Translating Cultures
In 2023, we collaborated with the Department for Languages, Cultures, and Visual Studies at the University of Exeter to bring multiple UNESCO Cities of Literature to Exeter.
In July 2023 we held a combination of presentations, workshops and public events around the topics of translation, international literature and climate action.
We continue to work with the department on translation projects which you can read about below!
Translating Cultures with
UNESCO Cities of Literature
Exeter UNESCO City of Literature was delighted to team up with the Department for Languages, Cultures, and Visual Studies at the University of Exeter, to bring multiple UNESCO Cities of Literature to Exeter. Creatives and academics from Lviv, Heidelberg, Tartu, Nottingham, Vilnius and Barcelona brought their insight and creativity to the city, alongside visiting academics from Belarus.
From Monday 10th to Wednesday 12th July, the University of Exeter hosted a variety of presentations and workshops by individuals from the Department of Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies, and by guests from UNESCO Cities of Literature across Europe.
Public Events
From Tuesday 11th to Thursday 13th July, you joined in with a series of events across Exeter! From stand-up comedy to poetry readings, pub quizzes and a discussion about the literary sphere in Ukraine, a roundtable panel discussing transatlantic translations, and workshops on climate and translations - there was plenty to choose from!
Updates Following Translating Cultures
In February 2024, English PEN’s flagship grant programme PEN Translates awarded 12 titles from 11 regions and 10 languages.
Amongst the twelve award winners was the University of Exeter’s Dr Katie Brown with the Spanish-to-English translation of Alejandra Banca’s From Savagery.
Banca’s debut collection From Savagery (Selkies House, 2024) follows the intersecting lives of the new underclass of overqualified young Venezuelan refugees hustling to survive on the streets of Barcelona.
In 2023, Katie, Alejandra and Rebecca Strong of publisher Selkies House joined us in Exeter as part of the Translating Cultures session Transatlantic Translation, for a discussion of language, identity, migration and translation as cultural dialogue.
Ukrainian War Poetry
A selection of poetry from Ukrainian soldiers on the front line and the poet and broadcaster Olena Huseinova, translated by Yuliya Kostyuk with Hugh Roberts and Helen Vassallo.
Poets, broadcasters, translators and academics have joined forces to give voice to Ukrainian war poetry written in response to Russia’s illegal invasion of the country. The poems, some of which have been written by artists fighting on the frontline, have been translated into English, recorded and made available to the public on YouTube.
They include the work of Liza Zharikova, a poet and musician, who was recently injured while on service in Donbas; and radio host Olena Huseinova, whose work covering the evacuation of Mariupol has found new expression in her poetry.
The project arose following the visit in July, last year, of a delegation from Lviv City of Literature, who were invited to take part in the Translating Cultures with UNESCO Cities of Literature event in Exeter. During the event, Ms Musakovska and Ms Huseinova read poetry written by colleagues who had been killed in the war, or who are are still fighting on the front line or the home front. The pair also took part in public discussions around the nature of that poetry.
The project has been led by the University of Exeter in collaboration with Exeter UNESCO City of Literature, and poet and translator Yuliya Musakovska. Read more about the project here.
Ukrainian War Poetry: Translating Experience
March 2024
The Devon Ukrainian Association have collaborated with academics from the University of Exeter’s Department of Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies to run a series of workshops, ‘Ukrainian War Poetry: Translating Experience’, with support from the University’s Bridging Communities Fund.
The workshops invite Ukrainian refugees in Devon and Exeter to share poetry reading and reactions to it, inspiring their own creative writing to ‘translate’ their experience.
The Devon-based prize-winning poet Fiona Benson leads the creative sessions, in solidarity with Ukraine and her fellow poets, including PEN Ukraine members Yuliya Musakovska and Olena Huseinova, who were welcomed to the city in July 2023 as part of Translating Cultures.
The Devon Ukrainian Association and the university team already joined forces for ‘Reading for Odesa’, a simultaneous cultural event across the world on 24 February 2024. Through Exeter UNESCO City of Literature, the Exeter-based readings joined numerous others across the world coordinated by the UNESCO network.
Several members of the Devon Ukrainian Association gave moving readings of poetry, including by Dron’. The university team simultaneously released a recording of ‘”Mary” to “Golgotha”’ via Exeter City of Literature, a poetic masterpiece by Maksym Kryvtsov, a celebrated poet and soldier, who was tragically killed by Russian forces in January 2024.
