The End of the Dark Era - by Tseveendorjin Oidov (Paperback)

About the Book

Simon Wickhamsmith is the recipient of a 2015 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant for his translation of The End of the Dark Era, a collection of over a hundred poems by Mongolian poet Tseveendorjin Oidov, and one of the few avant-garde collections to come out of that region. The original poems appear with their English translations and with illustrations by the author.

Book Synopsis

The End of the Dark Era is the first book of Mongolian poetry to be published in the United States, and one of the few avant-garde collections to have come from the vast steppes of Mongolia. Poet Tseveendorjin Oidov, who is also one of Mongolia's most renowned painters, traverses the Mongolian dreamscape in poems populated by horses, eagles, and a recurring darkness that the poet dissipates with his startling descriptions and abiding empathy. The short poems of the book's second half are accompanied by thirty‐six of Oidov's abstract line drawings.

About the Author

Tseveendorjin Oidov is considered the first Mongolian Modernist. He is highly regarded as a visual artist. He lives in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Simon Wickhamsmith is international director of the Mongolian Academy of Poetry and Culture and co-directs the Orchuulga Foundation, which is dedicated to the translation of Mongolian literature. A 2008 and 2015 grant recipient of the PEN Translation Fund for his translations from the Mongolian, he was likewise recognized as a Leading Cultural Worker by the government of Mongolia for this translation work. He lives in Rutgers, NJ.