The second edition of the Polish-Georgian Translation School ‘Words to Words’ has been launched. In this year's edition, we continue to work with the participants of the first edition, developing their translation skills and broadening their knowledge of the literary aspects of the Polish and Georgian languages.
Topics and aims of the school
This year's edition focuses on literary translation with the leitmotif of freedom thought in recent Georgian history. Participants work on the translation of selected essays, short stories and public speeches, and their selection was made together with their mentor Magdalena Nowakowska.
What does the programme look like?
The workshop programme includes four group sessions and five individual sessions, during which participants explore the stylistic, grammatical and semantic differences between Polish and Georgian. The sessions include:
- analysis of texts and determining their order in the planned publication,
- practical workshops on language stylisation, archaisms and regionalisms,
- specialised classes in the translation of poetry and colloquial speech and slang.
Results of collaboration
The aim of the participants' work is to create a unique collection of translations that will show the diversity and richness of Georgian literature and demonstrate how universal the ideas of freedom are in the cultural context of both countries.
We are happy to support the development of young translators and contribute to the popularisation of Georgian literature in Poland. Further workshop sessions are already underway - we look forward to seeing the results of this creative collaboration.
The first edition of the Mieroszewski Centre's Polish-Georgian Translation School is behind us. Words to Words, i.e. discussions about literature, joint work on the text, establishing contacts with other translators , and all this crowned with the publication of a book - the anthology of contemporary Georgian short stories ‘Even Darker’.
The aim of the project was to create a new generation of translators of Georgian literature into Polish, in view of the increasing demand for literary translations and the insufficient number of people with the skills and competences to do so. The project involved a series of practical seminars for budding translators, led by experienced Georgian literature translator Magdalena Nowakowska and external experts.
Magdalena Nowakowska is a cartwheeler, specialising in traditional Georgian polyglot. She is also a cultural animator, communication expert and translator of Georgian and Polish literature, with more than a dozen works of fiction, drama and poetry published in Poland and Georgia. She has been nominated twice for the SABA literary award for her translations. Magdalena is also a doctoral student at the Doctoral School of Humanities at UAM. She studied music, Georgian philology and journalism at the Higher School of Public Affairs in Tbilisi. She worked as a foreign media correspondent and as a communication specialist at the UN Mission in Georgia and the Polish Embassy in Tbilisi, created and managed events promoting international cultural and social initiatives. She has lived in Tbilisi for over twenty years.
The literary material the translators worked on includes five short stories by Georgian authors, which were published by the Mieroszewski Centre.
