Poets in the World, a series edited by poet and translator Ilya Kaminsky, is a project of the Poetry Foundation’s Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute that offers “a rare glimpse” at poetry collections that, according to the website, “have shaped literary traditions from around the globe, from Africa to Europe, Iraq to China, and beyond.”

The project was first conceived a few years ago when Kaminsky was 2010-2013 director of the Institute. “Among the poets invited to edit books in Poets in the World series are former political prisoners, refugees and writers who know from personal experience about the power of language and the consequences that poets may pay for sharing their work in their home countries,” said Kaminsky in a statement last year. “We hope that these compelling stories not only bring unique perspectives to American poetry, but alert our readers to how much is at stake for a poet in other parts of the world.”

The project collaborates with a wide variety of publishers, including Copper Canyon Press, McSweeney’s, Milkweed Editions, New Directions, Open Letter, Red Hen Press, Slapering Hol Press, and Tupelo Press, and is meant to encourage and “advance readership for world poetry.” Kaminsky, an international poet himself, was born in the city of Odessa in the former Soviet Union, and is an expert on issues of translation.

Learn more about the publications in the series on the website, which includes such books as New Cathay: Contemporary Chinese Poetry (Tupelo Press), Something Indecent: Poems Recommended by Eastern European Poets (Red Hen Press); and Fifteen Iraqi Poets (New Directions), as well as downloadable excerpts.