Translators’ Seminar: The Second Life of Books

What happens to a book when it moves abroad – when the language in which it was originally written has to give way to a new one, and another voice takes it forward?

Two internationally renowned authors, Joy Williams and Lea Ypi, meet with translator Julia Aagenæs Wiedlocha to discuss the fascinating space between author and translator – where books acquire a second life. Williams and Ypi have both been translated into a wide range of languages and have experienced how their texts are transformed, interpreted and reborn in other cultures and linguistic rhythms.

How does it feel to read yourself in a language you’re not quite fluent in? What freedoms – and what obligations – lie in translation? And can a translation sometimes be more faithful than the original?

The conversation will be held in English.

Literature thrives on movement – between people, languages, and experiences. Translating is like bringing a work into a new landscape, with all that this entails in terms of trust, interpretation and creative choices. At a time when artificial intelligence threatens to reduce language to a mere function, the art of translation reminds us that language is first and foremost human: felt, experienced, and lived.

With the Translators’ Seminar, we shine a spotlight on translation as a creative act and a prerequisite for literary breadth and diversity. The world is bigger than Norway – and when literature is translated into Norwegian, it also becomes part of Norwegian literature. The series is a collaboration between LitFestBergen and the Norwegian Translators’ Association (NO).