translationale berlin 2023

The “translationale” is Germany’s first and only translation festival dedicated to the elementary but little appreciated art of literary translation. The festival will take place again in Berlin for the fourth time in autumn 2023. Its purpose is to celebrate translation as one of the central pillars of pluralistic societies and as a bridge to other cultures. To shift attention to less predominant and translated languages, the focus of this year’s festival edition will be on languages of Sub-Saharan Africa. The translator, author and co-curator of the festival Elizabeth Wangui Goro is responsible for choosing the specific languages. In terms of thematic focus, the festival will address post-colonial storytelling, ecopoetry and current political debates in the respective regions.
At the Collegium Hungaricum, situated at the heart of multilingual Berlin, the translationale 2023 will present a four-day programme featuring some 70 (language) artists from the fields of literature, music, performance and the fine arts. The German translator Eva Bonné and the Congolese-Austrian writer Fiston Mwanza Mujila, among many others, will explore the cultural practice of translations together with professional and amateur audiences. In cooperation with Berlin’s independent scene and international partners, a large number of networking events are planned which organisers hope will someday evolve into a global network with contacts to translation festivals around the world. A further aim is to increase the interest in translations among Berlin’s diverse urban community, e.g. via social media campaigns on TikTok and Instagram, and introduce visitors to the topic with workshops and other educational programmes.

Festival director: Asmus Trautsch
Curators: Dorota Stroińska, Elizabeth Wangui Goro, Aurélie Maurin, Henning Bochert
Participating translators, authors, moderators: Eva Bonné, Kate Briggs, Urška P. Černe, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Anita Djafari, Drama Panorama – Forum für Übersetzung und Theater e.V., Fiston Mwanza Mujila, Efrat Gal-Ed, Magda Heydel, Anja Zag Golob and many others

Festival: Collegium Hungaricum Berlin, Berlin: 9 – 12 Nov. 2023