Yann Lovelock
Yann Lovelock is an English writer and translator who later became a Buddhist interfaith worker.
Literary career
Yann Lovelock was born in Birmingham on 11 February 1939. His career as a poet, editor and reviewer began while he was studying at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. For the most part his writing appeared from small presses and in little magazines. He was associated in particular with Peter Mortimer's Iron, Nick Toczek's The Little Word Machine, and Ian Robinson's Oasis, all of which he helped edit. In Europe he served as vice-chair of Freundkreis Poesie Europe and was English editor of its literary annual. As a critic and translator, his main specialisation was in the poetry of the Low Countries and he was commissioned to write a study of modern Dutch poetry in translation, The Line Forward. Among Dutch-language poets he helped edit and translate have been Guido Gezelle, Anton van Wilderode, Hugo Claus, Willem Roggeman, Stefaan van den Bremt and H.C. ten Berge. His allied interest was in modernist poetry in Belgian Romance dialects, of which he edited and translated two anthologies, The Colour of the Weather and In the Pupil's Mirror. In 1995 he was elected a corresponding member of the Belgian "dialect academy", La Société de Langue et de Littérature Wallonnes. During the 1970s he was commissioned by UNESCO to co-translate several works from Eastern languages. Later translations have included selections from Marianne Larsen, Gilles Cyr and Serge Pey.Buddhist and interfaith involvement
The other side of Lovelock's life centred on his involvement with Buddhism. Between 1982 and 2005 he was responsible for the educational outreach and interfaith work of Birmingham Buddhist Vihara; afterwards he served as Secretary to Birmingham Maha Vihara. With Venerable Khemadhammo, he co-founded the Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy Organisation in 1984 and served as its Co-ordinator until 1995. Since 2002 his national involvement in multi-faith activities has included serving on the executives of the National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education and of the Inter Faith Network UK; as interfaith co-ordinator for the Network of Buddhist Organisations; and as Buddhist vice-chair of the Council of Dharmic Faiths. At regional level he was vice-chair of the West Midlands Faiths Forum and served as alternate faith member on the West Midlands Regional Assembly. In 2012 he was awarded the British Empire Medal for his services to community cohesion and inter-faith relations in the West Midlands.General
- The Vegetable Book, an Unnatural History, Allen & Unwin, London, 1972.
- Folk Tales of Ancient Persia, Caravan Books, New York City, 1974.
- The Line Forward: a Survey of Modern Dutch Poetry in English Translation, Bridges Books, Amsterdam, NL, 1984.
- Dhammatalaka Peace Pagoda – a Guide, Birmingham Buddhist Vihara, 2006.
Poetry
- Short Circuit, Aquila, Isle of Skye, Scotland, 1975.
- City & Beyond, Rivelin Press, Sheffield, 1976.
- Strangers in Amber, Tangent Books, London, 1976.
- The Grid, Sow’s Ear 2, Stafford, 1983
- Building Jerusalem, Rivelin Press, Bradford, 1984.
- A Scattering Folder, Platform Poets 25, Middleton St George, 1985.
- Blue Cubes for a Catarrh, Oasis, London, 1990.
- The Haiku Pavement, Tern Press, Market Drayton, 1990.
- Landscape with Voices, Poems 1980–95, University of Salzburg, Austria, 1995.
- Aquarelles, Raunchland Publications, Dunfermline, Scotland, 1995.
- Inheriting Hawkstone, Tern Press, Market Drayton, 1999.
Translations
- Gipsy Wharf, by Jasim Uddin, Allen & Unwin, London, 1969.
- Padma River Boatman, by Manik Bandopadhyaya, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia, Australia, 1973.
- Radha's Lotus: Love-poems from the Bengali, Issue 9 of Platform/Green Horse booklet, Winchester, 1975.
- Bhai Vir Singh, Poet of the Sikhs, Motilal Banarsidas, Delhi, India, 1976.
- Melanthika: an Anthology of Pan-Caribbean Writing, Little Word Machine, Birmingham, UK, 1977.
- The Colour of the Weather An anthology of Walloon poetry edited and translated by Yann Lovelock. The Menard Press, London, 1980.
- The Sign of the Hamster, by Hugo Claus, Leuvense Schrijversaktie, Louvain, Belgium, 1986.
- A Vanishing Emptiness, selected poems of Willem M. Roggeman, Forest Books, London, 1989.
- A Townscape of Flanders, by Anton van Wilderode, Lanoo, Tilt, Belgium, 1990.
- The White Shaman, Poems by H.C. ten Berge, Forest Books, London, 1991.
- In The Pupil's Mirror, Modern Walloon Poetry from Belgium, Iron Press, Northumberland, 1997.
- A Common Language: Selected Poems by Marianne Larsen, Oversteps, Devon, 2006.
- The Graph of Roads: Selected Poems of Gilles Cyr 1968–1999 Guernica Editions, Ontario, Canada, 2008
- Every Poem is a Decapitated Head Held up by a Single Hair, poems by Serge Pey, online publication from The Red Ceilings Press, UK, 2011
Others
- Not Comforts//But Vision – essays on the poetry of George Oppen, Interim Press, Budleigh Salterton, UK, 1985.
- Cross Roads, Katydid Books, Rochester, US. 1988.
- Formentera & the Gardens of Suzhou, Guernica, Toronto, Canada, 1989.
- Translation In Performance – papers on the theory and practice of translation, Department of Modern Languages, University of Bradford, UK, 1990. ISSN 0261-0353
- Emotional Geology – the writings of Brian Louis Pearce, Stride, Exeter, UK, 1993.
- Physic Meet & Metaphysic: a celebration on Edward Lowbury’s 80th birthday, University of Salzburg, Austria, 1993.
- The Edges of Light, Guernica, Toronto, Canada, 1995.
- The Road to Parnassus, Homage to Peter Russell on his 75th Birthday, University of Salzburg, Austria, 1996.
- Summoning the Sea: a literary festschrift for James Hogg, University of Salzburg, Austria, 1996.
- The Mystical Tradition and the Carthusians, Vol. 5, University of Salzburg, Austria, 1996.
- Various articles in The Babel Guide to Dutch & Flemish Fiction in English Translation, Oxford, UK, 2001.
- Les Dialectes de Wallonie 29–30, Liège, Belgium, 2003. ISSN 0773-7688
- Meeting Buddhists, Christians Aware, Leicester, 2004,