2021
Founders: Attila József Circle (1995-2019) and the Hungarian Literary Translators’ Association (2019-)
The Hungarian Translators’ House Foundation
Twenty-Third Newsletter
Guests of the Translators’ House in 2020 and the works translated by them:
Tímea Sípos (USA-H) Péter Gárdos: Királyi játék; Gabriela Magová (Slovakia) László Krasznahorkai: Az ellenállás melankóliája; Eva Andrejčáková (Slovakia) Pál Závada: Természetes fény; Lorenzo Marmiroli (Italy) Ilka Papp-Zakor: Angyalvacsora; Yu Zemin (China) Sándor Márai: Hallgatni akartam; Daniel Warmuz (Poland) Zoltán Lesi: Magasugrás; Martin Hristov (Bulgaria) Benedek Totth: Az utolsó utáni háború; Rachel Mikos (USA-Czech Republic) Gábor Schein: Egy angyal önéletrajzai; Irena Makarewicz (Poland) Dezső Kosztolányi: Aranysárkány, Sándor Márai: Régi szerető; Robert Svoboda (Czech Republic) György Spiró: Diavolina; Mariarosaria Sciglitano (Italy) Réka Mán-Várhegyi: Mágneshegy; Tímea Beck-Kreković (Slovakia) László Krasznahorkai: Sátántangó; Reet Klettenberg (Estonia) Vilmos Kondor: Bűnös Budapest; Yu Zemin (China) László Krasznahorkai: Az ellenállás melankóliája; Olga Balla (Russia) Gyula Krúdy: Beteg város; Abdallah Al-Naggar (Egypt) Dezső Kosztolányi: Négy fal között; Adan Kovacsics (Spain) László Krasznahorkai: Báró Wenckheim hazatér; Robert Svoboda (Czech Republic) György Dragomán: Rendszerújra; Milosz Waligórski (Poland) Lajos Grendel: Galeri; Svetla Kyoseva (Bulgaria) Réka Mán-Várhegyi: Mágneshegy; Karol Wlachovszký (Slovakia) Dezső Kosztolányi: Pacsirta; Vyacheslav Sereda (Russia) Péter Nádas: Az élet sója; László Krasznahorkai: Báró Wenckheim hazatér; Mari Alföldy (The Netherlands) László Krasznahorkai: Háború és háború; Zsuzsa Hetényi (H) Zsuzsa Hetényi: Csuszamlások. Nabokov prózamintázatai (translation into Russian) ; Gabriella Constantin (Romania) Béla Hamvas: Unikornis és más esszék; Rachel Mikos (USA-Czech Republic) István Vörös: Thomas Mann kabátja; Yu Zemin (China) László Krasznahorkai: Az ellenállás melankóliája; Angéla Pataki (Serbia) Mátyás Szöllősi: Váltóáram/Vendégjáték; Minnamari Pitkänen (Finland) László Krasznahorkai: Az ellenállás melankóliája; Mostafa Reda (Egypt) György Spiró: Tavaszi tárlat; Martin Hristov (Bulgaria) Benedek Totth: Az utolsó utáni háború; Gábor Gyukics (USA-H) Tíz magyar költőnő antológiája.
Translation programs and seminars in 2020
Austrian Translators’ Seminar January 3-7, 2020. Led by György Buda. Poetry by András Imreh was translated by Zsuzsanna Gábor, Anna Lédó, Izabella Nyári, Sandra Rétháti and Nóra Keszerice.
Students of the Balassi Institute’s Literary Translation Program January 9-16, 2020. Alicja Anna Malanowska, Canan Esen, Clea Zakanyi, Ewelina Zabek, Klaudia Fugas, Ksenia Fehér, Mostafa Reda, Sewon Jun and Tímea Sipos wrote the first draft of their final translation piece.
Russian Translators’ Seminar January 26 – February 1, 2020. Led by Oksana Yakimenko. Natakia Dyachenko, Ksenia Lobanova, Mariia Kashtanova and Tatiana Bystrova worked on poems from Zsuzsa Rakovszky’s poem cycle Fortepan. Their translations were published on March 4, 2020 in the journal Prochteniye.
