Sweet Hunter: The Complete Poems of St. Teresa of Ávila

This bilingual edition of St. Teresa of Avila’s poems with commentary engages readers with all facets of the Saint’s life: the mystic and monastic reformer, the artist and proto-feminist, and the philosopher with a penchant for paradox.

＂What a gift then to read Dana Delibovi’s translations of St Teresa d’Ávila’s complete poems-sweet treasure!--so elegant and concise, the language lyrical yet simple and accessible, the music of the stanzas and the profundity of her voice carried into English. I also appreciated Delibovi’s curation: the short introductions and thematic arrangement of the poems--nothing overly ponderous and academic. It’s as if we are on a pilgrimage into the heart and soul and song of this amazing woman and spiritual leader and poet.＂ --Julia Alvarez, poet, novelist, and essayist; author of The Cemetery of Untold Stories

＂Dana Delibovi’s translations and the essays that accompany them are thoughtful, inviting, insightful, and rich. Through them, Saint Teresa’s passionate words pierce through the page and bloom beautifully in the reader’s mind - and heart.＂ --Randon Billings Noble, Be with Me Always: Essays; A Harp in the Stars: An Anthology of Lyric Essays, editor

＂Saint Teresa has, at last, found an English translator who has deeply penetrated the poet’s essence, her revelatory reverence and rapturous beauty.＂ --Christopher Sawyer-Lauçanno, Night Suite, Remission, and A Continual Pilgrimage: American Writers in Paris, 1944-1960

St. Teresa of Avila’s poems, written in the 16th century, speak to the spiritual longing of our times and invite us to find peace amid turmoil. St. Teresa walked a path of grace, seeking the divine within the human soul, and her poetry lights this path for all of us. This is the first translation of St. Teresa’s poetry by a woman poet and captures the saint’s spiritual vigor and famously conversational tone in English. That voice is echoed in well-researched commentary strengthened by the translator’s willingness to share her spiritual journey.

Dana Delibovibegan translating the poetry of St. Teresa of Ávila in 2019, after retiring from a hybrid career as an advertising copywriter and adjunct instructor of philosophy. Her translations of Teresa’s poetry and her essays on Teresa’s legacy have appeared in journals including Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry, U.S. Catholic, After the Art, and Confluence, with translations forthcoming in Catholic Poetry Room and a new anthology from Word on Fire. Delibovi’s writing has also appeared in Noon, Psaltery & Lyre, Salamander, and Slippery Elm. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, a Best American Essays notable essayist, and 2023 co-winner of the Hueston Woods Poetry Contest. Delibovi is Consulting Poetry Editor at the literary e-zine Cable Street. She received her BA from Barnard College, Columbia University, and holds MA degrees from New York University and Bank Street College of Education.