Thirteenth Newsletter

Events of 2010

Like in previous years, our first guests were the students of the Balassi Institute studying Literary Translation (Thomas L. R. Bass, Anna Butrym, Lucy Frankel, Mirja Jõgi, Edyta Kinga Jurkiewicz, Reet Klettenberg, Elena Petrova, Kateřina Anna Šrubařová, Konda Sayaka, Milosz Waligórski), they spent the days between the 9th and the 16th of January working on their translations necessary for earning their Master’s Degree. They were followed (Januray 17-24.) by an Estonian Translators Workshop. Led by Krisztina Tóth, Reet Klettenberg and Siiri Kolka, the group consisting of: Kristiina Lutsar, Anne Esinurm, Leelo Jõulu, Siiri Erm; worked on A kígyó árnyéka by Zsuzsa Rakovszky. From the 28th of February a weeklong seminar for Croatian university students (Maja Plaščar, Dunja Novosel, Mirta Combaj, Dunja Nikolić) followed, led by Franciska Ćurković-Major, they translated works by Imre Oravecz. – We started a new tradition, a dedicated group of former Balassi Institute students had the opportunity to return to the House for some further work: Liza Szocsivko, Kati Fekete, Tähti Pullinen, Sandra Mihajlovic, Cora-Lisa Süttö, Siiri Kolka, Katarzyna Belczyk and Karolina Rudowicz. Between the 5th-11th of March they worked on a chapter from Kornél Hamvai’s novel, A prikolics utolsó élete; the students gave talks, invited the author, presented their work to the students of Veszprém Univesity, and published an article summarizing their one week long endeavor. The seminar was led by dr. Mónika Dánél and Péter Rácz. – On the 20-21st of March, the Béla Hamvas society which was founded 10 years ago, hosted a gathering in the garden of the house. – The annual meeting of HALMA (www.halma-network.eu ), an organization consisting of 27 European translator’s houses and writer’s residences took place from the 15th o the 19th of April, in held a meeting with the title Translating Europe in Russe and Cetate. For the European Union sponsored writer’s exchange-program of the HALMA the House hosted three writers: in April Maritta Lintunen from Finland, in May Andres Barba from Spain, in September Lotte Thrane from Danemark. With the help of Outi Hassi Lintunen gave a reading at the Finnish Ambasade. Gábor Kertes spoke with A. Barba in the Writer’s Bookshop, L. Thrane gave a lecture at ELTE. – On the 23rd of April Peter Rácz opened the International Translator’s Center in Sremski Karlovci, Serbia. – Between the 24th and 30th of April the House hosted a Finnish translator’s seminar. Tuomo Lahdelma, Tamás Gajdó, and Lajos Mann gave talks to the participants (Katri Kluukeri, Helinä Asp, Maria Puca, Kenneth Partti, Tapani Hynynen) they worked on the play Az ibolya by Ferenc Molnár. – Between the 3rd and the 9th of May the participants of the Italian translator’s seminar (Balla Orsolya, Pál Tünde Noémi). – Our annual garden party was opened on the 12nd of June, by dr. István Bóka, tha Major of Balatonfüred, and we launched the 9th installment of the Füredi Fordítói Füzetek 9. containing a chapter from Kornél Hamvai’s A prikolics utolsó élete in eighteen languages. We also presented the collection of the covert informer’s reports about the life in the House written when the House was owned by Gábor Lipták (the reasearch of Éva Monspart). Tamás Soós’ one man show was organized by Márta Kovalovszky and opened by Péter Kovács. The guests visited our permanent exhibition with work by: Uri Asaf, 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 Hegedűs2, Katalin Káldi, Károly Kelemen, György Kemény, Ilona Keserü, Károly Klimó, András Koncz, Antal Lakner, Lois Viktor, Rezső Móder, István Nádler, Réka Nemere, István Orosz, Vladimir Péter, Sándor Pinczehelyi, Sándor Rácmolnár, Gábor Roskó, Kata Szalai, Zsuzsa Szenes, Ágnes Szépfalvi, Tamás Szikora, Klára Szilárd, Margit Szilvitzky, János Szirtes, Zoltán Szlabey, László Szotyory, Gábor Szörtsey, József Szurcsik. The exhibition was curated by Márta Kovalovszky. The guests of honour were the directors of the Serbian International Translator’s Center: Zoran and Sreten Stojanović. – Between the 21st and 27th of June the member of the Czech translator’s seminar (Kateřina Horváthová, Jiří Zeman, Tomáš Vašut, Kateřina Anna Šrubařová, Marta Pató, Eszter Honti, Jiří Novák) worked in the house led by Robert Svoboda (Péter Esterházy: Esti); Andrea Balázs gave a lecture about children’s literature. – We wrote about all these events and our guests on our redesigned homepage: www.c3.hu/forditohaz (design by Anna Egyed, photos Péter Egyed and Kinga Böjtös, powered by Prae.hu). – Between the 30th of June and the 4th of July the house hosted a Spanish translator’s seminar, hosted by Ádám Kovacsics, the participating translators, Mária Szijj, José Miguel González Trevejo, Zita Máté, Anna Süveges, Veronika Major, Eszter Orbán, Éva Cserháti, Márta Pávai Patak worked on Rokonok by Zsigmond Móricz. – In the autumn the HALMA meeting was held in Ventspilsben, Latvia. At the yearly meeting of RECIT (Network of European Translator’s Houses) held at 17-19th of September in Tarazone, Spain, Péter Rácz represented the House. Tereza Worowska organized her Polish translator’s seminar between the 22-28th of September. The participants: Anna Butrym, Miłosz Waligórski, Grzegorz Pakowski, Ewa Ambroziewicz, Weronika Góralczyk, Monika Chojnacka, Tatiana Michałowska; translated contemporary writers. In the following week the participants of the Croatian seminar returned for another week (finishing the work on The Tragedy of Man). Between the 25th-29th of October, French translators led by Ágnes Járfás worked on short stories by Frigyes Karinthy (Olivier Bickart, Elisabeth Louis, Laurence Dulieu (Brussels), Jean-François Ginoux (Brussels), Bérengère Vogel). – The French Institute of Budapest donated books to the House. The gifts were  delivered on the 30th of November, by director François Laquieze and education attaché Frédéric Rauser, on this occasion they signed an agreement  for further collaboration. The Hungarian Translators’ House foundation  also signed an agreement for collaboration with the Pannon University.  From  now on the students of the Department of Humanities and   Modern  Philology  and  those  studying  in  the  Institute  for Transaltor and Interpreter will have a chance to take part in the work going on in the House.

