LAF has been working in the Mediterreanean region for several years, developing relations with organizations and institutions, as well as individual publishers, authors and translators in order to encourage literary exchange between European countries and the South East Mediterranean. In view of consolidating this work, LAF co-organised a conference in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey. The conference Literary Exchange and Translation in the Euro-Mediterranean Region: Challenges of the Next Decade was held in Istanbul on 26-27 May 2011, and brought together around seventy invited delegates, including representatives of key organisations and institutions working in the field of literary exchange and translation, European and international networks, as well as experts, researchers, publishers and translators.
The aim of the conference was to form an overview of the current state of policies and practice relevant to literary exchange and translation in the Euro-Mediterranean region, with a special focus on exchange between Europe and the South-East Mediterranean. The conference delegates discussed the environment in which literary works and books in general travel across the region, highlighted successful projects and best practices, identified key challenges and issues to be addressed in the coming decade, and formulated recommendations. The concrete objective will be to formulate a two-year project aiming to build intercultural bridges across the Mediterranean through literature.
In partnership with the Anna Lindh Foundation for the Dialogue Between Cultures and Transeuropéennes, LAF contributes to the development of a translation strategy for the Euro-Mediterranean region within the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Translation Programme the first stage of which was concluded in early 2011. The programme consists of a mapping of translation flows in the region, and several pilot projects in the area of literary translation training and minority language-literatures in the Euro-Mediterranean region.
The outcomes of the first stage of the Euro-Mediterranean Translation Programme will be made available to the general public on the partners’ websites, including a study of literary translation from Arabic, Hebrew and Turkish into English in the UK and Ireland, carried out by LAF. You can download that study from the Making Literature Travel series of Research Reports page.
The pilot projects focused on developing training opportunities for literary translators from less-widely used European languages into Arabic and Turkish, and on the status of literatures written in minority languages without a sovereign state. Reports on both projects will be published as part of the overall outcomes of the Euro-Mediterranean Translation Programme.
Dear LAF, Congratulations on this type of research as we need to show that very little is translated into English. Sharing diverse cultures in many languages allows to open minds and evolve as human beings. All the best for 2012!