Josephine Balmer
She sets the daily Word Watch and weekly Literary Quiz for The Times. She was born in 1959 in Hampshire and now lives in East Sussex. She studied classics at University College, London and was awarded a PhD degree by publication by the University of East Anglia.
Josephine Balmer
- Born
- 1959 · Hampshire.
- Nationality
- United Kingdom
- Occupation
- poet · literary critic · translator · classical scholar · classical philologist · historian · writer
- Education
- University of East Anglia
- Languages
- English
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wikidata · Q54999966 · wikipedia · Josephine Balmer
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Institutions cited
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
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Works
She was Chair of the British Translators' Association from 2002–2005, and reviews editor of the journal Modern Poetry in Translation from 2004–2009. She was a judge of poetry translation for the Stephen Spender Prize in 2006–2009 and 2015. In 1989 her translation Sappho: Poems and Fragments was shortlisted for the inaugural US Lambda Literary Awards. In 2017 her collection The Paths of Survival was shortlisted for the London Hellenic Prize.
• Sappho: Poems and Fragments (1984, 1988 & 1992) • Classical Women Poets (1996) • Catullus: Poems of Love and Hate (2004) • Chasing Catullus: Poems, Translations and Transgressions (2004) • The Word for Sorrow (2008) • Piecing Together the Fragments: Translating Classical Verse, Creating Contemporary Poetry (2013) • The Paths of Survival (2017) • Letting Go: thirty mourning sonnets and two poems (2017) • Sappho: Poems and Fragments New Expanded Edition (2018) • Ghost Passage (2022)
Documentary record
Josephine Balmer (born 1959) is described as a “Klassische Philologin”, historian, writer, translator and literary critic in the authority records of the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. The birth of Josephine Balmer is recorded in 1959 in Hampshire.
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Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Josephine Balmer, revision 1360616224 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Survival, The Paths of. Josephine Balmer. The Paths of Survival. 2012-04-13.
- 2.Team, Edit. 1st Annual Lambda Literary Awards. Lambda Literary. 2010-01-13.
- 3.The 2017 Prize Shortlist London Hellenic Prize.
- 4.Poems & Fragments Bloodaxe Books. www.bloodaxebooks.com.
- 5.Classical Women Poets Bloodaxe Books. www.bloodaxebooks.com.
- 6.Poems of Love and Hate Bloodaxe Books. www.bloodaxebooks.com.
- 7.Chasing Catullus Bloodaxe Books. www.bloodaxebooks.com.
- 8.Salt. The Word for Sorrow.
- 9.Josephine Balmer Practitioners' Voices in Classical Reception Studies Open University. www.open.ac.uk.
- 10.Balmer, Josephine. Piecing Together the Fragments: Translating Classical Verse, Creating Contemporary Poetry. Oxford University Press. 2013-09-26. 9780199585090.
- 11.The Paths of Survival by Josephine Balmer. The Poetry Book Society.
- 12.Marriott, James. Best poetry books of 2017. The Times. 2017-12-02. 0140-0460.
- 13.Agenda Poetry, Poem, Poetry, Articles, Essays, William Cookson, Patricia McCarthy, Magazine, Critic, Review. www.agendapoetry.co.uk.
- 14.Jo Balmer Practitioners' Voices in Classical Reception Studies Open University. www.open.ac.uk.
- 15.Josephine Balmer – Ghost Passage. Shearsman Books.
- 16.Royal Literary Fund. Josephine Balmer. 2018.
- 17.Bassnett, Susan. Reflections on Translation. Multilingual Matters. 40–41. 2011. 9781847694089.
- 18.Stephen Spender Trust. The Stephen Spender Prize 2015 for poetry in translation. 2015.
- 19.Josephine Balmer. Modern Poetry in Translation.
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 September 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Joseph-Isidore BédardAuthor
- Joseph-Louis LagrangeAuthor
- Joseph-Marie Lo DucaAuthor
- Joséphin PeladanAuthor
- Joséphine ColombAuthor
- Josephine Diebitsch PearyAuthor
- Josephine HerbstAuthor
- Josephine JohnsonAuthor
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