Translating Anne Enright – author and translators gather to celebrate European Day of Languages
Posted on: 27 September 2024
Anne Enright with her Polish translator Kaja Gucio.
Bestselling Irish author Anne Enright was joined by two of her translators at an event in Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation to mark European Day of Languages on Thursday, September 26th.
The event was a conversation between Enright and her Polish and Romanian translators. The event also looked forward to International Translation Day, on Monday, September 30th.
At the event, translators Kaja Gucio (Polish) and Iulia Gorzo (Romanian) discussed the complicated art of translating Anne Enright’s work for readers of other languages.
It is the latest in a series of collaborations between the Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation, Trinity’s flagship centre for the promotion of translation-based activities, and EUNIC Ireland – European Union National Institutes for Culture.
Each year, the two organisations come together to invite a prominent Irish author whose work has been widely translated, along with several of the people responsible for producing the translations, to explore what goes into making outstanding Irish literature work in translation. Previous authors who have featured in the event include Sebastian Barry, Sally Rooney, Edna O’Brien and Colm Tóibín.
Agnieszka Skolimowska, Counsellor, Head of the Political-Economic Section – Embassy of Poland in Ireland; Professor Michael Cronin, Chair of French 1776, French, Trinity; Kaja Gucio, Polish Translator; Anne Enright; H.E. Dr Habil Laurențiu-Mihai Ștefan, Romanian Ambassador to Ireland, Eithne Bowen, Centre Manager, Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation.
Commenting on the event Marco Gioacchini, President of EUNIC-Ireland and Director of the Instituto Italiano di Cultura di Dublino, said:
“The human component in literary translation is something that we should be careful not to forget about. Literary translation plays a vital role in fostering cross-cultural understanding, bridging divides, and shaping the future of the united Europe. Events like this one help to remind us that behind each translation are people working hard to bring readers closer to cultures that are sometimes different and distant. Human beings are needed to do this, to translate ideas and emotions.”
Dr James Hadley, Director of Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation, added:
“Our aim is to champion all forms of literary and cultural translation around the world. Very often, in order to do that, we need to help people think about translation in a way they never have before, as an art form and a special skill that does not necessarily come hand in hand with learning another language. These events help us start those conversations in style.”
More about the speakers:
Anne Enright was born in Dublin, where she now lives and works. She has published three collections of stories, collected as Yesterday’s Weather; one book of non-fiction, Making Babies; seven novels including The Gathering, which was the Irish Novel of the Year and won the Irish Fiction Award and the 2007 Man Booker Prize, The Forgotten Waltz, which was awarded the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and The Green Road, shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction and the International Dublin Literary Award and which won the Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award. From 2015 to 2018, she was the inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction. Her latest novel, The Wren, The Wren was published by Jonathan Cape and WW Norton & Company in August 2023.
Kaja Gucio is a Polish-English translator and interpreter with over twenty years’ experience. She has translated more than 200 journal articles and papers (literature, cultural studies, social science, arts, and history) and over 30 books – fiction, non-fiction and academic publications – both from and into English, including critically acclaimed titles as Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, Miriam Teows’ Women Talking, Abdulrazak Gurnah’s By the Sea, Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and Toni Morrison’s Beloved and The Bluest Eye. She has also translated work by Irish writers including Liz Nugent (Strange Sally Diamond), Louise Kennedy (Trespasses), Paul Lynch (Prophet Song) and Anne Enright.
Iulia Gorzo began translating 20 years ago, first as a hobby, after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in psychology. The hobby became a profession and she now translates films and TV shows from English, French and Italian to Romanian and books mainly from English to Romanian. Her favourite translated authors include Cormac McCarthy, Paul Auster, Anthony Doerr, Alice Walker and Frank McCourt. In 2014, she was awarded the “Andrei Bantaș Translation Prize” for the Romanian version of Sabbath’s Theater by Philip Roth. Since 2022 she has been writing about her work in a translator’s diary published by the Romanian cultural platform Scena9.
Media Contact:
Fiona Tyrrell | Media Relations | tyrrellf@tcd.ie | +353 1 896 3551