Josephine Balmer (born 1959) is a British poet, translator of classics and literary critic. She sets the daily Word Watch and weekly Literary Quiz for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''. She was born in 1959 in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

and now lives in

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

. She studied classics at

University College, London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

and was awarded a PhD degree by publication by the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

. She was Chair of the British Translators' Association from 2002–2005, and reviews editor of the journal ''Modern Poetry in Translation'' from 2004–2009''.'' She was a judge of poetry translation for the Stephen Spender Prize in 2006–2009 and 2015. In 1989 her translation ''Sappho: Poems and Fragments'' was shortlisted for the inaugural US Lambda Literary Awards. In 2017 her collection ''The Paths of Survival'' was shortlisted for the London Hellenic Prize.

Works

* ''Sappho: Poems and Fragments'' (1984, 1988 & 1992) * ''Classical Women Poets'' (1996) * ''Catullus: Poems of Love and Hate'' (2004) * ''Chasing Catullus: Poems, Translations and Transgressions'' (2004) * ''The Word for Sorrow'' (2008) *''Piecing Together the Fragments: Translating Classical Verse, Creating Contemporary Poetry (2013)'' *''The Paths of Survival (2017)'' *''Letting Go: thirty mourning sonnets and two poems (2017)'' *''Sappho: Poems and Fragments New Expanded Edition (2018)'' *''Ghost Passage (2022)''

References

1959 births Living people Alumni of the University of East Anglia Alumni of University College London English classical scholars British women poets {{UK-translator-stub