Bulgarian Translators’ Seminar. February 17- 24, 2020. Led by Svetla Kyoseva. Participants: Elitsa Klimentieva, Viktoria Andonova , Liliya Duleva, Viktoria Tsanova, Katerina Georgieva, Dahlia Georgieva, Georgi Angelov and Zornitsa Videnova. Texts translated: Boldizsár Fehér: Vak majom; poems by Imre Oravecz. Guest: A representative of the Bulgarian publisher Zhanett 45.
Emerging Translators’ Seminar. March 1-8, 2020. Participants: Baris Yilmaz, Dávid Karácsonyi, Ester Giliberti, Wendy Sekimura, Veronika Lukács, Karolina Bramorska, Gabriela Vidoni. Speakers: Anna Bentley, Judit Garai, András Imreh, Csaba Károlyi, Péter Moesko, Péter Rácz.
Austrian Translators’ Seminar. May 28 - June 2 Led by György Buda. Participants: Sandra Rétháti, Zsuzsanna Gábor, Izabella Nyári, Emese Dallos and Nóra Keszerice. Texts were taken from works by Zsófia Czakó, Éva Cserháti, Gergely Péterffy, Gábor T. Szántó, Ferenc Barnás.
Spanish Translators’ Seminar July 6-13, 2020. Participants: Márta Patak, Adan Kovacsics, Eszter Orbán, Mária Szijj, José Miguel González Trevejo, Sergio de la Ossa. Texts by László Végel, János Pilinszky, Jenő Rejtő.
English Translators’ Seminar July 12-18, 2020 Participants: Anna Bentley, Richard Robinson, Jozefina Komporaly, Owen Good, Ruth Urbom, Veronika Lukács, Marta Minier, Tímea Sipos. Texts translated: Réka Mán-Várhegyi: Mágneshegy, Zoltán Egressy: Portugál, József Choli Daróczi: ’A hosszú combú lány románca’. Invited guests: American editor Andrew Singer, Csaba Károly, and colleagues from the Petőfi Literary Fund. (Online)
Italian Translators’ Seminar August 3-7, 2020. Participants: Lorenzo Marmiroli, Lorenzo La Nave, Francesco De Felice, Maria Isabella Rinaldi, Simonetta Nicolosi, Eszter Sermann, Viktória Czakó, Ervin Pavanello and Nikolett Csáti. Texts translated: Réka Mán-Várhegyi: Mágneshegy; László Horvát: A kicsi embere; Zsófia Czakó: Nagypénteken nem illik kertészkedni (Every participant translated a chapter from the latter entitled ’Az olasz tempó’); Boldizsár Fehér: Vak majom.
Polish Translators’ Seminar September 10-17, 2020. Participants: Lukasz Feliksik. Michalina Oziembrowska, Krzysztof Wolosiuk. In addition Monika Jurczak, Alicja Malanowska és Katarzyna Grzywinska joined the seminar online. The seminar was led by Tereza Worowska. Text translated: János Lackfi: Minden napra egy sztori.
Students on the Balassi Institute’s 2020/2021 Literary Translation Program visited the House September 26-27, 2020, when they were able to familiarise themselves with how the House operates and with the library at their disposal. In the normal course of events, they would have completed the first draft of their final translation pieces here in January 2021. However, due to the pandemic, they were only able to do this at the end of May to the beginning of June. Participants: Austin Wagner, Blanka Cwieka, Daryna Lazarieva, David Takacs, Lorenzo La Nave, Marija Deželjin, Marija Peručica, Natalia Dyachenko, Mihály Oros, Thomas Sulmon. ( Balassi Institute - KKM Hungarian Diplomatic Nonprofit Kft.)
Catalan Translators’ Seminar, October 22-25 , 2020. Participants: Carles Dachs Clotet, Krisztina Nemes, Dóra Bakucz, Carles Bartual Martin. Texts translated: Zoltán Egressy: Sóska, sültkrumpli, Noémi Szécsi: Kommunista Monte Cristo.
