Chambers of England, an imprint of John Murray Press, part of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd., has published an anthology of poetry in languages identified as endangered. The book was launched in the United Kingdom earlier this year to coincide with UNESCO’s International Year of Indigenous Languages. The anthology of 50 poems from around the world, which was just released in North America this month, includes translations from the Faroese language by Wood County, W.Va. native Randi Ward.

Poems from the Edge of Extinction: An Anthology of Poetry in Endangered Languages was edited by Chris McCabe, Poetry Librarian at Southbank Center’s National Poetry Library in London, England. McCabe, a widely published poet who founded the Endangered Poetry Project in 2017, said that the anthology developed out of an idea he had in his capacity as National Poetry Librarian of the United Kingdom. He wanted to collect poems spoken or written in endangered and vulnerable languages throughout the world to help foster an understanding of how poetry exists globally. 

“I’m delighted to be working with John Murray Learning to showcase the most interesting of this work in Poems from the Edge of Extinction. I hope readers of the book will be as moved as I am by the urgency, invention, and sheer range of poetry as it exists on every continent,” McCabe said in a press release also noting that one of the world’s nearly 7,000 languages disappears every two weeks. 

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution naming 2019 the International Year of Indigenous Languages (IYIL) in order to encourage urgent action to preserve and revitalize indigenous languages while promoting how these languages represent complex systems of knowledge and communication that should be recognized as strategic resources.  

The official IYIL 2019 website stresses the importance of language by citing that “it is through language that we communicate, define our identity, preserve and express our history and culture, learn, defend our human rights, and participate in all aspects of society. We also use language to construct our futures. Language is pivotal in the areas of human rights protection, good governance, peace building, and sustainable development.”

For these reasons, and to further raise awareness of how poetry expands the possibilities of everyday life, language, and collective action, each poem in Poems from the Edge of Extinction appears in its original form, alongside an English translation, and is accompanied by commentary about the language, the poet, and the poem. The anthology includes work by poets such as the United States’ current Poet Laureate Joy Harjo in Mvskoke, Gearóid Mac Lochlainn in Irish Gaelic, Nineb Lamassu in Assyrian, Hawad in Tamajaght, Miguel de Senna Fernandes in Patuá, and Kim Simonsen in Faroese.

The rest of this article can be read in The Parkersburg News and Sentinel.