The Azerbaijan State Translation Centre (AzSTC) is pleased to announce about the publication of “Selected Poems” by Nigar Hasanzade, a notable Azerbaijani poet.

The foreword written by Ramiz Rovshan, the People’s Poet of Azerbaijan, is entitled as “The Poems Read and Heard.”

The author of the translation from Russian into Azerbaijani is Salam Sarvan, a notable poet, and the editor is Mahir N. Garayev, a popular poet and translator.

THE POEMS READ AND HEARD

I very well know that the Azerbaijani poetess Nigar Hasanzade, whose poems have been translated into many languages, was looking forward to her first book being published in our native language. To be honest, I am also wondering how these verses will sound in our language.

The great German poet Novalis considered poetry to be a “transitional stage” between fine art and music. In this respect, Nigar’s poems, full of beautiful and unexpected allusions and metaphors, are as colourful as they are harmonious. Nigar not only writes poems, but also recites them. Her poems are not only read, but also heard. I do not know Nigar’s own opinion, but I think that the closest poets to her in Russian poetry are Tsvetaeva and Akhmadulina.

Although in the last century we had a very notable poetess with the same name, and today our poetry is rich in talented poetesses and poets, I probably find it difficult to say which poetess or poet in Azerbaijan is close to her. But I can say without hesitation that Salam Sarvan, the translator of the verses in this book, is a completely different poet in comparison with Nigar.

In his poems, Salam likes to hide his poetic mysteries under the lines and let the reader find the key. But, despite the generosity of one and the stinginess of the other in words, both of them are masters and ‘wizards’ of words.

There is an old saying that poetry translation is also a competition. I never start translating poems that I feel I will fail from the beginning. Even if I love those poems too much. And later, when I read those poems translated by other poets, I see that I was quite right.

But in this book, Salam doesn’t claim to compete with Nigar. His purpose is to convey every poetic expression, idea, and meaning in these metaphorical poems, which are not so simple due to the way of expression, to the Azerbaijani reader as accurately as possible. Even if sometimes in the translation this affects the rhythm, harmony, and lyricism of the poems.

But despite these minor errors and losses, I think this book is a bright event in the creativity of both poets ‒ the author and the translator. And we can congratulate both of them for this remarkable event.

Ramiz Rovshan

The copies of the edition will be available one of these days at one of the many bookstore locations listed below:

‘Libraf’

‘Kitabevim.az’

‘Akademkitab’

‘Akademiya’ book house

‘Baku Book Centre’

‘Chiraq’ Book House

Book house of the Presidential Administration of the Azerbaijan Republic

Sales kiosk of the Azerbaijan University of Languages