Stephen Watts is a poet, editor and translator. His most recent books include Gramsci & Caruso (Periplum 2003), The Blue Bag (Aark Arts 2004) and Mountain Language/Lingua di montagna (Hearing Eye 2008). Recent co-translations include Modern Kurdish Poetry (Uppsala University 2006), A.N. Stencl's All My Young Years (Five Leaves 2007), Meta Kusar's Ljubljana (Arc 2009), Ziba Karbassi's Collage Poem and Adnan Al-Sayegh's The Deleted Part (both Exiled Writers Ink 2009) from which the poem reproduced here is taken. Stephen's next book of poems is due out from Enitharmon in 2012.

Marga Burgui-Artajo was born in Navarra in the north of Spain and began to study Arabic in 1981. Since 1994 she has lived in London and has worked at Paddington Library where she established a substantial holding of both classical and contemporary Arabic literature, and where she also came into closer contact with London-based Arabic writers and bookshops. At present she works with a diverse range of cultural groups across and beyond London.

Biographical details for Adnan Al-Sayegh can be found on the featured writer page.

Tessa Ransford

Short biog

Tessa Ransford (www.wisdomfield.com) is an established poet, translator, literary editor and cultural activist on many fronts over the last forty years, having also worked as founder and director of the Scottish Poetry Library. Tessa initiated the annual Callum Macdonald Memorial Award for publishers of pamphlet poetry in Scotland, now in itsng its eleventh year, with the attendant fairs and website: www.scottish-pamphlet-poetry.com. She has had Royal Literary Fund fellowships in recent years at the Centre for Human Ecology and Queen Margaret University. Tessa’s Not Just Moonshine, New and Selected Poems was published in 2008 by Luath Press, Edinburgh and a further book is due this year.

Tessa is also now working on a two-way translation project with Palestinian poet Iyad Hayatleh, who lives in Glasgow.

The Golden Thread series of poetry readings, arranged by Tessa at St John’s Episcopal Church’s Festival of Spirituality, will continue again in 2011 during August. See blogspot: www.goldpoetrythread.blogspot.com Tessa will be reading on the last Sunday of August at Rosslyn Chapel with artist/poet/translator Jila Peacock.

Julian Colton, born in Manchester and a SPEN member, has lived in Scotland for twenty years. He has had three collections of poetry published including Something for the Weekend (Scottish Borders Council, 2001) Two Che Guevaras (SBC, 2007) and Everyman Street (Smokestack Publishing, 2009) In 2008/9 he was CREATE Writer in Residence for Dumfries and Galloway. He teaches poetry in schools, most recently as part of the Natural Identity project for the Tolbooth Gallery in Stirling. In 2002 his poem pamphlet DH Lawrence was a shortlisted runner-up for the Callum MacDonald poetry pamphlet prize. He lives in Selkirk and co-edits The Eildon Tree.

Sabapathy Balenthiran (Bala) is from Sri Lanka and lives in Glasgow. He is a long-standing member of the Framework for Dialogue group and also attends the Swapping Stories writing group. He had help in writing this piece from an interpreter and Sue Reid Sexton

Originally from Sri Lanka, Mehideen Mohamet is a member of the Glasgow West Framework for Dialogue, Swapping Stories writing group. He wrote his piece in Tamil and was helped to put it into English by an interpreter and Sue Reid Sexton

Rajan Ponnompalam is originally from Sri Lanka but has lived here for a number of years. He is a long-standing member of the Framework for Dialogue and has never missed any of the Swapping Stories writing sessions. These poems were written in Tamil and put into English with help from an interpreter and Sue Reid Sexton.

Saravanamutti Thanigasalam wrote his piece in English although his first language is Tamil. He is from Sri Lanka and is a member of the Glasgow West Framework for dialogue Swapping Stories creative writing group facilitated by Sue Reid Sexton.

Agata Maslowska was born in Poland where she worked as an English teacher and translator before moving to Edinburgh in 2005. She has a Masters in English Philology from Jagiellonian University and a Masters in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. Her fiction has appeared in Edinburgh Review. 'The Dreamer' is an excerpt from her novel in progress The Music Sheet. Another excerpt of the novel will appear in New Writing Scotland in July 2011.

Mary Smith, a SPEN member, is a writer, freelance journalist and poet. She worked in Pakistan and Afghanistan for ten years and her experiences there inform much of her writing. Her debut novel No More Mulberries is set in Afghanistan. Her poetry has been published in magazines including Markings, Lallans, Poetry Scotland and in two pamphlets Voices from Glentrool & Merrick and Cairnsmore: The Big Hill following a collaboration with artists Silvana MacLean and sculptor Matt Baker. Her first full collection is to be published in 2012 by Indigo Dreams.

Mary's website is at www.marysmith.co.uk