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Riga Hosts Fourth International Poetry Translation Workshop

2019, September 11

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9th – 15th September, Riga is hosting the fourth international poetry translation workshop organized by the Latvian Literature platform. Seven poets from Latvia, Syria, Croatia, Great Britain, Belgium and Poland are taking part in the workshop this year.

Latvia is represented in the workshop by Ingmāra Balode and Oskars Orlovs (a.k.a. Raibīs/Spotty), who are working on translations closely with Kholoud Charaf from Syria, Goran Colakhodzic from Croatia, Elan Grug Muse from the UK, Xavier Roelen From Belgium, and Tomasz Bak from Poland. The workshop is moderated by Ryan van Winkle, a Scotland-based American poet, translator and literary critic.

During the workshop poets will be translating each other’s works while being in the same room which means questions and misunderstandings that arise in the translation process can be resolved quickly and effectively. “The workshop is special this year because we have welcomed poets from so many countries, thus providing an opportunity for the works to be translated into Syrian, Croatian, Welsh, Belgian, Polish, Latvian and Latgalian languages. Previously it was poets from Latvia and the UK only, making sure Latvian works get their English translations before the London Book Fair. This time we were open to much wider possibilities,” explained Juta Pīrāga, coordinator of the translation grants programme at Latvian Literature.

Throughout their stay, the guests will also be attending the professional education programme events organized by the Latvian Writers’ Union for the Literary Academy participants. The poets have been invited to the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Latvia to expose the students of different languages to their work and encourage them to take up literary translation professionally.

The results of the week’s work will be presented during the annual “Dzeja un @dzeja” poetry readings on 14th September, 17:00 PM, at the “Noass” art centre (AB dambis 2): https://www.facebook.com/events/680472949101108/ 

The poetry workshop was put together by the “Latvian Literature” platform in collaboration with Literature Across Frontiers, and with financial support from the European Commission and the Ministry of Culture of Latvia.

         

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