Slovak Translators’ Seminar November 14-18, 2020. This seminar was held online after repeated postponements. Participants: Eva Andrejčáková, Gabi Magová, Renata Deáková, Lenka Nagyová, Judit Görözdi, Tímea Beck-Kreković, Lucie Molnár Sátinská. Participants worked collectively on their current translation projects.
Italian Translators’ Seminar November 19-22, 2020. Participants: Gabriele Italiano, Maria Isabella Rinaldi, Lorenzo La Nave, Lorenzo Marmiroli. Texts translated: Anita Harag: Magyarok, Mihály Babits: Versek.
Japanese Translators’ Seminar December 11-14, 2020. This was held online like so many of the year’s events. Participants: Sayaka Konda, Uchikawa Kazumi and Eguchi Kiyoko. Led by Waseda Mika. Texts translated: Péter Moesko: Leginkább szükséged, György Dragomán: A jövőszökő, and Ádám Bodor: Állomás, éjszaka.
Events and Other News
The operation of the Translators’ House is supported by the Petőfi Literary Fund. Legal uncertainties meant that we were able to run the House in a smooth and continuous fashion only from the middle of the summer. In the first half of the summer there were several weeks when we were unable to welcome guests at the House. As the coronavirus pandemic prevented our literary translator guests from travelling to Balatonfüred, we also introduced the practice of working from home. We were able to welcome literary translators in person for a period in the summer and the autumn.
The winner of the literary translation competition jointly run by Pázmány Péter Catholic University’s Master’s Program in Translation and Interpretation and the Hungarian Literary Translators’ Association was Hanna Lux. The prize, donated by the Translators’ House was a week’s residency at the House.
Precipitation measured in the garden in 2020: January: 16 mm, February: 40 mm, March: 51 mm, April: 11 mm, May: 31 mm, June: 83 mm, July: 70 mm, August: 37 mm, September: 39 mm, October: 66 mm, November: 2 mm, December: 52 mm. In total: 498 mm. Not much. Fortunately, we were always able to water the garden, taking water from our own well, if need be. The pear tree gave a good crop. Our walnuts, like many others’, went black.
Works translated by guests at the House published in 2020 include:
Vilmos Kondor: Bűnös Budapest, Estonian (Reet Klettenberg); László F. Földényi: A medúza pillantása; Béla Markó 'A haza milyen' (What is Home Like), 'Poet Lore'; Andrea Tompa: ’Rézvirágok’ from Haza, all three in English, (Jozefina Komporaly) in Apofenie (July 9, 2020.); Krisztina Tóth: Pixel, in Italian (Mariarosaria Sciglitano); Tibor Várady: Az egészszürke szoba titka, in Serbian (Árpád Vickó); Miksa Fenyő: Az elsodort ország (excerpt); Miklós Mészöly: Film (excerpt), Oszkár Jászi: Napló (excerpt); Kettős tükörben: Kortárs magyar és orosz szerzők művei kommentárokkal, in Russian (Oxana Yakimenko and the participants in the Russian Translation Seminar); Miklós Mészöly: Megbocsátás, in Russian (Alina Scheglova); László F. Földényi: Dosztojevszkij Szibériában Hegelt olvassa és sírva fakad, in English, László Krasznahorkai: Báró Wenckheim hazatér, in English, Gábor Schein:Svéd, in English (all three Rachel Mikos); Magda Szabó: Pilátus, in Serbian (Marko Cudić); Dezső Kosztolányi: Négy fal között, in Arabic, Zsigmond Móricz: Magyarok, in Arabic (Abdallah El Nagar); Benedek Totth: Az utolsó utáni háború, in Bulgarian (Martin Hristov); László Krasznahorkai: Báró Wenckheim hazatér, Dutch (Mari Alföldy); Péter Nádas: Az élet sója, Viktor Horváth: Tankom, Réka Man-Várhegyi: Mágneshegy, all