Michael Marks Poets in Residence Program

CHS & Michael Marks Charitable Trust

CHS GR PIRThe Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies, in collaboration with the Michael Marks Charitable Trust, a UK based foundation, created the Michael Marks Poets in Residence program in 2009. Since then, UK poets who win the “Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets” in London and Edinburgh (a.k.a. the Callum MacDonald Award) have been participating in the “Michael Marks Poets in Residence Program” at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Greece. As resident poets, they spent two weeks between historic Nafplio, Olympia, Delphi, and Athens, participating  in local cultural activities.From 2014 until 2017, the program was linked with the poetry and translation “Paros Symposium” held every summer in Athens. The scope of the UK poets’ participation in the translation symposium was to enhance their opportunities to meet fellow artistes and translators from Greece and elsewhere, including the USA, share views and experiences and participate in cultural events.

Starting from 2019, the Poets in Residence Program is re-structured; it liaised with the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) - CHS “Spring Break in Greece” travel study program, led by Professor Gregory Nagy. The award-winning UK poets arrive in Nafplio in March, where they participate in several cultural activities and meet with renowned and aspiring Greek poets. After a few days, they join the HAA - CHS travel study program for a week. Starting from Nafplio and Mycenae, the group crosses the Peloponnese to Olympia, they continue their travel to Delphi and then head to Athens and delve into this part of Greece and its unique history, supplementing their explorations with selected readings in translation from Homer, Pausanias, and even some modern texts.

The scope of the Center is to continue expanding the range of activities of the Poets in Residence Program and upgrading the poets’ overall experience while visiting in Greece.

Get acquainted with the awarded poets who participated in this project: