Announcing an official Tranströmer website

We're pleased to publicize an announcement by Peter Last: "On October 6, 2011, Tomas Tranströmer of Stockholm was announced by the Swedish Nobel Academy as the winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize for Literature. His books have been translated into more than 60 languages, and he is among the most widely read poets of the present time. I am pleased to announce the launch of http://tomastranstromer.net, a new website devoted to the life and poetry of Tranströmer, following more than a year of development. This site has his blessing; plans are coming together for a Swedish language mirror site to the current English language site to launch in 2012."

The site seems to be going well so far! According to Last,  "On October 6, the day of the Nobel Prize announcement, the website received 35,000 hits from all over the world. There have been 65,000 unique visitors in ten days to the Tranströmer website from Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, etc."

Last recommends the following books to those interested in the work of this Nobel Prizer-winning poet:

• Friends, You Drank Some Darkness: Three Swedish Poets – Harry Martinson, Gunnar Ekelof, and Tomas Tranströmer, tr. Robert Bly, Beacon Press, 1975 
• The Half-Finished Heaven, tr. Robert Bly, Graywolf Press, 2001 
• The Sorrow Gondola, Michael McGriff and Mikaela Grassl, Green Integer, 2010 
• New Collected Poems, tr. Robin Fulton, Bloodaxe Books, 2011
• Microgramas ("Micrograms"), by  Jorge Carrera Andrade, with translations by J. Enrique Ojeda & Steven Ford Brown, Orogenia, 2007

Tranströmer cites Carrera Andrade as a major influence on his own work; here is a sample from Microgramas, "OSTIÓN" ("Oyster"):

Ostión de dos tapas:
tu cofre de calcio
guarda el manuscrito
de algún buque náufrago.

Oyster with two covers:
your calcium jewel case
guards the manuscript
of some wrecked ship.

Last has provided a small e-book, in English and Swedish, of poems by Tranströmer, published in 1987. Email Pusteblume if you'd like us to send you a copy.

Submissions open for Toad Press chapbook series

Toad Press reads submissions of chapbook-length translations each year between October 1 and December 31. The editors accept online submissions only. Submissions should be consist of 14-24 pages of poetry or prose, cover sheet with name and contact information, table of contents (if applicable), and acknowledgments via their Submishmash system. Toad Press publishes between 1 and 3 chapbooks a year. Chapbooks accepted for publication will appear the following Summer/Fall. Payment is in copies only. There is no reading fee.

Questions? Take a look at their Frequently Asked Questions. If you still have questions, the editors can be reached via email.