‘Found in Translation’ Gdańsk Literary Meetings – The Modernist Edition: Women Found in Translation
The turbulent turn of the 19th and 20th centuries gave rise to a movement that continues to exert a powerful influence on culture. The modernist worldview valued creative freedom and personal authenticity. Women novelists, poets, translators, philosophers, as well as suffragettes and revolutionaries fighting for a new social order – the significance of modernism and modernist women are the theme of this year’s ‘Found in Translation’. Visit Gdańsk between 24 and 26 April 2025 for the seventh edition of the event organised by the Urban Culture Institute.
‘Found in Translation’ Gdańsk Literary Meetings is a festival where the art of translation acts as a springboard to talk about the world and the dynamic changes it undergoes. The event’s programme is shaped by outstanding translators and cultural curators: Justyna Czechowska, Magda Heydel, Urszula Kropiwiec and Aleksandra Szymańska.
During the festival, we offer meetings with distinguished translators, writers and literary scholars. Each edition of the event is accompanied by the official award ceremony of the Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński Translation Awards granted by the Mayor of Gdańsk. Every instalment of the festival revolves around a different central theme – this year, it is women in modernism.
THE MODERNIST EDITION: WOMEN FOUND IN TRANSLATION
In 1925, Virginia Woolf published her groundbreaking novel Mrs Dalloway, one of the most important texts of Western modernism. A hundred years later, this work – where life intertwines with death, and peacetime is permeated by war – continues to feel strikingly relevant. The same can be said for a whole constellation of modernist literary texts created since the 1920s: when read today (and rediscovered through translation), they offer new ways to reflect on the condition of the contemporary world and provide us with tools to articulate our experience.
Modernist literature was, to a great extent, written by women. Woolf, Mansfield, Lagerlöf, Kobylanśka, Akhmatova, Södergran, Vogel, Colette, Sagan, Yourcenar, Lispector, Bishop, Sztok, Nałkowska, Carter – these remarkable writers, often also activists in emancipatory movements, defied the barriers imposed by patriarchal culture, and their work has become a reference point for generations of successors. In 2025, the ‘Found in Translation’ programme will focus on modernist women writers and the translation of their works.
Statement of the Programme Board: ‘Through debates, meetings, lessons and workshops, we want to familiarise the festival audience with the legacy of modernist women writers. Thanks to translation, their heritage finds a place in different cultures, inspiring progress and continuing to serve as a tool for emancipation. Modernist literature is also a field shaped by outstanding translators (both women and men). We want to highlight that multilingual women’s literary creativity – both original and translated – forms the fabric of modern culture and helps us understand our turbulent times’.
PROGRAMME
The festival programme will feature many of our known and loved formats. There will be a masterclass lecture and a translation duel; we will talk with a writer and her translators and meet poets from the Versopolis network. We will also invite audiences to a performance inspired by modernist women’s works, directed by Aleksandra Bilińska.
During festival debates, we will discuss the works and influence of modernist women writers – including those working outside the canonical centre. We will also explore womanhood as a literary and translational category.
A key element of the programme will be the Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński Prize for Translation. We will meet the nominated translators and the winner of the lifetime achievement award. The festival will also feature an award ceremony gala.
The festival will include an educational programme, featuring lessons for secondary school students and translation workshops led by Magdalena Koch. Details about workshop registration will be announced in the last week of February.
This year, our guests will include Zyta Rudzka, Sława Lisiecka, Małgorzata Szczurek, Jakub Kornhauser, Ola Hnatiuk, Elżbieta Kalinowska, Milica Markić, Agata Kozak, Marta Eloy-Cichocka, Gabriel Borowski, Ewa Kraskowska, Lisa Palmes, Alžběta Knappova, Marcin Gaczkowskieg, Dorota Kozicka, Jerzy Koch, Karolina Szymaniak and Olga Czernikow.
A detailed programme for this edition will be published soon.
Most festival events are free to attend. However, some may have different admission rules – further details will be provided in due course.
Gdańsk Literary Meetings and the Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński Translation Award are organised by the City Culture Institute. The award is funded by the City of Gdańsk.
