Let us talk about the art of translation – the programme of the second Gdansk Meetings of Literary Translators Found in Translation.
On 9—11 April, some prominent literary translators, writers, academics, and translation experts will visit Gdansk to participate in the second edition of the Found in Translation festival organised by the City Culture Institute. They will be discussing literary translations from English, the Polish literature in the English-speaking world, drama translations etc. The programme includes discussions with Olga Tokarczuk, Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Michał Lipszyc, Maciej Świerkocki, Michał Kłobukowski, Jerzy Jarniewicz, Maria Poprzęcka, and Wiesław Juszczak, literary performances which draw their inspiration from the works of the authors, the battle of translators, and the award presentation ceremony of the Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński Translation Work Award of the President of Gdansk, which is going to take place on 10 April, at 20.00, in the Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre.
Found in Translation is a new and unique literary festival dedicated mainly to the art of translation. It presents the opportunity to look at literature from a different angle. The Meetings is the most important literary event in Poland dedicated to translators and translation.
This year’s edition of the Meetings focuses on literary translations from English, and it starts on 9 April in the Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre. The discussion panel on that day will include: Anna Cetera, Marta Gibińska, Jerzy Limon, Michał Mizera, Magda Heydel, Wiesław Juszczak, Dariusz Czaja, Olga Tokarczuk (and the translators of her books: Milica Markić, Jana Unuk, Jennifer Croft, Ostap Sływynski), and Tomasz Pindel. They are going to discuss translation which is like blood (it saves lives of texts), translation’s “life after life”, the relation between writers and their translators, and the Polish translations of Shakespeare’s works.
In addition to the three-day programme of Found in Translation and the discussion panels, a series of performances is planned. It is titled All is One and owes its inspiration to the works of our guests: Julia Fiedorczuk, Olga Tokarczuk, and Ignacy Karpowicz. The directors of the performances are Marta Ziółek, Katarzyna Szyngiera, and IP Group.
On the second day of the Meetings (10 April), translators, writers, and readers are going to talk about the Polish literature in the English-speaking world, the postcolonial literature, translations between images and words, and poetry translation. As Found in Translation have always supported high quality translation, the Meetings are going to include a panel dedicated to the anthology of English female poets published by the City Culture Institute and Biuro Literackie – Poetesses of the Isles – translated by Jerzy Jarniewicz and Magda Heydel. The Friday discussions at the University of Gdansk and in the City Culture Institute will include: Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Bill Martin, Ursula Phillips, Soren Gauger, Szymon Kloska, Małgorzata Szczurek, Krzysztof Umiński, Michał Lipszyc, Urszula Kropiwiec, Maria Poprzęcka, Grzegorz Jankowicz. The battle of translators is going to be fought by Barbara Kopeć-Umiastowska and Maciej Świerkocki.
An important event is going to take place during the second edition of Found in Translation, i.e. the first presentation of The Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński Translation Work Award of the President of Gdansk Award held on 10 April in the Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre. The nominees are: Elżbieta Cygielska (Hungarian), Jan Gondowicz (French and others), Michał Kłobukowski (English), Halina Kralowa (Italian), Małgorzata Łukasiewicz (German), Maryna Ochab (French), and Jacek Poniedziałek (English).
On Saturday, 11 April, the Meetings will focus on multilingual novels, drama translation, the status of translators in the literature market, and translating the literature from “the top shelf, the bottom shelf, and the shelf in between”. The participants will be: Ignacy Karpowicz, Szczepan Twardoch, Julia Fiedorczuk, Justyna Czechowska, Olga Tokarczuk, Jacek Poniedziałek, Piotr Gruszczyński, Michał Kłobukowski, Barbara Kopeć-Umiastowska, Maciej Świerkocki, Małgorzata Szczurek, Dobromiła Jankowska, Zofia Król.
The Programme of the Meetings has been arranged by three renowned translators who strive to raise the profile of translation in Poland: Magda Heydel, Urszula Kropiwiec, and Justyna Czechowska. Due to their unique experiences, individual interests, and different specialties, they have managed to create a concept and a programme which address the phenomenon of the literary translation in a gripping and comprehensive manner.
