Ninth Newsletter

Events of 2006

In January the Translators House hosted a group of ten translators of the Bálint Balassi Hungarian Culture Institute for the first time. American, English, Bulgarian, Estonian, Finnish Russain, Turkish and Udmurt students (Radoszveta Delcseva, Sevgi Aysevner, Galina Rizsuhina, Olga Ignatyeva, Hedda Maurer, Rachel Miller, Georgi Penkov, Tähti Pullinen, Larisza Shirobokova, Jacquelin White) spent a week in the house working on their final translation for a Masters Degree. – In February the House hosted a translator’s workshop for young translators from Saint Petersburg, (Darja Nikiforova, Svetlana Efimenko, Yulia Griner, Alexandra Bancsenko, Nikulina Evgenia) led by Oxana Yakimenko, Russian professor and translator, they worked on text by contemporary Hungarian authors. – In the spring half of the house was repainted, the second half of the remodeling took place in December, the old windows were also replaced on this occasion.  – In the second half of April Finnish students arrived, (Essi Löytynoja, Johanna Halme, Katri Joensun, Nina Willman, Heli Mäkeläinen, Petri Nurmi, Salla Mikkola), led by Tuomo Lahdelma, professor from Jyväskylä and Orsolya Fábián Hungarian reader: the group worked on works by Hungarian autobiographers. Lajos Mann and István Dobos were guest lecturers on the occasion. – Translators spent 2-4, sometimes 6 weeks all year around in the House, and in the second half of May the first Italian translator’s workshop took place in the House, led by Nóra Pálmai, from the Hungarian Academy in Rome. The guests (Monica Savoia, Francesca Ciccariello, Romina Cinanni, Patrizia dal Zotto, Maurizio Ceccarelli, Armando Nuzzo, Márton Róth) worked on a play by Mihály Kornis. (Translator’s seminars are meant to help the most ambitious and talented young translators start their career.) On the occasion of the National Book Week in Balatonfüred the public was introduced to books about local wine makers (and their wines). – Zlatko Omerbasic from Serbia, the winner of the translators competition hosted by the Bálint Balassi Institute was awarded a week’s stay in the house. – All the computers in the house have now broadband internet connections. – Our traditional garden party took place on the 17th Juni (it is always held on the weekend following the Book Week) with great success. Dr. István Bóka, the town mayor gave the opening speech. László Hegedűs 2’s one man show was opened by the poet Endre Kukorelly. In the house the works of the following artist are on display (most of them on loan): Ferenc Banga, Imre Bak, Márton Barabás, Mariann Bán, John Bátki, András Böröcz, Imre Bukta, Mária Chilf, József Darázs, Pál Deim, El Kazovszkij, Miklós Erdély, László Fehér, László Felugossy, Áron Gábor, Bálint Havas,  László Hegedüs 2, Katalin Káldi, Károly Kelemen, György Kemény, Ilona Keserü, Károly Klimó, András Koncz, Antal Lakner, Viktor Lois, Rezső Móder, István Nádler, Réka Nemere, István Orosz, Vladimir Péter, Sándor Pinczehelyi, Sándor Rácmolnár, Gábor Roskó, Kata Szalai, Zsuzsa Szenes, Ágnes Szépfalvi, Tamás Szikora, Júlia Szilágyi, Klára Szilárd, Margit Szilvitzky, János Szirtes, Zoltán Szlabey, László Szotyory, Gábor Szörtsey, József Szurcsik, Villő Turcsány, Yengibarian Mamikon. The art historian Márta Kovalovszky organized the exhibition.  The Győri-Madaras duo (Noémi Győri and Gergely Madaras) once again gave a beautiful flute concert. On the same occasion we launched the fifth issue of the Füredi Fordítói Füzetek, containing a poem by Ottó Tolnai (A tengerről verselve) in nineteen languages, the author and some of the translators read the poem. On the invitation of the Szépírók Társasága and the Translator’s House, poets from  Croatia, Branko Čegec, Miroslav Mićanović, Adrijana Škunca, Delimir Rešicki, Ivica Prtenjača és Branislav Oblučar gave a reading. On the piano Darvas Ferenc entertained the audience with his usual untiring enthusiasm. The gulash was cooked by several people, under the leadership of ©Ágnes Jesze and ©Bernadett Nagy. ©Kinga Szokács and Judit Tóth manned the kitchen. – From the 26th  of June to the 1st of July the House hosted a Spanish translation seminar (the participants were: José Miguel González Trevejo, Mária Szijj, Veronika Major, Judit Krasznai, Éva Cserháti, Márta Pávai Patak, Yvonne Mester, Eszter Orbán; on the behalf of the publishing house El Acantilado Juan De Sola Llovet gave a lecture). They worked on a story by László Krasznahorkai. The participants of the Catalan-Hungarian translator’s seminar organized between the 2nd and the 4th, Dóra Bakucz, Nóra Némedi Varga, Balázs Tormási, Katalin Pálvölgyi worked on several text led by Aloi Castelló, Kálmán Faluba and Balázs Déry gave lectures on the occasion. – The House welcomes the winners of the new founded Mihály Babits translator’s scholarship. – In a joint application with translator’s houses from France and the Netherlands we have won endorsement for some programs from the European Culture 2000 competition. Our foundation has been part of network of European Translators Houses from two years now (www.recit-trad.org). The next meeting of the network will take place at Balatonfüred in May 2007. – In late August Péter Rácz introduced the House at the VI. International Congress of Hungarology, in a speech given at the translation section. Between the 29th of August and the 5th of September translators from Estonia (Lauri Eesma, Piia Tarema, Kaja Sōrg, Helen Proosa, Mariliis Laurend, Hedda Maurer, Katrin Küünal, Reet Klettenberg) participated in a seminar led by Viktória Tóth, Kasperi Hasala and Krisztina Tóth working on texts by Attila Bartis, László Garaczi, János Háy, Endre Kukorelly. –  In early September we hosted the events of the Salvatore Quasimodo poetry competition. – Between the 24th of September and the 1st of October students of the Zagrab University (Annemari Ulamec, Martina Sestic, Helena Miletic, Marina Kukina) participated in a

translator’s seminar led by Franciska Ćurković-Major, they worked on a short story by György Dragomán. The completed translation was broadcasted by the Croatian Radio and appeared in a literary magazine. – On the 1st of October the open-doors day of the House was organized, where the citizens of Balatonfüred were acquainted with our work. – Sándor Pálfy (Balatonfüred) offered meals at a discount for translators at his restaurant, we are very grateful for his help. – On the initiative of the Literarisches Colloqium Berlin, Halma, a cooperation of cultural institutes of Central- and Eastern European was created. Gábor Schein suggested that we should participate in the initiative, and we did (though the foggy weather stopped us from flying to Poland for the founding session). – Organized by the Hungarian Academy in Rome Péter Rácz participated on the fair of the small and medium Italian Publishing Houses talking about the services of the Translators House. – To aid the translators, Kinga Szokács samples all the literary journals and weeklies every month, the sample can be found in our library, and is posted on our website. – Our caretaker Zsuzsa Bocsor Mrs. Szamosfalvi did a splendid job all through the year, the guests were delighted. – In the course of the year the following media reported about the work of the Translators House: Napló (Veszprém), Füred TV, Balatonfüredi Napló, Magyar Rádió, Litera, Fejér Megyei Hírlap, Radio Jam, Reflex Magazin, Barátság, Élet és Irodalom, Népszabadság.