Multilingual Visegrad Literature (MULIVILI) 2023-24

We would like to focus on the specific aspect of our region, that is especially important if you want to raise the feeling and consciousness of regional identity, based on common and sometimes conflicting historical experiences, similarities and differences, share cultural values reflecting on these past and present similarities and differences in the field of literature, raising empathy and understanding among people living in the same geographic area, in neighboring countries but speaking different languages sometimes even within a country as well. There are strong contemporary literatures in these countries, dealing with similar historical and actual experiences, without knowing each other, without having a mutual impact and exchange. Literary translation could and should play a crucial role in this regard.

In cooperation with

Mona Sentimental, Slovakia

https://www.monasentimental.sk/

Vĕtrné Mlýny r.s.o., Czech Republic

https://www.vetrnemlyny.cz/

Instytut Kultury Willa Decjusza

https://willadecjusza.pl/

We will organize Visegrad literary translators’ seminars, workshops, roundtables to share our experiences, good practices, know hows and initiatives, that complement one another: A long term tradition of translators’ summer camps is continued by our Slovak partner with the yearly seminar of Slovak translators in the Translator House Balatonfüred, and they would like to use these experiences with establishing a similar Translator House in Kremnica, Slovakia. Vĕtrné Mlýny has a special expertise in publishing contemporary Visegrad literature and presenting it in the framework of their yearly festival Authors’ Reading Month, and they are ready to host V4 extra events, roundtables within their well introduced and attended festival. Villa Decius is a main initiator and organizer of the Visegrad Literary Residency program bringing together the main activists authors, translators, editors of the literatures of our region and trying to generate more interaction, mutual influence, raising the awareness of common identity. With co-organizing, hosting and documenting an event, a workshop and roundtable for established, emerging and future translators from Visegrad languages into Polish they will contribute a lot to the needed change in the lack of communication and mutual reflection in the Visegrad literatures because of the language barriers.

Our project will combine and synthesize the expertise of the partners. The series of events we are planning together, complement each other: a translator seminar for the translators of contemporary Hungarian literature into the other Visegrad languages in Balatonfüred, a similar one for the translators of contemporary Slovak literature into the other Visegrad languages, to German and English in Kremnica, a workshop and roundtable for the translators of contemporary Visegrad literature to Polish in Kraków and the roundtables in Štúrovo, Brno and Prague, the readings and discussions for authors and their translators from and into Visegrad languages. We would like to bring together some already existing practices, broaden their horizon from the local to a regional level and beyond, use the synergies of these complementing practices to get closer to our objective: sharing our cultural values and raise common regional identity.