Reports

THE UNION OF BELARUSIAN WRITERS

Dear ladies and gentlemen! Dear friends!

Let me heartily thank you for the opportunity to be present at the General Assembly of the Baltic center of writers and translators.
At the beginning of my presentation I’d like to say a few words about our organization. The Union of Belarusian Writers is the oldest creative organization in Belarus. It was founded almost eighty years ago. And it has united the most significant and the most talented writers, poets and translators of our country. For decades our Union has been the outpost of  struggle for national identity, democracy and freedom of speech in Belarus. And now it is faithful to its main principles as well.
As you know the presidential election took place in our country in December, 2010. Among the candidates for the presidency there was one of the best modern Belarusian poets, the member of our Union and its ex-president, the Honorable President of the Belarusian PEN-center – Uladzimir Niaklyaeu. On the day of the presidential elections Niakliayeu was seriously beaten by unidentified men in black when he was on his way to a protest rally in Minsk. He sustained a head injury during this beating and was put to prison. In January, 2011, Niakliayeu was transferred from prison to house arrest.
After the election day two more members of our organization were imprisoned and stay there at the moment. They can be sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment by Belarusian authorities. They are a literary critic and essayist Aliaxandr Fiaduta and a writer Paval Sieviarynets. Aliaxandr Fiaduta is also said to have serious health problems.
We do everything possible to expand the information about the prosecution of the writers in Belarus.
But still life goes on and literature can’t wait for the Belarusian political scene to change. That’s why we continue our activity.
So I’ll try to name our most significant activities.
We organized:

We also continue publishing activities. The main our editions are:

Recently the Union of Belarusian Writers has founded its own book series “Kniharnja pismennika” (The Writer’s bookshop). This year 9 books have been published in the series.
We also have the site of the organization (lit-bel.org) that is daily updated. 
All this is done without any support from the Belarusian government, and even in spite of the obstacles that are put by it.
And still the number of the members of our Union is growing. And at the March session of the Union five new writers were accepted to our organization. Among them there are some young authors as well.
One more important event took place at the session. Uladzimir Niaklyaeu, the presidential ex-candidate and poet, was unanimously recommended to be nominated for the Nobel prize in literature by the members of our Union.

Yuliya Tsimafeyeva,
The Union of Belarusian Writers

 

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF TRANSLATORS AND INTERPRETERS

The Association arranged two workshops for its members: one focusing on computer skills and another on the intricacies of Finnish word order in literary translations. Moreover, preparations were begun for a more extensive training course: the third master course in literary translation, which is planned for spring 2012. The master course project was set in motion with preliminary planning and sending in applications for grants to finance the course.

The campaign to raise fees paid for literary translation launched in 2009 yielded some good results: the annual fee survey conducted in January indicated that fees had risen after a sharp decline in 2009. During 2010 the fee campaign transformed into a campaign to ensure appropriate compensation for publishing translations as e-books. The Association conducted series of negotiations with the major publishing companies in Finland. The main subject of the talks was e-books, copyright issues related to e-books and the compensation paid for translators for publishing book translations in electronic format. Talks progressed slowly with considerable difficulties in reaching common ground about the amount and type of compensation. In addition to e-books other issues on the negotiation table included improving the standing of literary translators in case of force majeure situations.

Fortunately, literary translators are not alone in these problematic negotiations. Support and good advice was circulated among sister associations in both Finland and in Europe. Nevertheless, the outlook was not good at the end of the year and reaching agreement on a standard contract with major publishers seems unlikely.

Events arranged for the public included two literary evenings under the title "The Translator’s Voice" in cooperation with the restaurant of KOM Theatre in Helsinki. In these events, translators talked about their work and answered questions posed by the audience. The association also participated in the Helsinki international book fair in October. Once again, literary translators showcased their work by translating books live at the fair stand of the Association.


