Festival of Non-Foreign Literature
We are happy to invite you to the Festival of Non-Foreign Literature, which will be held on November 24-25, 2023, in Wrocław. During the festival events, we will try to introduce the audience to the lesser-known Czech and Finnish literature and compare them with English literature, which seems to be much more popular than the other two. We will try to consider what each of them has to offer, to what extent any value judgments about the literature of small and great nations are legitimate, and why it is also worthwhile to venture along less traveled routes in our reading quest. The festival program will include lectures, workshops, discussions and meetings with translators. Admission to all events is free (registration is required for workshops).
The following eminent translators will be the festival’s guests: Katarzyna Byłów (English), Sebastian Musielak (Finnish) and Julia Różewicz (Czech). They will be supported by the initiator of the project, Olga Czernikow (Czech), and Dobromiła Jankowska, who will host the closing meeting of the entire festival.
To participate in the translation (Czech and English) and/or literary (Finnish) workshops, please apply by email to: literaturanieobca@gmail.com. Since the number of places is limited, the order of applications is decisive.
In the Czech and English translation workshop, participants will work on texts selected by the presenters. We advise and welcome you to read the texts in advance, you can also try to translate them on your own. Texts can be downloaded here:
At the Finnish literature workshop, the participants, together with the translator, will discuss selected issues (not only translation issues) of the novel Summer Fishing in Lapland by Juhani Karila (translated by Sebastian Musielak). The book is available in bookstores and libraries. We strongly encourage you to read it (so far no one has regretted it)!
The festival is financed from Academic Open Budget resources.
About the festival
The Festival of Non-Foreign Literature was created on the initiative of several people who are passionate about books and long, lively conversations about them. Some of us had previously met at literary discussions held more or less regularly at the Institute of Slavic Studies. We talked and learned from each other, and with each subsequent meeting we realized that literature lives, above all, in conversations which are free and unprejudiced, sometimes consensual, sometimes leading to spectacular arguments, but always providing an opportunity to organize the chaotic impressions of reading, and thus teaching a deeper and fuller understanding of the text. Since we felt a certain insufficiency after each of these discussions, we decided to organize an event where we could invite a wider audience to our discussions. From word to word, from text to text – and so the idea of a festival of literature and translation emerged. We decided to compare three very different literatures – English, Czech and Finnish – and look at what they have in common and what separates them. We chose translators as our guides, i.e. those who know the texts inside out and who recreate them in their own language. During the two festival days, the participants will be able to listen to lectures on literature and translation, take part in translation workshops and meetings with translators, and above all, they will have the opportunity to discuss books, look at them “from the inside” and bring closer – to themselves and others – what may have seemed far away so far.
The schedule
November 24 (Friday)
12.30-14.00 Lecture: The joys and worries of a translator – a few words about the translation of Czech literature Conducted by: Olga Czernikow
14.30-16.30 Translation workshops in Czech. Conducted by: Julia Różewicz. Texts to be downloaded are above.
17.00-18.30 Lecture: Finland in Polish. A translator’s view. Conducted by: Sebastian Musielak
November 25 (Saturday)
10.00-12.00 Literary workshop on Finnish literature. Conducted by: Sebastian Musielak. Participants are encouraged to read the novel Summer Fishing in Lapland by Juhani Karila (translated by Sebastian Musielak). Love for word and language games is welcome!
12.30-14.30 English translation workshop. Conducted by: Katarzyna Byłów. Texts to be downloaded are above.
16.30-18.30 Meeting with translators: Katarzyna Byłów, Olga Czernikow, Sebastian Musielak, Julia Różewicz. Conducted by: Dobromiła Jankowska
The translation workshops will be conducted in the following language pairs: PL-ENG, PL-CZECH.
Festival venue: The Pan Tadeusz Museum – Branch of the Ossoliński National Institute, Rynek 6, 50-106 Wrocław
Workshops – reading room
Lectures – courtyard
Organizers:
mgr Olga Czernikow
dr Mateusz Wiśniewski
Wiktoria Blatkiewicz, Katarzyna Dąbrowska, Julia Pyziak, Emilia Trznadel
together with the University of Wrocław’s Student Scientific Association of Bohemians
Translated by Martyna Mielczarek (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.
