This year, CEATL is celebrating International Translation Day with an exhibition called Plein Cadre – Portraits de traducteurs (Plainly Visible – Photographs of Translators), opening today in Strasbourg. A series of photographs by Anja Kapunkt show various translators from around the world accompanied by their thoughts on translation.

The project is a cooperation between CEATL, Plainly visible – Photographs of Translators, (http://www NULL.plainly-visible NULL.org) Deutscher Übersetzerfonds (https://www NULL.uebersetzerfonds NULL.de) and Strasbourg – UNESCO World Book Capital 2024 (https://lirenotremonde NULL.strasbourg NULL.eu).The exhibition, whose inauguration will kick-start the Strasbourg Conference on Literary Translation, will be on show at Strasbourg City Hall from 30th September until 27th October 2024.

The translators shown on the postcard are (from top left): Claudia Zonghetti, Rusanka Lyapova, Ranjita Biswas, Jeremy Tiang, Ursula Keller, Giacomo Longhi and Éric Fontaine.

Translation is often imagined as an entirely unambiguous activity in which the translator remains completely in the background. Yet it is a living, shifting process which, despite always being informed and guided by an original text, is also highly personal. This photographic exhibition presents faces of translators from all over the world, accompanied by very personal insights. The people portrayed talk about what translating means to them, about what makes it enjoyable and occasionally difficult. They show that translation is work that connects you with others – with a text, an author or an audience – even though it is often done in seclusion. Translation creates connections, overcoming divisions in the world while respecting differences.

Anja Kapunkt was born and raised in Northern Germany. She has lived and studied in Berlin, Paris and New York and translates from French and English to German. She also works as a photographer. In 2017, she started the project Plainly Visible – Photographs of Translators which aims to create a photographic archive of translators from around the world.”