Cairo Literature Festival 2017 took place from February 11th to February 16th, and offered a rich program comprising numerous events at various venues all over Cairo. The festival is held annually in Cairo, Egypt, and aims to connect writers from different ages and different places to enable their exchange of experience
Translation Collider project was a guest at this year’s CLF and contributed to the festival program with special events fostering the discussion on the translation exchanges between Arab literature on one hand and Balkan and Turkish literatures on the other. A unique feature of the projects’ events was in their focus on issues of translation, and therefore many of the events featured writers together with their translators into Arabic
A Closer Look on Translation Exchange between Balkan and Arab Literatures
The discussion on the translation exchanges between Balkan and Arab literatures took place on February 13th – the third day of festival, in the building of Doum Foundation. Medhat Taha from Egypt managed discussion with participants Jana Putrle (Slovenia), Suzana Tratnik (Slovenia) and Hamdy El-Gazzar (Egypt)
A Closer Look on Literature in the Balkans and Anatolia
Special event focusing on the contemporary literature in the Balkans and Anatolia in Turkey was held on the festival’s fourth day – February 14th at the Faculty of Languages (Al-Alsun)
In front of a numerous audience of 70+ people, Ashraf Rady from Egypt moderated a discussion with Jana Putrle (Slovenia), Suzana Tratnik (Slovenia) and Ahmet Ümit (Turkey) with a focus on the development of literature in the Balkans and Anatolia
Historical Novel between Cairo and Ankara
This event took place on the festival’s fifth day – February 15th at Younis Emre Institute Dokki. Dr. Ahmed Murad (Egypt) moderated a discussion between Fathy Embaby (Egypt) and Ahmet Ümit (Turkey) on the Egyptian and Turkish historical novels, the new translations between Arabic and Turkish and how important translations are for the cultural exchange between Egypt and Turkey. The speakers also touched upon the importance of institutions like Younis Emre Institute in this field
participants
Suzana Tratnik is a writer, translator, publicist. She has published seven collections of short stories, two novels, children’s picture book, as well as a monodrama and a radio play. She has also published essays and non-fiction books. Her short stories and books are translated into more than 20 languages. She has received the national “Prešeren Foundation Award” for Literature in 2007. Her book “The Parallels” was published in 2006, translated into Arabic by Mohsen Elhady & Margrit Elhady, and is one of the few contemporary Slovenian books translated into Arabic. It was awarded the national Preseren’s Fund Prize in 2007
Jana Putrle is a poet, intermedia art producer, occasional writer of art film reviews and translator of poetry. She has cooperated in different art projects, combining poetry with new media, and published three poetry books
Hamdy El-Gazzar is an Egyptian writer born in Giza. He has been publishing since the 1990s; his literary output includes novels, short stories, stage plays and screenplays. His first novel “Black Magic” (Sehr Aswad) won the Sawiris Prize and has been translated into English by Humphrey Davies. His second novel “Secret Pleasures” (Ladhdhat Sirriyya) was published in 2008. He was one of the 39 young Arab authors chosen by the Beirut 39 project. His Novel “Black Magic” was translated into English and Turkish
Ahmet Ümit, Turkish writer and poet, was born in Gaziantep in 1960. His books exceed 30, and some of them have been translated into Arabic: “The Door of Secrets”, “The Assassination of the Sultan” and Assassin Notes
Fathy Embaby is an Egyptian novelist and writer. In 1995 he was awarded the State Prize for his novel “Pastures Murder”. His creative writings are divided into novels, social and historical studies and drama
Medhat Taha, moderator of the discussion on the translation exchange between Balkan and Arab literatures, is a writer and translator. Among the books he has translated are: “Nobody’s Home” by Dubravka Ugresic (Netherlands/Croatia) and “Five Cities” by Ahmet Tanpinar (Turkey)
Ashraf Rady, moderator of the event “A Closer Look on Literature in the Balkans and Anatolia”, is a journalist and translator who recently translated “Our Man in Iraq” by Robert Perišić (Croatia)
Dr. Ahmed Murad, moderator of the discussion on the historical novel between Cairo and Ankara, is a professor of Turkish literature at the faculty of Al-Alsun. He has also translated books like “Life’s Good, Brothers” by Nazim Hekmet from Turkish into Arabic
