An insight into the work of a literary translator

For immediate release

“The Transparent Translator” - An insight into the work of a literary translator

Celebration of International Translation Day | St. Jerome´s Day

with Live-Translation

Even translators have a patron saint - Saint Jerome. The 30th of September is the day he is commemorated. The Goethe-Institut in cooperation with The National Library of New Zealand, NZTC International Translation Centre and The New Zealand Centre for Literary Translation combine to host “The Transparent Translator “, an event to celebrate translation and translators. The first, in a world-wide event, will be held right here in Wellington, New Zealand.

As readers, we are not always aware of what a long journey the words of a translated text have made, to end up as a whole new work in our hands. We do not consider the effort a translator has had to make to transfer an author’s universe from one language into another. How do translators manage to find the special voice of a text? How do they know what to leave out and what to add?

You can observe this process on

30th of September, 4-6 pm

at the National Library of New Zealand (Corner Molesworth and Aitken Streets)

Dr. John Jamieson and Ian Cormack will publicly translate a short story by German author Maike Wetzel. The event will take place in the foyer of the National Library. Admission is free.

Initiated by Weltlesebühne, an association of literary translators from the German speaking region, events like this will be held simultaneously on “Hieronymustag”( St.Jerome´s Day) in various countries all over the world. Weltlesebühne is a network of projects from Berlin, Frankfurt, Freiburg, Hamburg, Cologne and Zurich which dedicates its work to support international literature and translation. The association offers an insight into translations from various languages, epochs and genres. Weltlesebühne aims to support a lively translation culture.

For further information please go to: www.weltlesebuehne.de (German), www.goethe.de/nz and http://www.nztcinternational.com or contact: Goethe-Institut New Zealand | Ph: 04 3856924

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