By the end of the year the area behind the House was landscaped by as a sponsors’ gift from the Probio Rt. – In 2010 Kinga Szokács continued to prepare extracts from our literary journals throughout the year to aid our translators; these can be found in the house as well as online. We thank the translators for helping us choose dictionaries and reference works for purchase. – Some of our guests visited the beach of the UNI Hotel, which is free of charge for our guests, we thank them once again for these opportunities. – Our caretaker Zsuzsa Bocsor Mrs. Szamosfalvi once again did a splendid job all through the year, the guests were delighted. – The preparations for converting the small building behind the House (Lajosháza) into a studio for disabled persons has begun. The following contributed to the undertaking: Endre Illyés and family, Dr. András Lipták, Zoran and Sreten Stojanović, Szerencsejáték Zrt., Nemzeti Erőforrás Minisztériuma, the City of  Balatonfüred, Vemévszer Építő és Szerelőipari Kft.

The French literary translator Ágnes Járfás was awarded the Áron Tamási Prize. – Ádám Kovacsics (Adan Kovacsics) a literary translator living in Spain was awarded the most prestigious translation award of his country, form the Spanish Ministry of Culture, the Premio Nacional de Traducción a la Obra de un Traductor. In  2010  the  French  translator  Sophie  Aude was also awarded the Nicole Bagarry-Karatson prize for her translations of Milán Füst.