Arc o Möns is a new chapbook from Hansel and a first publication for the young Shetland writer, Christie Williamson. This is a bi-lingual edition, a selection of poems in Spanish by Federico García Lorca, translated into Shetland dialect. It won the 2010 Callum MacDonald Memorial Award.
This pamphlet is the result of this work and, in collaboration with Diana Leslie, Williamson brings Lorca’s tales of rural Andalucia to life in the colder climes of the Northern Isles.
You can buy Arc o Möns from bookshops in Orkney and Shetland or by writing to us, price £6. ISBN 978-0-9558414-4-6
Reviews
“Drawings by Orkney artist Diana Leslie complement the text, which includes translations of a selection of Lorca’s poems from the Spanish into Shetland dialect.”
‘Orkney publisher, poet and artist recognised in national awards’, The Orcadian, 2010
“A Shetland poet originally from Yell has achieved national sucess with his dialect work.”
‘National renown for poet as he wins CMMA award’, Rosalind Griffiths, Shetland Times, 21st of May 2010
“Williamson has kept the translations true to the spirit of the original.”
Review of ‘Arc o Möns’, Shetland Times, 2010
“Over the years I as a Hispanist have read many translations of Lorca’s poems, particularly of his ballads. It had never occurred to me that the best, the most near in spirit to the original, would be not into English, but Shetlandic.”
Review of ‘Arc o Möns’, Lyn Moir, Sphinx No. 11, 2009
“What impresses me most in these translations is the music of the poetry, the strong rhythms that match the power of the original, and the Shetlandic’s long vowels contribute greatly to this.”
Review of ‘Arc o Möns’, Anna Crowe, Sphinx No. 11, 2009
“…it starts by looking and feeling really lovely – as we’ve come to expect from Hansel Press – with some beautiful monochromatic artwork from Diana Leslie.”
Review of ‘Arc o Möns’, Helena Nelson, Sphinx No. 11, 2009
“Christie Williamson writes confidently, with considerable flair and invention, and demonstrates a quiet, secure kinship with the originals.”
Review of ‘Arc o Möns’, Jim Mainland,The New Shetlander, 2009