Project Overview

East Translates East Project Framework (ETE) of Next Page Foundation builds upon the achievements of the Open Society Institute East Translates East project, which has supported hundreds of translations between languages of Eastern Europe. The program seeks to counterweigh disbalance in flows of information by supporting dialogue and publishing exchange between Central and Eastern European countries with the means of several components, defined by 2005/06 Strategy:

1. translation grants
2. promotion grants
3. cultural journalists study visits
4. policy related initiatives

ETE Expert Committee

The ETE Expert Committee comprises of 4 members currently:

  Biliana Kourtasheva, New Bulgarian University assistent of Theory of Literature, editor-in-chief of "Sledva" magazine for university culture, translator
  Albrecht Lempp, Fundacja Wspolpracy Polsko-Niemieckiej
  Andrej Blatnik, eminent fiction writer and editor, www.andrejblatnik.com
  Iryna Kuchma, Program Manager at The International Renaissance Foundation, Ukraine

Translation grants for publishers

Grants for book translation cover part of the expenses related to the translation and publication of books originally published in one of the languages of the countries from Central and Eastern Europe. There were grants competitions in 2004 and 2005.

Supported projects 2004 - 2005

In 2006 there was a grants competition for translation in periodicals which are one of the printed media that can promptly react and reflect upon a cultural change. The elaborated grants scheme aims to provide small grants to cover costs for translations between Central and Eastern European languages of recently published articles.

Supported projects 2006

Promotion grants for publishers

Promotion grants support promotion initiatives of East European translations within the country of translation as high quality translations are often published but remain unnoticed by their potential reading audience. Book promotion is a very special kind of activity, which is a matter of common efforts of many institutions and organizations, not only of publishers and which gains even bigger importance in a contemporary world of fast flow of information and increased consumers’ choice.

Supported projects 2005

Information exchange and networking

The experience of Next Page Foundation shows that there is a strong mutual interest in the intellectual and publishing production of the Central and Eastern European region. At the same time, there is a paucity of channels for information and exchange to sustain that interest. That is why Next Page Foundation has started a series of initiatives to help the exchange of information between publishers in Eastern Europe about notable new publications that merit translation into neighboring languages.

In 2005 Next Page launched the Cultural Journalists Study Visits Program in 20 countries in partnership with local organizations and publishing houses. The program aims to facilitate cultural and literary exchange and provide an opportunity for direct encounters of cultural journalists with the publishing and literary arenas of the participating countries.

Supported projects

Policy related initiatives

As part of our policy-related initiatives, we campaign for placing East – East publishing exchange and promotion higher on the agenda of organizations and institutions such as the EU, national funding bodies and large international projects. We encourage support for national book sector promotion across the region. Natural partners in achieving these goals are National Book Agencies but they do not exist in all the countries in the region. As part of this campaign in 2006 Next Page organized the Conference on Promoting Translations – Ideas, Practices, Innovations.

Other organizations, promoting national literatures in East European countries:

  Czech Literary Fund
  Translation Fund of the Hungarian Book Foundation
  Hungarian Translators’ House Foundation
  Polish Literary Fund
  Slovak Literary Fund
  Slovene Writers’ Association for Trubar Fund
  Books from Lithuania
  Romanian Cultural Institute
  Latvian Literature Center
  Estonian Literature Information Center