Recently, Lancaster University welcomed poet and translator Yevgeniy Breyger to speak to students and staff as part of DeLC’s translator in residency program, a program in which people who have significant experience in the world of literature and translation come to the university to give the students an insight into the industry of translation. During his visit, he was able to conduct a reading of some of his poetry as well as come into language and culture classes in order to talk about his poetry and his translation.

Yevgeniy is a Ukrainian-born poet whose family emigrated to Germany at the age of 10. He lived in Magdeburg until University, which led him to study in places like Hildesheim, Leipzig and Frankfurt. His first collection of poetry was published in 2016, and since then he has gone on to win various prestigious prizes for his contributions to German literature, including the 2021 Lyrikpreis München (a poetry prize which celebrates German language poetry) and the Leonce-und-Lena Preis just to name a few.

During his visit, students and staff were able to engage with his work during a reading of some of his poetry, which included a multilingual poem which was written in English, German and Russian, his translation of T.S Eliot’s poem “The Waste Land” into German and his cryptopoems, which the audience was invited to read aloud. This was then followed by a Q and A session in which both staff and students were able to ask some very thought-provoking questions about the poems and translation.

All this and more were the subject of the discussions that Yevgeniy had with students during his visits to various seminars. He was able to give our students insights into his processes of translation, the ways in which the various languages he speaks affect the way he writes his poetry and his views on prize culture in the current literary market. He was able to visit language classes of various levels, including a discussion in German with final-year students, as well as attend a class on literary translation for postgraduate students.

We would like to wish a big thank you to Yevgeniy for coming to talk with our students and for giving our students an insight into the world of poetry and translation. The conversations that were sparked during his visit were very insightful and it has been a great opportunity for everyone in the Department.

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