May 2024

For the first time, ten translators from Catalan into other languages of the novel Et vaig donar ulls i vas mirar les tenebres (2023), by Irene Solà, have met after the international success of her second book Canto jo i la muntanya balla (2018) translated into more than twenty languages. Irene Solà, also author of the collection of poems Bèstia (2012) and a first novel, Els dics (2017), will be present at the meeting.

Günter Grass, back in the nineties, invented the formula, that of bringing together all the translators of the same literary work, which has been replicated by the hand of the writers Olga Tokarcziuk and Jon Fosse recently.

The translator is the main axis around which the projection of books in other languages and markets revolves, the main ally and supporter abroad. And one of the strategic lines of the Literature program of the IRL is specific support for translators through different circuits and programmes, one of which is the organisation of translation seminars that have been held almost since the Institut Ramon Llull was founded in 2002.

The meeting has different aims: on the one hand, to learn more about the author, the work and her creative process; on the other, to convey doubts and share them with the author and the other colleagues; and finally, work on the translation alone or as a team; and meet other professionals, so as to grow the network of translators. And also seducing the translators so that they discover Catalan literary works that were unknown to them in order to translate them into their languages. With that aim two conversations will take place on Classic and Contemporary Catalan literature, leaded by specialists on both fields.

Finally, Irene Solà will guide the translators on a walk through the Montseny and the Guilleries, the settings for her latest novel to share the landscape as a source of inspiration.

This project is part of the European programme Archipelagos

programa-trobada-traductors-irene-sola.pdf