After Covid-19 has pushed most European countries into lockdown and CEATL had to cancel the scheduled annual meeting in Brussels in May, we have collected reactions from translators all over Europe.
Joint Statement on Budget Cuts for Culture in Flanders
The European book sector, represented by the European Writers’ Council, the Federation of European Publishers, the European and International Booksellers Federation and the European Council of Literary Translators’ Associations, has learnt with consternation about the proposed savings on culture by the Flemish Minister for Culture. […]
Translation Meetings in Poland
This year, several talks about translation were offered through the New Translators program. Under the motto “Translation, bridge between cultures”, three events were organised by EIZIE in conjunction with the Etxepare Basque Institute for the specific purpose of speaking about the importance of translation in Basque literature (and culture). […]
Open letter to EU leaders from Europe’s cultural and creative sectors regarding the Creative Europe Programme 2021-2027
CEATL has joined a number of other European cultural organizations in urging EU’s political leadership to support the parliament’s proposal of an increased budget for Creative Europe. […]
AC/E grants for translation projects from Spanish
AC/E grants for translation projects (administered by the Sociedad Mercantil Estatal Acción Cultural Española, or AC/E) encourage foreign publishers to translate original literary works from Spanish as part of Spain’s participation as Guest of Honour at Frankfurt Book Fair 2020. […]
Recently published: Diversity Report 2018 on translated fiction across Europe
The brand new Diversity Report 2018 on translated fiction across 10 languages and markets throughout Europe has now been published. It follows trends in literary translation, market developments, new and traditional publishing models and funding schemes. […]
EACEA publishes selection results of the support to literary translation projects 2018
The main objectives of the support for literary translation projects, granted by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Union, were to support cultural and linguistic diversity; to strengthen the transnational circulation and diversity of high quality literary works in the long term; to improve access to these literary works in the EU and beyond as all neighbourhood countries have been included, and to reach new audiences for European translated literature. […]
Positive note in Dutch Cultural Policy 2018 – 2021
On 12 March 2018, the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven, presented the Cultural Policy for 2018 to 2021. Two positive points stand out: after years of austerity, the government will start making investments in culture again and secondly, reasonable remuneration for workers in the sector is explicitly mentioned. […]
The new Translators Association First Translation Prize and other new awards in the UK
The new Translators Association First Translation Prize has been won by the translator Bela Shayevich and her editor at Fitzcarraldo, Jacques Testard, for Second-Hand Time by Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich. The £2,000 prize was set up by translator Daniel Hahn with the Society of Authors and support from the British Council with his own 25,000€ winnings from the International Dublin literary award, which he won in 2017 with his translation A General Theory of Oblivion, a novel by José Eduardo Agualusa. […]
Czech translators start a series of discussions on developments in book market
Hosted by Vaclav Havel Library, the series ‘Lost in Translation’ is a chance for translators, editors and other representatives of publishing houses, big and small, as well as publishers owned by large media groups, to exchange their experiences, expectations, complaints and grievances, and to comment on the situation in the choked book market from their respective points of view. […]
STRADE demands state foundation for the support of literary translation and other news from Italy
It has been a busy autumn for the Italian Union of Literary Translators Strade.
Starting at the beginning of October, the association was one of the main co-operating partners of the Migrant Literatures Festival in Palermo, Sicily, which hosted a series of events under the title “Lost (and Found) in Translation”. A public meeting with representatives from the Italian Ministry of Culture, the association of independent publishers ODEI, the Municipality of Palermo and Strade opened the whole festival, by promoting the latter’s proposal to establish a State foundation supporting translation (as it is the case in many other countries). ¨…*
Macron: we owe translators a lot
At the recent Frankfurt Book Fair, the French president Emmanuel Macron paid homage to the translator’s profession, and announced the creation of a “real” prize in France for translation into French (Note: a number of well regarded translation prizes already exist in France). “Knowledge of language is knowledge of books, and such is the eminent role played by translators that I cannot speak here, before you, without paying them the homage we owe them, because translation is the first thing our diplomats do, indeed it is sometimes the heart of what they do. It involves avoiding misunderstandings, indeed sometimes avoiding little miscomprehensions, it’s about conveying. […]
Publication of the ‘Report on the economic value of book translation’ in Spain
ACE Traductores (Spain) has presented a Report on the economic value of book translation, prepared by the consulting agency AFI and financed by the Ministry of Culture and CEDRO, the main Spanish Reproduction Rights Centre.
Its main objective was to “check, get to know and quantify the economic value of book translation in Spain, taking into account not only the publishing figures but also the total amount of sales, whose impact, in the absence of statistics, is presumably higher”. […]
Literary Translators into Spanish: Joining objectives on both sides of the Atlantic
Over recent months several national associations of literary translators into Spanish —from Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Spain— have combined efforts to improve the working conditions of their Latin American members, as well as to contribute to the prestige of the profession and the development of culture by means of the exchange of information, experience and knowledge, and also to promote common training programmes. […]
New website: KurdîLit – Network for Kurdish literature and publishing in Turkey
Although Kurdish-language publishing in Turkey has picked up speed, especially in the last ten years, Diyarbakır Arts Center (DSM) and Lîs Editions noticed that the limited visibility of Kurdish-language literature in Turkey and in the international arena continues to be a problem, both for producers and for readers. […]
PEN International’s ‘Quebec Declaration on Literary Translation and Translators’ now available in more than twenty languages
On 15 October 2015 PEN International adopted the Quebec Declaration on Literary Translation and Translators.
The text contains a six-point summary of the principles and objectives that PEN International intends to promote in the area of literary translation. These principles include the importance of translation in promoting the dignity of all cultures and languages, the need to draw attention to the conditions required in order to engage in this activity and, above all, the importance of defending the people who make communication possible – literary translators. […]
Conference ‘The European author in the 21st century’ (Brussels, 26 April 2016)
On 26 April 2016, World Intellectual Property Day, the French Permanent Council of Writers will organize a conference at the European Parliament, titled ‘The European Author in the 21st Century’. […]
TTIP negotiations : CEATL welcomes the European Parliament’s recommendations
In a press release dated 2 February 2015, CEATL sounded the alarm on the fact that the publishing industry was part of the TTIP negotiating mandate, which might pose a threat to policies of protection and promotion of the book sector, notably to fixed book prices.
CEATL therefore welcomes the recommendations to the European Commission adopted on 8 July 2015 by the European Parliament regarding the TTIP, recommending to confirm that financial support to cultural industries and fixed book price systems will not be challenged by the obligations under the TTIP agreement. […]
TTIP negotiations: CEATL sounds the alarm on literature and publishing not being covered by the so-called ‘cultural exception’
CEATL urges the parties responsible for the ongoing Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations between the European Union and the United States of America to pay attention to the following issues of concern to everyone with a stake in European literatures and the cultural values they constitute: […]
Frankfurt Book Fair: CEATL partner of the first European declaration in favour of the book
Frankfurt Book Fair: CEATL partner of the first European declaration in favour of the book.