three in Bulgarian,(Svetla Kyoseva); Literaturen Vesztnik, V4 Hungarian issue: works by Krisztina Tóth, Viktor Horváth, Péter Nádas, Attila József, János Hay and Lajos Parti Nagy (Svetla Kyoseva jointly with the participants of the Bulgarian Translators’ Seminar) (The Hungaran Cultural Institute, Sofia); Gábor Lanczkor: ’Államhatár’ (poem), Gabi Csutak: three stories from Csendélet sárkánnyal, Imre Barna: Kérdezd meg tőle (excerpt), all three in English (Anna Bentley); Péter Nádas: Esszék, Anna T. Szabó: Törésteszt, in Slovak (Renáta Deák); Miklós Bánffy: Erdély Trilogy Vol II. in Dutch (Rebeka Hermán Mostert); Sándor Márai: A régi szerető short stories, Dezső Kosztolányi: Aránysárkány, in Polish (Irena Makarewicz); Tibor Várady: selected excerpts from the trilogy Történetek az irattárból in English, (Owen Good); László Krasznahorkai: Borbélykézen, Herman, a vadőr, A mesterségnek vége, Hőség, Az állomáskereső, short stories from Kegyelmi viszonyok, Chinese (Anna Yiren Kang).
We would like to express our gratitude to the following individuals and institutions:
Thank you to all those to whom the smooth running of the Hungarian Translators’ House at Balatonfüred is important, and who have been selfless in offering their assistance.
Éva Szabó, Krisztián Tóbiás, Zoltán Kosler, Zoltán Jeney, Károly Klimó, Andrea Andócs, Zoltán Bakos and his wife, László BITÓ, Dr. István BÓKA , Olivia CARINO, László Cserép, Kata Csorba, the translators asked to contribute to the Füredi Fordítói Füzetek (The Füred Translators’Pamphlets), Dániel Fürst, Eszter Götz, József Kling, †Kari KEMÉNY, Katalin Hanusovszky, Írók Boltja (The Writers’ Bookshop, Budapest) and their staff , András Jékey, Márta Józsa, the visual artists who have kindly loaned us their works, Katalin Kerekes, Kinga Klaudy, András Lipták, Lídia Nádori, Magyar Műfordítók Egyesülete (MEGY – The Hungarian Literary Translators’ Association), Márta Kovalovszky, Péter Kovács, István Ladányi, Tibor Martinovics, Rachel Mikos, Judit Garai, János Szakács, Probio Rt.: László Somogyi, Tibor Pádár; Ágnes Rácz, Judit Rácz, Júlia Rácz, Rebeka Rácz, Boglárka Mészáros, János Szakács, István Széles and Ildikó Firczi, István Arnold, Kinga Szokács, Katalin Vida, Karol Wlachovský, Teresa Worowska, Gabi Nagy, Viktória Gian, Kinga Pallos, Károly Szamosfalvi, Zsuzsa Szamosfalviné Bocsor, Katalin Csonkáné Rácz, The Gábor Lipták Town Library : Barnabás Poór (Mikrocomp Kft.). Apologies to anyone we may have omitted!
The operation of the Translators’ House was supported in 2020 by:
The Petőfi Literary Fund Kft., Balatonfüred Town Council and the Summa Artium Culture Support Nonprofit Kft.
How to apply for a residency at the Translators’ House
Translators intending to translate Hungarian literary works (prose, poetry, dramas essays, literary criticism) and writing on Hungarian art and social sciences into other languages may apply to the Hungarian Translators’ House Foundation address. Their application must be accompanied by a work plan, on the first occasion a CV including a publication list and a publishing contract or statement of intent to publish. Successful applicants are awarded a grant of 180,000 Ft per month. The residency may last 2, 4, 6 or 8 weeks.
Closed: May, 2021
Translated by Anna Bentley
Layout: Anna Egyed (egyedanna.com)
Magyar Fordítóház Alapítvány / Hungarian Translator's House Foundation
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Hungarian Translators' House
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