The Sarah Maguire Prize for Poetry in Translation, awarded biennially for a book-length poetry collection translated into English, has announced its 2024 winner. On the Contrary by Georgian poet Lia Sturua, translated by Natalia Bukia-Peters and Victoria Field, received the prize on September 9th at the Brunei Gallery SOAS at the University of London.

The collection’s English translation is available at Fal Publications and was lauded by this year’s judge, Ian McMillan, as a work that “encompasses all the vibrancy that poetry has to offer, while reflecting the turbulence of our fractured society.” Sturua, one of the most established Georgian poets and one of the first to use free verse, assembled this collection of her recent works into an examination of the role played by art in a world filled with uncertainty.

The cash prize of £3,000 is shared equally between the poet and the translator(s), underscoring the importance of collaboration in poetry translation. By valuing both the original poet’s voice and the translator’s craft, the prize highlights translation as a creative and communal process.

Established in 2020 by the United Kingdom (UK)’s Poetry Translation Centre (PTC), the prize honors the late British poet, translator, and PTC founder Sarah Maguire, who was known for her passionate advocacy of international poetry, particularly from Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. The prize reflects her lifelong dedication to championing translated poetry, which she believed was essential to connecting the globe and fostering cross-cultural dialogue.

The 2024 shortlist for the Sarah Maguire Prize featured seven diverse collections from poets from all around the world, offering readers a global snapshot of contemporary poetry. These collections delve into themes of displacement, memory, and identity, demonstrating the all-encompassing range of topics that interest contemporary poets from Palestine, Georgia, Mexico, South Korea, Iran, and China.

The award was previously won by Lee Hyemi and Soje for Unexpected Vanilla, translated from Korean in 2020, and Najwan Darwish and Kareem James Abu-Zeid for Exhausted on the Cross, translated from Arabic in 2022​.