Next Page Foundation together with ARGH (Serbia), POETEKA (Albania), Sandorf (Croatia), Goten (North Macedonia), and the municipality of Podgorica will begin implementation of the new Balkan Translations Collider Project on January 1 2021. The project is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Commission and is planned to run for three years.
 
The Collider’s aim is to bolster cross-border networks and cooperation in the literary worlds both within Western Balkan countries, and – on a larger scale – with the EU.
 
The project’s overall objective is to illuminate and render the current realities of the literary international exchange to address the difficulties Western Balkan literature face in reaching global readership through translation.
 
Taking into account the many different actors involved in the process of choosing, translating, and bringing a literary work to the international reader, we have modeled different approaches and activities to foster ties and networks and utilize them in easing the way of translating literature written in Western Balkan languages, into ‘big languages’, and ultimately reach an international audience.
 
This will be done through a series of academy sessions, meetings, events, and internships. We will also generate knowledge through research, and produce policy recommendations for stakeholders and policymakers. Those will bear a distinct focus on the specific needs of the local literary communities regarding translation into ‘big’ languages. In this line of activities, the project targets decision-makers on the national and municipal level as far as they are often a decisive factor in supporting local culture and art.
 
We will be posting news about the project throughout on our websites and on all our social media channels so be sure to follow us and subscribe to our newsletter.

image: Skitterphoto