I write & translate lyrics for recordings & performances. My translations preserve style, singability, rhyme and rhythm while staying close to the original meaning. My work is released by Kistehén (EMI Music), Vilmos Gryllus (Cinemon Entertainment), Gregory Vajda (BMC Records) and Loui (Brooks Kiadó) and used by the Baltazar Theatre. Publishers of my work include Bloomsbury and de Gruyter. I translate from German, Hungarian, Romanian and Russian, paying attention to literal meaning and native rhythm.

David Houston-Hill

I write & translate lyrics for recordings & performances. My translations preserve style, singability, rhyme and rhythm while staying close to the original meaning. My work is released by Kistehén (EMI Music), Vilmos Gryllus (Cinemon Entertainment), Gregory Vajda (BMC Records) and Loui (Brooks Kiadó) and used by the Baltazar Theatre. Publishers of my work include Bloomsbury and de Gruyter. I translate from German, Hungarian, Romanian and Russian, paying attention to literal meaning and native rhythm.

Available to hire

I write & translate lyrics for recordings & performances. My translations preserve style, singability, rhyme and rhythm while staying close to the original meaning. My work is released by Kistehén (EMI Music), Vilmos Gryllus (Cinemon Entertainment), Gregory Vajda (BMC Records) and Loui (Brooks Kiadó) and used by the Baltazar Theatre. Publishers of my work include Bloomsbury and de Gruyter. I translate from German, Hungarian, Romanian and Russian, paying attention to literal meaning and native rhythm.

See more

Work Experience

Add your work experience history here.

Education

Add your educational history here.

Qualifications

Add your qualifications or awards here.
    paper Kistehén: three albums

    Wrote original lyrics for Kistehén’s song How Could You Follow Me? (on an album released by EMI Music, 2010), and translated lyrics for albums A Man in a Tree (Yonas Media, 2008), I’m in Love with Every Lady (Eastblok Music, 2007).

    paper Gregory Vajda: three compositions

    Wrote, translated or adapted song texts for Gregory Vajda’s compositions Medals (published 2022), Capillaria (performed at Live Arts Exchange, 2015), Gulliver in Faremido (BMC Records, 2012).

    paper Loui: album Solid Solo Songs

    Wrote and translated lyrics for Loui’s album Solid Solo Songs (Brooks Kiadó, 2011).

    paper Several stage productions

    Translated verse and lyrics for:
    The Misanthrope: succinct, rhyming, modern English version of Molière play used as surtitles at ICA theater (UK).
    Baltazár Theater: two productions (Hungary).

    paper Several literary publications

    Wrote and translated poetry for literary publications.

    Sole author of books:
    Consumed, KenArnoldBooks (US)
    Angels and Astronauts, National Poetry Foundation (UK)

    Contributing translator to books:
    The Persecution and Murder of the European Jews by Nazi Germany 1933-1945, Walter de Gruyter (Germany); European Romanticism, Continuum (US) (winner of 2010 Jean-Pierre Barricelli Book Prize); New Order, Arc Publications (UK); Tiresias’s Confession, Corvina (Hungary); 36 Degrees of Fever, Ráday Könyvesház (Hungary); A Fine Line, Arc Publications (UK); An Island of Sound, Harvill Press (UK); Hide and Seek, József Attila kör (Hungary); Experiment in Romanian Art since 1960, Soros Center for Contemporary Art (Romania).

    Contributing translator to other print products:
    The Independent (UK); The Times Literary Supplement (UK); Sirena (US); The British East-West Journal (UK); Modern Poetry in Translation (UK).

    Contributing translator to websites:
    3:AM Magazine (France); Hungarian Literature Online (Hungary).

    Contributing writer to books:
    More Bloody Clerihews, Smokestack Books (UK); The Call of the Clerihew, Smokestack Books (UK); This Island City, Tongues and Grooves (UK); The Book of Hopes and Dreams, Bluechrome Publishing (UK) [review]; Future Welcome, DC Books (Canada); Kiss and Part, Poetic Vision Press (US); Dialogue Through Poetry 2003, Rattapallax Press (US); Short Fuse, Rattapallax Press (US); Poetry 2000, Robson Books (UK); The Sonnet at the Millennium, Open University Shakespeare Society (UK); Poetry as a Foreign Language, White Adder Press (UK).

Hire a Lyricist

We have the best lyricist experts on Twine. Hire a lyricist in Vancouver today.