Perfect Blemish / Perffaith Nam: New & Selected Poems 1995-2007 / Dau Ddetholiad & Cherddi Newydd 1995-2007

By Menna Elfyn

Menna Elfyn is the best-known, most travelled and most translated of all Welsh-language poets. The extraordinary international range of her subjects, breathtaking inventiveness and generosity of vision place her among Europe's leading poets. This dual-language edition of her later poetry includes all her work from Cell Angel (1996) and Blind Man's Kiss / Cusan Dyn Dall (2001), as well as the first English translations of Perffaith Nam (2005) and a selection of new poems. The Welsh originals in this book have facing English translations by Elin ap Hywel, Joseph Clancy, Gillian Clarke, Tony Conran, Nigel Jenkins and Robert Minhinnick.

Menna Elfyn has published five dual-language books of poetry with Bloodaxe. Her 2007 retrospective Perfect Blemish: New & Selected Poems was followed by two further Welsh-English collections, Murmur (2012), a Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation; and Bondo (2017). Her hybrid sixth poetry book from Bloodaxe, Parch (2025), combines translations and self-translations with poetry written direct into English for the first time.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1852247797
• ISBN13: 9781852247799
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Bloodaxe Books
• Length: 302 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.5"