The Association has supported its members’ coping and well-being at work by giving them the opportunity to take part in rehabilitation courses and in fitness and activity holidays. The rehabilitation course, arranged in cooperation with the Social Insurance Institution, was the third of its kind and started in March at Petrea rehabilitation institute in Turku. The fitness and activity holiday was organised together with the Union of Journalists in Finland. It was supported by the MTLH Association and Finland’s Slot Machine Association (RAY) and took place at Siuntio Wellness Centre.

THE FINNISH ASSOCIATION OF NON-FICTION WRITERS

The Internet has been affecting sales of non-fiction for some years now. The potential for publishing encyclopaedias and reference books is virtually non-existent in a country such as Finland with a small population. Sales of non-fiction have fallen nearly 20 per cent over the past five years; the position of non-fiction is nevertheless fairly strong. About 80 per cent of the books published in Finland are non-fiction, as are about 90 per cent of the books by Finnish- or Swedish-speaking writers.

The Tieto-Finlandia Prize for non-fiction went to Vesa Sirén for a book (Suomalaiset kapellimestarit: Sibeliuksesta Saloseen, Kajanuksesta Franckiin/Finnish conductors: from Sibelius to Salonen, Kajanus to Franck) on Finnish conductors past and present. The sizeable Warelius Prize for Finnish non-fiction writers was awarded to Pertti Rajala, author of over 70 easy-to-read books in simple Finnish, and Professor Antti Eskola, a social psychologist who has written basic textbooks on his subject and a number of polemic books and pamphlets.

The Finnish Association of Non-fiction Writers now has 2,600 members and is busier than ever. Since more than two-thirds of all non-fiction in Finland is published by non-professionals, the Association has recognised a need to arrange training to improve writers’ command of independent publishing, either as a business or in some other way.

An enquiry conducted in February 2011 into Association members’ use of the social media to market their books revealed that many continue to rely exclusively on their publisher’s marketing. More people are, on the other hand, also using their own website, email or Facebook to advertise their works. The number of those choosing a smaller publisher or an author’s edition has also grown.

Fewer and fewer writers of non-fiction can nowadays hope to get their work accepted by a major commercial publisher or be featured at supermarkets or big bookshops. Luckily, digitalisation has lowered the costs of printing, and the online bookshops market a large selection. Those who know how to exploit the social media can access a target readership at very low marketing costs.

Three important books about non-fiction were published last year. A second edition of Heikki Jokinen’s handbook Tietokirjailijan eväät (Instructions for writers of non-fiction) was published in the spring and advises members on such issues as copyright, contracts and grants.

Risto Niku’s Suomalaisia tietokirjailijoita 2 (Finnish Non-Fiction Writers vol. 2) published in the autumn presented portraits of 50 well-known Finnish non-fiction writers. In the autumn the Association also published Maaria Linko’s report Asiantuntija vai julkkis? Tietokirjallisuus ja tietokirjailijat mediassa (Expert or celeb? Non-fiction and non-fiction writers in the media) examining the visibility of non-fiction writers in society in autumn 2009. Most of the books in the literary debate at that time were non-fiction.

Non-fiction writers are experts on a specific field and they often appear in the media in this capacity. More and more of them are nowadays adopting the title of Non-fiction Writer. Writers in this genre do, furthermore, exert a hidden influence in society. Dozens of journalists are themselves non-fiction writers, and journalists make widespread use of non-fiction literature. They sometimes, but not always, quote their source.

Finland has parliamentary elections in April 2011. In autumn 2010 the Association put on a series of regional events in the course of which nearly 40 Members of Parliament or candidates took part in a literary panel arranged by Finnish Association of Non-fiction Writers. The Association produced two brochures stating its objectives and supplying other information and these were distributed to members, politicians, government officials and the media.

The Association has set itself the goal of getting the following statement written into the next government’s programme. “Non-fiction and textbooks are undergoing a process of change brought about by the Internet, digitalisation and new teaching practices. The Ministry of Education and Culture will conduct an investigation and, using this as a basis, adopt a policy that will guarantee quality content for the needs of both learning and general education.”

The Association awaits with growing interest the results of the election, the make-up of the new government and its political programme. There is a danger that many once-buried questions of copyright, such as employers rule, will be resurrected.

