The Polar Tombola

‘If you had to lose a word from your language, what would it be?’

This anthology brings together words banished during a live literature project which invited audiences to engage with issues of cultural and climate change, alongside newly commissioned texts on language loss from contemporary writers and artists, including Vahni Anthony Capildeo, Will Eaves, Pippa Hennessy, Nasim Marie Jafry, Lisa Matthews, Phil Owen and Richard Price.

Since the 1800s, 21 indigenous Arctic languages have become extinct, and more are being added to the list year by year. West Greenlandic is one of those vulnerable languages, according to UNESCO’s Atlas of World Languages in Danger. ‘As an environmentalist,’ Campbell writes, ‘I begin to wonder how future scientists will study the Arctic ecosystem without access to the knowledge of generations enshrined in the region’s languages. As a poet, I wonder what happens to an individual’s experience of words when their language begins to disappear.’

‘If you banished a word from your language what would it be?’ The question was posed at four variously bookish events and, as Raymond Queneau might have said – if you are not in, you’re out. Choices included BORING, NO, CERULEAN, WAR, FEMMA, QUINQUAGENARIAN, YUMMY, – to mention just a very few. To be viewed as a fascinating entertainment rather than Nancy Campbell’s chef d’oeuvre.’ Oliver Clarke, Collinge and Clark Books

Introduction by Nancy Campbell and foreword by Sarah Bodman, Associate Professor at the Centre for Fine Print Research, UWE Bristol.

book details

ISBN 978-0-9928091-2-6

Publication: Bird Editions, 2017

The Polar Tombola events and publication were supported by Arts Council England Grants for the Arts.

To purchase a copy of the anthology for £5 and postage, please email nancy@nancycampbell.co.uk