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.