Collaboration among the copyright organisations has been close. The forum of over 30 organisations set up in February 2010 is a major organ linking authors and performers.

International cooperation has also been brisk. In summer 2009 the Association’s Chairperson, Dr Pirjo Hiidenmaa, was elected to the European Writers Council for the two-year period 2009-2011. Dr Hiidenmaa is standing for re-election in May 2011 for a second two-year term.

 LATVIAN WRITERS’ UNION

Latvian Writers’ Union unites 274 poets, prose writers, playwrights, literary scholars and historians, critics and translators.
The average age of the members is 60.
According to the statues, 2 published books are needed in order to become a member of Latvian WU.

Latvian Ministry of Culture supports the membership of Latvian Writers’ Union in 3 international organizations: BWC, EWC, Three Seas.

Since September last year we have got a new literary magazine: “LATVIAN TEXTS” (though not as thick as KAROGS). 2 issues (autumn and winter) are available already. In 2011 four issues are planned. The publisher is Latvian Literature Centre – www.literature.lv.

Literary monthly since 1940 KAROGS has agonized the whole year 2010 and since 2011 has ceased to exist. Last year 5 double issues (instead of 12) came out, including one issue: four-in-one. The reason for that is: no more support from the State Culture Capital Fund.

Since 2011 a literary weekly newspaper (the only one) “CULTURAL FORUM” is not published any more.

3 main annual projects (1 of them supported by State Culture Capital Fund) have been in focus last year: theAnnual Literary Prize, the Annual Poetry Festival and the program Literary Academy: courses of lectures, seminars and master-classes for those eager to go in for prose, poetry and drama.

As no support has been given to Annual Literary Prize, Latvian WU found some alternative ways to maintain the project: we got some private sponsors and had organized several events. The greatest support we got was for the lifetime achievement award. Some institutions – a museum and a bookshop – gave premises for the events to take place in.

About the Literary Academy I have already told in the reports of previous years /see the Minutes of BWC/.
But in 2010 Literary Academy did not get financing at all. Already in 2009 Literary Academy did not get support for all the programmes – only for the minor ones: for master-classes and for the seminar for beginners.
Even 2010 the master-classes and lectures were announced for participation fee.

The Poetry festival was supported by State Culture Capital Fund and organized together with Latvian Literature Centre. It was a very successful one with 32 different events in Riga: each had 50 to 150 visitors. On the whole 200 interesting events during the Poetry Festival took place in Latvia: a poetry concert, performances, seminars, discussions, workshops etc. The cooperation with several cultural organizations (museums, bookshops etc.) was successful, too. 23 guests from 16 countries were participating.

Latvian Writers’ Union still runs a residency at Dubulti (the seaside resort in Jurmala): a cottage with 11 rooms – both single and double ones for the price of 35.00 EUR. During the summertime all the rooms are occupied. But during the other months everyone is welcome to Jurmala. The State Culture Capital Fund gives little support for Writers’ Creative Work there. During autumn/winter/spring it is also available for the members of the Union at a discount.

About Ventspils House – now so popular not only in Latvia but also abroad –with 5 single rooms and 2 double rooms /see the Minutes of previous years/.
In 2010 91 writer and translator from different countries had stayed there.
The activities of Ventspils House have been expanding during 2010 as well. 27 different activities not only in the House, but also in Ventspils town organized by the House had taken place: prose readings, poetry days, concerts, different events concerning literature and translation. The information about them is given on the homepage www.ventspilshouse.lv, in the local newspaper “Ventas balss”, in the homepage of Ventspils town www.ventspils.lv , in radio and different newspapers and other mass media in Latvia.
Ventspils House together with Ventspils town council has established a literary prize “SILVER INKPOT” in 3 nominations. The prize-giving ceremony usually takes place in September. In 2010 it was given for the 2nd time.
For the first time one more “SILVER INKPOT” was given by Ventspils inhabitants – by voting in the internet and libraries (Maira Asare).
Every year Ventspils town council gives also 2 honorary scholarships: one to the prominent Latvian writer, the other one – to a young and promising writer (Knuts Skujenieks and Artis Ostups).
The sponsors for this prize are: Ventspils town council, Ministry of Culture, Robert Bosch Fund, EC’s programme “Culture”, “Halma”.
Ventspils House has regular cooperation with cultural organizations of Ventspils town and region, Ventspils cultural centre, Russian cultural societies, Ventspils College and libraries.
The 2nd Yearbook of Ventspils Writers’ and Translators’ House has been published.

