London Book Fair’s ‘Literary Translation Centre’ Includes Discussion on ‘Translating Culture in Times of Conflict’

The London Book Fair’s “Literary Translation Centre” has announced this year’s program (April 15-17, 2013), and there are more than a dozen fantastic-looking events:

There are discussions about the links (and disconnects) between US and UK translation markets and translation flows in Asia; there are a number of discussions about marketing translations, including “how to promote writers” and developing a “marketing toolkit”; there are two discussions on becoming a literary translator; a talk on “migrant, diaspora and minority writing in translation,” and there will also be a discussion on Translating Culture in Times of Conflict:

An exclusive PEN Atlas dispatch kick-starts this discussion on the way conflict is translated and represented to us on a daily basis in the media – with a particular focus on uprisings in the Arab world. A panel of experts that work across art forms will discuss the huge number of Arab artists, writers, poets and activists that have come to our attention thanks to the art of translation, and will consider Arab literature & art as a response to conflict, and indeed the representation of conflict.

• Chair: Sophie Mayer, Writer, Editor and Educator, English PEN & Bishopsgate Insitute
• Sabrina Mahfouz, Associate Artist, The Bush Theatre, London
• Samia Mehrez, Professor of Arabic Literature / Director or the Center for Translation Studies, American University of Cairo
• Robin Yassin-Kassab, Author, The Road From Damascus

“Huge” is their estimation, not mine.

The talk will be from 11:30 – 12:30 on April 17.