Encounters. Encouraging translations flow between East European languages and Arabic

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This new program of Next Page aims to create conditions for a cultural dialogue beyond the traditional East/West dichotomy by encouraging translations in both directions between Arabic and the languages of Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

The initiative is a continuation of an earlier pilot project of Next Page that – in cooperation with the Sphinx book agency from Cairo, supported the translation of 11 titles by East European authors into Arabic. The pilot demonstrated that cultural actors from both regions identify a cluster of topics of common interest ranging from historical ones (such as Ottoman history and legacy, the political project of socialism, etc) to current social issues such as citizens’ participation deficit, sense of political and cultural marginalization, recent experience of war and displacement, immigration, vast social transformations, women rights, the role of religion and the market, etc. Last but not least, Eastern Europe of today and particularly the new EU member states are just starting to develop a new interest in the global South due to the growing emigration from these countries. If not backed up with conditions for an intense intellectual and cultural dialogue, these contacts will remain framed by the narrow security or economic considerations.

In publishing terms, while being vastly different in almost all other ways, quality publishers from both regions face similar challenges associated with the current “translation economy” in which English is the preferred language of mediation as much in publishing as it is in global communication in general. But the range of authors, titles and topics that are available in English translation do not necessarily reflect the cultural demands of other audiences outside UK and US. The program will thus seek to create more direct paths for cultural communication across linguistic and national borders between Eastern Europe and its southern neighbours in the Arab region.

SCOPE

The program will encourage translations in both directions – from Arabic into East European languages and from these languages into Arabic by supporting mutual translations of contemporary prose, essays and texts in humanities. Since the mere provision of a limited number of mutual translations - while a desirable aim in itself – will have a limited impact, our approach will supplement the grant scheme with other activities such as direct encounters of key organizations (at workshops, fairs and other events) and a survey of the translation policies in both regions. The program will be launched in July 2008 and will go on for one year. Continuation of activities will be contingent upon the results from the first year as well as upon availability of funding.

The program will create a forum for discussion on translations between the two regions, will produce a min of 10 country reports on the state of translations and will ultimately result in the creation of an informal network of publishers, translators and other cultural actors with better understanding of the cultural contexts and the literary developments in the participating countries.

FOCUS COUNTRIES/LANGUAGES

The project will focus on the following languages while not excluding others from both regions:

  Polish, Serbian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Czech, Romanian, Albanian, Macedonian as well as Croatian/Bosnian.

  Arabic, with priority partners coming from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the Maghreb, Palestine, Iraq

  Turkish

MAIN PARTNERS

Encounters will seek to cooperate with publishers, literary and cultural organizations, translators and translators associations, cultural periodicals, literary agents and donors from all countries included in the program.

PROGRAM COMPONENTS

I. Research

A series of research activities in several focus countries from both regions that will look into the level and quality of translations in both directions (from Arabic to Eastern Europe and the other way around), into the conditions that shape translation policies and choices made by publishers, editors and translators as well as into the reception of these translations. Such “mappings” of translation policies will cover the post-1989 period and will focus on several case-studies: 1) translations into Arabic and 2) into Polish, Serbian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Czech and Croatian.

These “mappings” will form the starting point of discussions at the (First) Encounters meeting (see II below) and will fill one of the many gaps in statistics and monitoring of the level of translations worldwide.

II.(First) Encounters – a workshop on publishing and translation

The workshop will bring together translators, publishers, editors from cultural journals and cultural institutions from several Arab and East European/Balkan countries to discuss the current state of translations between the two regions and the possibilities for enhancing cultural exchange via translations. Participants will be selected among organizations and individuals who already have certain interest/experience in the neighboring region, and who share a common passion for enlarging their contacts further.

Panels will focus on (the lack of) necessity to intensify cultural exchange between the two regions and more specifically will be organized around the following themes: presentation and discussion on the “mappings”, translation issues (availability of translators and editors, cultural transfer in contemporary texts, etc); publishers issues (information on titles, market and audiences, alternative printing and distribution techniques), cultural periodicals and cultural organizations/donors panel.

Parallel cultural program will include presentation of the first Arabic translation of Dubravka Ugresic’s “Nobody’s Home” by Mahrousa Publishers from Egypt in the presence of the author.

III.Translation grants

In February 2009 Next Page will follow up its previous initiatives with a small translations fund that will welcome applications for individual titles, series of titles or series of journal publications from publishers and cultural journals from both regions. Eligible applications will be for translations of critical and literary reflections on current socially relevant issues. Longer-term projects with a coherent strategy will be given a priority over a one-off initiatives.

Please, find the Call for proposals here

Please, find the supported projects here

The Encounters program is made possible due to the support of the OSI MENA program