“Changing the Translation Landscape from Multilingual Spain: Cultural Diplomacy and the UK Publishing Industry” – funded by the Arts and Humanities Impact Fund, AHIF (2022-2023).
The participation of Spain as Guest of Honour 2022 at the strategically important Frankfurt Book Fair is seen by the Spanish Government as a crucial opportunity to display Spain’s diverse literary heritage. Multilingualism was one of the five strategic pillars of the Spanish Guest of Honour Frankfurt 2022 project “Spilling Creativity”. This project studies how multilingualism is materialised (and to which extent it was achieved) at the Frankfurt Book Fair, with a special focus on the internationalisation of literatures in non-hegemonic languages. This project has a crucial impact and public engagement component, as the overarching aim is to contribute to changing the UK publishing landscape in translation (and ultimately, British readers’ perceptions) raising a greater awareness about Spain’s multilingualism. Both the Spanish Directorate for Books and Reading Promotion (Ministry of Culture, Spanish Government) and the Instituto Cervantes London are my non-academic partners, and I will also be working closely with literary translators, writers, cultural agents and translation policy-makers.
I carried out participant observation at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October 2022, to develop knowledge and understanding of how multilingualism is materialised in the cultural diplomacy strategies developed as part of the Spanish Guest of Honour project and how key stakeholders think and make decisions. Following this initial research and networking phase, a series of impact focused outputs were developed, including:
Events & Outcomes
1. Panel “Less Translated Literatures from Multilingual Spain: Asturian, Basque, Galician”, at the London Book Fair, 20 April 2023. For more info, visit the London Book Fair website.
For an album of pictures, links and coverage on social media, check this collection on Wakelet.
2. Round table and translator’s readings “Riveting Writing from Multilingual Spain”, at Instituto Cervantes London & streaming online, 21 April 2023. Video here:
For programme and more info check here.Link opens in a new window
For an album of pictures, links and coverage on social media, check this collection on Wakelet.
3. Translation readings on Translators Aloud. Find great literature in Asturian, Basque, Catalan, Galician and Spanish translated into English, in the “Literatures from Multilingual SpainLink opens in a new window” channel in Translators Aloud, a YouTube channel which features translators reading excerpts from their own work, including foreign books seeking a English-language publisher. All five translators -Robin Munby from Asturian, Aritz Branton from Basque, Mara Fayem Lethem from Catalan, Jacob Rogers from Galician, and Katie Whitemore from Spanish- also took part in the “Riveting Writing from Multilingual Spain” event hosted by Instituto Cervantes London on 21 April 2023.
4. Podcast. A podcastLink opens in a new window on Cultural Support in Multilingual Spain [A Riveting Event], on the Three Percent websiteLink opens in a new window focused on international literature, discussing with cultural support in multilingual Spain with Chad Post, Olga Castro and Asturian, Basque, Catalan and Galician translators (Robin Munby, Aritz Branton, Mara Faye Lethem and Jacob Rogers respectively).
Available on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1spGvRlxjju5rnWgXRnupr?si=UgKN-ZDSSCepbLdo_kSokg
Available on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/three-percent-188-cultural-support-in-multilingual/id434696686?i=1000610593579
5. The Spanish Riveter. Article in The Spanish RiveterLink opens in a new window on “Changing the Translation Landscape” (p. 232ff), in an issue focussing on the diversity of languages in Spain. The issue also included excerpts from literary works translated by speakers from the event at the Cervantes Institute. It is published by the European Literature Network; featuring on the picture (from left to right) Rosie Goldsmith, West Camel, Katie Whittemore, Alice Banks.
Additional Activities
My events facilitated the organisation of additional activities and led to additional outputs:
(a) The influential Publishing Perspectives magazine, freely distributed during the London Book Fair, announced my event at the Cervantes Institute linking it to the launch of The Spanish Riveter magazine. See full online version here.
(b) The Galician London-based cultural association REGA-UK organised a book trail with Xesús Fraga visiting all key places in London mentioned in his novel on Sunday 23 April. Info here.
(c) The webpage Bookanista published on Xesus Fraga’s novel on 25 April, mentioning he was in London taking part in different event (including the panel at the London Book Fair) and published a sample translation by Jacob Rogers.
(d) The webpage WorldKidLitMonth, focused on children’s literature, featured a piece on 22 May about Galician literature explicitly mentioning the event I organised at the Cervantes London.
(e) Robin Munby’s interview for The Asymptote on 12 July describes how beneficial my public engagement events have been for translators like him and for writers from non-hegemonic languages like Asturian.