Cultural policy

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. You can read our open letter below and here (https://www NULL.dropbox NULL.com/s/zaeowzfvnfx3qfx/Open%20Letter%20to%20EU%20Leaders%20on%20Creative%20Europe%20-%20Culture%20is%20our%20Future%20%28002%29 NULL.pdf?dl=0). We can thank The European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) for this initiative. →

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 202o.

One of the main objectives of Spain’s position as guest country is to help raise awareness of Spanish authors internationally and to promote the translation of Spanish literature. →

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.

The report maps and systematically analyzes how translations of works of fiction travel across roughly a dozen European markets and languages. →

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 (http://www NULL.vaclavhavel-library NULL.org/en/index/news), 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. (http://www NULL.traduttoristrade NULL.it/)

Starting at the beginning of October, the association was one of the main co-operating partners of the Migrant Literatures Festival (http://www NULL.festivaletteraturemigranti NULL.it/) in Palermo, Sicily, which hosted a series of events under the title “Lost (and Found) in Translation”. →

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. →

Publication of the ‘Report on the economic value of book translation’ in Spain

ACE Traductores (http://ace-traductores NULL.org/) (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 (http://www NULL.diyarbakirsanat NULL.org/en/default NULL.aspx) and Lîs Editions (http://www NULL.wesanenlis NULL.com/) 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 (http://www NULL.pen-international NULL.org/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’.

(http://www NULL.ceatl NULL.eu/conference-the-european-author-in-the-21st-century-brussels-26-april-2016/france-conference-invitation-eng-apr16)

For the full program, please click here (http://www NULL.ceatl NULL.eu/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/PROGRAMME-The-European-Author-in-the-21st-Century NULL.docx). →

TTIP negotiations : CEATL welcomes the European Parliament’s recommendations

Brussels, 8 September, 2015

In a press release dated 2 February 2015 (http://www NULL.ceatl NULL.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/2015-02-02-PRESS-RELEASE-TTIP-english NULL.pdf), 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. →

TTIP negotiations: CEATL sounds the alarm on literature and publishing not being covered by the so-called ‘cultural exception’

PRESS RELEASE

Brussels, 2 February, 2015

Representing 10,000 literary translators in 29 European countries, 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:

Publishing is not covered by the so-called “cultural exception” and is therefore part of the mandate of TTIP negotiators
This poses a threat to Europe’s publishing and literature since TTIP will tolerate continued cultural promotion and protection measures only if these are non-discriminatory.

→

Frankfurt Book Fair: CEATL partner of the first European declaration in favour of the book

On 9 October 2014, at the Frankfurt Book Fair and on the initiative of Vincent Monadé, President of the Centre national du livre (France), several directors of European organizations in the publishing field signed the first common declaration in favour of the book, in the presence of European trade federations (EWC, European Writers’ Council; FEP, Federation of European Publishers; EIBF, European and International Booksellers Federation; and CEATL). →

Feasibility Study for Actions to Support the Mobility of Literary Translators

In November 2013 the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Education and Culture published the results of a feasibility study carried out at the Directorate’s request by the Italian bureau Consulmarc Sviluppo s.r.l. The study can be downloaded here.

The proposed programme, for which the authors suggested the name ‘Mercurio’, is in three parts:

Mobility Actions focused on translation activities and training (residencies, workshops, etc.);
Partnership Actions focused on mobility for capacity-building and networking activities;
Complementary Side Actions focused on the dissemination of information and on awareness campaigns

For a two-year pilot, the study recommends a budget of €4,799,000, of which the European Commission would provide €3,981,000 and the stakeholders €818,000. →

The complete text of Petra recommendations now also available in Italian

In 2012, Petra (European Platform for Literary Translation) issued a list of recommendations (http://www NULL.ceatl NULL.eu/?p=4015) intended to provide for new and better conditions for literary translators in Europe. The recommendations were published in English, French and German.

Members of the Italian association Strade (http://www NULL.traduttoristrade NULL.it/) (Sindacato traduttori editoriali) have now translated those recommendations into Italian. →

Workshop on Translating small literatures for the global market (Sofia, 27-28 May 2013)

From 27-28 May 2013, the Institute of Literature at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences will organise a workshop on ‘translating small literatures for the global market’.

Drawing on the concepts of minor, small and hegemonic literatures and their philosophical implications, the workshop which is meant to be a first step in a long-term research project, hopes to arrive at a ‘post-postmodern’ understanding of the essence and structure of what we call world literature. →

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