Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys through Ancient Literature

Emily Wilson

'Enthralling and profoundly relevant' Salman Rushdie

'Joyful, illuminating and engaging ' Madeline Miller

'A masterclass in translation' Blake Morrison, Guardian

How do we give old words new voices? What must a translator lose - and what might she gain - when she moves between languages, bringing ancient stories to modern life?

Emily Wilson has spent a lifetime wrestling with these questions: here, she invites us to consider the meaning and messages of translators from antiquity to today - and gives a wholly fresh insight into her own work on Homer.

From shifting depictions of Helen of Troy to Cardi B and Athenian comedy, Han Kang's novels and Rome's love of Greek culture, Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea is a playful and fascinating voyage into the promise, possibility and constant renewal of classical literature.