Founding MPT, 1965
When Ted Hughes and Daniel Weissbort founded MPT in 1965 they had two principal ambitions: to get poetry out from behind the Iron Curtain into a wider circulation in English and to benefit writers and the reading public in Britain and America by confronting them with good work from abroad. They published poetry that dealt truthfully with the real contemporary world. For 60 years, MPT has continued and widened that founding intent.
MPT builds on the first editors’ extraordinary achievement. It brings together brings the best new poetry, essays and reviews from around the world.
We aim to give voice to the silenced, exiled and excluded, and create a diverse and creative community of translators, poets and readers.
After becoming editors in 2002, David and Helen Constantine, sought to widen and diversify the whole idea and practice of translation. They published transformations and metamorphoses of all kinds: down the ages, across the frontiers and cultures. They increased the rate and scope of MPT’s linked activities such as translation workshops, poetry pamphlets and public poetry readings here and abroad.
From 2013 to the present day
In 2013 the editorship of MPT passed to Sasha Dugdale. The magazine was redesigned, with reference to the original iconic designs of the 1960s and 70s.
Sasha Dugdale was succeeded by Clare Pollard (2017-2022), then Khairani Barokka (2022-2023). MPT is currently edited by Janani Ambikapathy.