Rutger Kopland shortlisted for Popescu Prize 2007
What Water Left Behind, the collection of poems by Rutger Kopland (translated by Willem Groenewegen, Waxwing Press, 2005) is shortlisted for the 2007 Corneliu M Popescu Prize for European Poetry Translation. From the jury report: ‘What Water Left Behind is the fourth collection from Waxwing Poems. It is a selection of poems by the great contemporary Dutch poet, Rutger Kopland, translated into English by rising translator Willem Groenewegen. Groenewegen describes the tone of Kopland’s work as “light-handedness evoking deeper and often existential matters” and notes how the poet “seems always at pains to take the weight off the words, no matter how sad the subject matter”.’
Now being awarded for the third time, the prize was founded by the Poetry Society and the Ratiu Foundation UK to pinpoint the wealth of excellent poetry available across the continent.
The prize is named after Corneliu M Popescu who translated the work of one of Romania’s leading poets, Mihai Eminescu, into English. On 4 March 1977, at the age of 19, Popescu was tragically killed in an earthquake.
The prize, which was first launched in 2003, is awarded every two years.
Rutger Kopland (photo Klaas Koppe)