Register NOW for the Sofia Forum

3 – 4 June 2017, Sofia

The Registration Form here is for all Forum attendee – audience, speakers and moderators. Please, fill it in by the 20th May at latest.

It appears that after the end of socialism the practices of cultural exchange and literary communication between Bulgaria, the rest of the Balkan countries and the Arab-speaking world, have retreated in a long repose. The number of literary translations – in both directions!, is meagre; mutual participation in literary festivals and events is lacking, there are no permanent channels of literary and publishing information. A strong tradition of Arab studies still exists in Bulgaria and in most of the other Balkan countries, and there is a community of professional translators to sustain the interest in Arab literature of today. Reversely, there are almost no professional literary mediators with Arabic as a mother tongue for the translation in the other direction.
As an EU member as well as a country in the Balkan region, Bulgaria has the potential to play a key role in enhancing the role of culture in the so called EU Neighbourhood Policy for the “Southern Neighbourhood”.

The Sofia Forum on Translations is the first one of its kind, gathering key literary intermediaries: literary translators, publishers, agents, festivals and cultural organisations from 10+ countries. The Forum participants will draw an overview of the translation and publishing landscapes on the Balkans and in some Arab-speaking countries, will debate on common concerns in contemporary literature and on translation challenges, will present instruments for promoting literature in translation.

Forum discussions and presentations will focus on a number of themes:

• Translatability and untranslatability of literatures “from the periphery”, tendencies in a globalising literature
• Challenges and solutions in literary translation into and from Arabic with distinguished literary translators from and into Arabic and Bulgaria, Finnish, Turkish, Slovene, Greek
• The practice of publishing with publishers and literary agents from Egypt, Bulgaria, Turkey and others
• Effective policies and mechanisms for supporting translations with representatives of organisations supporting translations and exchange

Detailed program will be published on the 15th May 2017.