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A backstage hero: a creator or a craftsman? This is the title of a discussion panel which will be held on the 30th of September at 7 p.m. in Goethe Institute in Krakow on International Translation Day 2013.
Translation has become an increasingly popular discussion topic. The number of translations on the Polish book market is growing from year to year. According to Book Institute’s data, in 2011 translations constituted over 26% releases in belles letters. Reviewers more often focus on the translation in their book evaluations. Translations of foreign bestsellers reach Polish readers within months of their world premiere and compete with unauthorized translations available online. Sometimes, translations of works which have entered the canon of literature provoke discussion, objection and even rejection from the readers. Sometimes, a work of literature gains new life like a carefully restored painting thanks to a modern translation. Who are the authors of translations? Who hides behind a literary translation, an artists or a craftsman?
This questions will be asked literary translators: Laurence Dyévre, Magda Heydel, Tomasz Pindel, Abel Murcia Soriano and Tadeusz Zatorski, one of the characters of an exhibition entitled Budowniczy mostów [Bridge Constructors], which presents the portraits of twelve winners of Karl Dedecius award for Polish and German translators. The evening in Goethe Institute in Krakow will be hosted by Barbara Gawryluk, a journalist at Radio Kraków, writer and translator.
The programme of International Translation Day, prepared by Krakow’s EUNIC-member cultural institutes, the UNESCO Chair at Jagiellonian University, and the Book Institute, will include classes for high school students, film screenings, lectures and competitions.
From the 30th of September, the Goethe-Institute will house an exhibition of Deutsches Polen Institut in Darmstadt entitled Budowniczy mostów which presents the portraits of twelve winners of Karl Dedecius award for Polish and German translators.
International Translation Day will be also celebrated in Warsaw (the event will be organised by EUNIC Warsaw and Association of Literary Translators) and in Gdańsk (event organised by City Culture Institute).