new works of poetry and prose in their original Celtic tongues and then in English translation, read by fluent speakers from each nation.

The event is part of Lowender Celtic Festival and is hosted by The Writers’ Block. It brings together professional translators from across the Celtic world:

• Scottish Gaelic: Taylor Strickland
• Manx: Robert Corteen Carswell
• Irish: Ellen Corbett
• Welsh: Susan Walton
• Breton: Michelle Couny
• Cornish: Elizabeth Ellis

Welsh translator Emyr Wallace Humphreys will introduce and compere the afternoon.

How the group came together

Emyr first brought the translators together to work on an anthology of literature written in the Celtic languages, to be published in English translation by the international online journal Words Without Borders.

Having each translated works from their own language into English for the project, it was suggested they could meet for a reading of their work. Lowender was seen as the right occasion to do it.

Organisers describe it as a very rare opportunity to experience all six Celtic languages at one event. Tickets are limited because of the capacity of the venue, and can be booked through the Celtic Languages in Translation ticket page.

A book launch before the main event

Earlier in the afternoon, at 1pm, there will be drinks and nibbles at the launch of a new book by Taylor Strickland.

“Dares Paradise” features the poetry of 18th century Scottish Gaelic poet Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, who was Gaelic language tutor to Charles Edward Stuart, popularly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie. The poet was a captain in the Jacobite Rising of 1745, and his poems are said to offer a rare pre- and post-battle perspective on a world, and a language, at risk of disappearing.

Taylor, who is a poet himself, is described as taking a subversive approach to the translation, writing in a transatlantic English idiom with Scots and Gaelic inflections.

In conversation with Arun Sood

Taylor will be in conversation with writer, musician, artist and academic Arun Sood, who has a longstanding family connection to Alasdair’s poetry.

Arun’s mother’s family are from Strontian, on the edge of the Ardnamurchan peninsula in the Scottish Highlands. He spent much of his childhood returning to the area, including summers in Kilchoan, where Alasdair once worked as a schoolmaster. Those early experiences are said to have had a lasting influence on his imagination and his later work as a writer and musician.

The launch takes place inside The Writers’ Block at The Ladder and is free to attend. Places can be reserved through the book launch ticket page.

A family link in the Manx readings

The Manx poems being read are by Mona Douglas, translated into English by Robert Corteen Carswell. They will be read in both Manx and English by Aalish Kilgallon, whose grandmother was a student of the poet herself.