04:23

Caroline Alexander is an author and journalist who has written for the New Yorker, Granta and National Geographic and has several books to her name. These include The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty (2004), and The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition (1998). In 2009, she also published The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of Homer’s Iliad and the Trojan War, which Tom Holland described here as “a worthy memorial to Homer’s poem: compassionate, urgent and unfailingly stimulating”.



Most recently, Alexander has translated the Iliad, which has to be the literary equivalent of climbing Everest. I’m also tempted to reach for another metaphor and suggest that wrestling with Homer must sometimes feel a bit like taking on Achilles himself – an almost impossible task, yet also the ultimate test … But she’ll be able to tell you her feelings about that on Monday 29 February at 1pm, when she joins us for a live webchat.

There are many other questions to ask about the decisions you have to make in translating ancient and revered poetry, the challenges of ancient Greek – and the joys. I’m also hoping that she will make a case for the importance and benefits of classical education in the 21st century – but again, let’s see how things unfold.

She will be here from next Monday - but do get a question in early by posting in the comments below.