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”. A public meeting with representatives from the Italian Ministry of Culture, the association of independent publishers ODEI, the Municipality of Palermo and Strade opened the whole festival, by promoting the latter’s proposal (http://www NULL.traduttoristrade NULL.it/2017/strade-rilancia-la-proposta-di-un-fondo-a-sostegno-della-traduzione-editoriale/) to establish a State foundation supporting translation (as it is the case in many other countries). Among the other events were a debate on the (hidden) role of literary translators, one on translating post-colonial literature, an inspiring dialogue with Moshe Kahn and Fabio Pedone on “translating the untranslatable”, and a translation slam with Laura Cangemi and Alessandro Bassini, who presented their versions of a short story by Swedish author Jonas Hassen Khemiri.
Migrant Literatures Festival in Palermo
Later in the same month, Strade hosted a CEATL’s Authors’ Rights working group meeting in Rome. On 19 October, a public event was organised in the Casa delle Traduzioni (http://www NULL.comune NULL.roma NULL.it/pcr/it/bib_casa_trad_en NULL.page) about the rights and working conditions of literary translators in Europe. The speakers, Morten Visby and Rafał Lisowski, focused specifically on two case studies, Denmark and Poland respectively. The discussion also tackled various issues of common interest for translators in various countries and was highly appreciated.
In December, translation will again be high on the agenda at the Rome book fair “Più Libri Più Liberi (http://www NULL.plpl NULL.it/)”. Strade is organising a round table with representatives from institutions and publishers about its above-mentioned petition for a State-supported translation fund, and a translation slam on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol’ with Federica Aceto and Riccardo Duranti. More translation-related events will take place at the Casa delle Traduzioni arena, including a launch of the new edition of Strade’s “Vademecum” (a legal and fiscal handbook for translators) with Sandra Biondo and Elisa Comito and a round table about the “Consulta sul diritto d’autore” (Council on Authors’ Rights), organised by Biblit (http://www NULL.biblit NULL.it/).