Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature celebrates International Translation Day

To acknowledge International Translation Day on 30 September, Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature produced a short film celebrating the book The Twelve by Alexander Blok: A new translation by Natasha Templeton & Alan Roddick, Cold Hub Press, 2021.

Russian poet Alexander Blok was prominent at the start of the twentieth century, where in St Petersburg there was a revival of Russian poetry. All art forms were considered avant-garde at the time and this poem chronicles the march of twelve Red Guards through the streets of revolutionary Petrograd, with a fierce winter blizzard raging around them. 

Poetry excerpts spoken in Russian and English (by Natasha Templeton and Alan Roddick respectively) are interspersed with evocative woodcut prints by Wayne Seyb and the overall mood of the film reinforces the tragedy of war. Although Blok wrote this poem in 1918 his message of loss and despair is still a relevant reminder of the perils of conflict.

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