The Translations Collider Project Academy aims to explore ways to overcome the imbalances in literary translation traffic in Europe.
The Academy will create a community of literary management professionals from the Balkans and other parts of Europe, who are committed to play a part in international literary communication. The Academy will offer tools, ideas and contacts to advance less translated literatures in today’s highly competitive world.
The Translations Collider Academy will give participants the chance to:
- Discuss and refine the concept of ‘promoting translations’ in all its various aspects - from audience demand, geopolitical factors, and market forces, to adequate support policies.
- Present and promote their work in an international setting.
- Learn from success stories and meet the people behind them.
- Explore together trends and innovative solutions in promoting literatures from ‘less used’ languages, and further their own initiatives and projects.
- Become acquainted with the local literary scene of the host countries.
- Catalyse new partnerships and build a lasting network of like-minded people.
The Academy will span across two five-day sessions – one between 13-18 May 2022 in Struga (North Macedonia) and the second in May 2023 in Albania, with short online meetings in-between. At the application phase, the participants are expected to present a concrete project idea that will be further developed with the tutors/speakers between the two sessions and during the interactions/discussion with other international participants.
Admission to the Academy means participation in both sessions, and the online meetings between the two in-person events.
All travel and accommodation costs will be covered by the Balkan Translations Collider project thanks to the support of the Creative Europe Programme of the European Commission.
Selected Academy participants will be offered an internship in a corresponding EU organisation of their choice as part of the project’s international placement scheme.
The Academy welcomes representatives of organisations from the Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia) as well as from EU member states who are active in international literary exchange, irrespective of their organisation’s legal status (public, civic, municipal, private, etc.). Eligible organisations include but are not limited to publishers, festivals, associations, public support programmes, literary agents and scouts, residency and literature centres, and any other cultural organisations, who are active partakers in cross-border literary communication. In addition, the Academy will reserve up to three spots for upcoming cultural managers (graduate students or young professionals).
