Mike Baynham

Mike Baynham is a translator and poet from Otley, West Yorkshire UK. His PhD was in sociolinguistics and he is an emeritus professor at the University of Leeds. In retirement he has returned to poetry translation, translating mainly from Spanish, occasionally from Arabic and Persian. His translations have been published in a number of publications, including Artrage, Dawn Hunters, Las Flechas de Artemis, Transference. He is currently collaborating with the Moroccan zejal poet Adil Latefi on translations of his poetry, and with the Kurdish Syrian poet, Ceger Hillo. His translation of a poem by the iconic modernist Persian poet Sohrab Sepehri was awarded a commendation in the 2022 Stephen Spender poetry translation prize. His translation of the Moroccan zejal poet Adil Latefi was awarded 2nd prize in the 2023 Stephen Spender. A self-confessed language glutton, he speaks French, Spanish and Italian fluently and has been a student of Arabic for most of his adult life. He is currently trying to get a basic understanding of Kurdish while working with Jiyar Homer. In his other life as a sociolinguist he has published a book with Tong King Lee on multilingualism and translation, Translation and Translanguaging (Routledge, 2018).

(2024)