 

ACTIVITY REPORT 2010

Norsk Oversetterforening (NO)/Norwegian Association of Literary Translators
Pb. 579 Sentrum, 0105 Oslo, Norway
Phone: + 47 22 47 80 90
Fax: + 47 22 42 03 56
E-mail: post@translators.no
President: Cecilie Winger

The Norwegian Association of Literary Translators (NO) was founded in 1948, and is today one of four bodies organising translators in Norway. The Association has 306 members translating into Norwegian from altogether 48 languages.

General activities, negotiations and policy making

The artists’ associations in Norway cooperate in order to improve the conditions for freelancers in regard to taxes and social security. NO is now part of “The artists’ network”, which was founded in January 2011 and aims to work with these issues.

NO and The Norwegian Publishers Association have reached a temporary agreement on e-books.

An English translation of the standard contract with the publisher’s association (2006) can still be found on http://oversetterforeningen.no/media/Standard_contract_translations.pdf

 

Training and membership benefits

In addition to the annual three day autumn seminar, NO also arranged a seminar for translators of fiction from German and Dutch.

The one year course Flerstemt (‘Polyphony’) for potential translators from various immigrant languages was held for the third time, with 15 students translating from Chinese, Polish and Urdu participating. The next course will start in the autumn of 2011, with students translating from Vietnamese, Hindi and Somali.

NO is also contributing to the plans for an education for translators at the University of Oslo.

The website www.nettverkstedet.no, run in collaboration with the other translators’ associations, has been up and running since 2002. This virtual workshop offers various services, including online access to encyclopaedias and the main Norwegian dictionaries, various essays and a lot more.

 

Visibility

The seminar Verden på norsk (‘The world in Norwegian’), primarily aimed at librarians and organised in cooperation with Oslo’s municipal library, will be arranged again in 2011, this time in Trondheim, Stavanger, Tromsø and Oslo.

The association contributed to the “translator’s hour” at the annual Norwegian Festival of Literature in Lillehammer and to the Nordic Children and Young Literature Conference in Stavanger.

NO’s annual translation prize Bastian was awarded in one category.

NO is financing a blog where translators receive a small compensation for writing about issues related to translation. http://oversetterblogg.blogspot.com/

 

International
NO is a member of CEATL (Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs Littéraires), the EWC (European Writers’ Congress), the Three Seas Writers’ and Translators’ Council, the Baltic Writers’ and Translators’ Council and the FIT.

Internationally NO is engaged in projects in Palestine and Georgia.

The network SONE (Skandinavisk OversetterNEttverk) has been established in order to strengthen the ties between the Scandinavian translators’ organisations.

Tor Tveite

 

Report from The Swedish Writers’ Union (SFF), 1 April 2011

In response to the changing conditions for many publishers’ contracts, SFF launched the publishing service Dejavu at the end of 2009. Dejavu offers writers and translators the opportunity to publish their backlist catalogue as print-on-demand editions. In January 2010 SFF held a seminar on Dejavu, literary heritage and digitization facilities. Dejavu published over 200 titles in 2010, all were out-of-print works which publishers did not want to re-issue again.

SFF has also signed an agreement with Norstedts and Natur & Kultur publishing houses regarding re-issues of backlist catalogue. Also, when Bonniers publishing house launched their new contracts (which claimed to control all forms of publication, present or future) SFF held a course in three parts to all members concerned, explaining these contracts’ structure and function.

The Committee for Cultural Policies within the SFF announced a political platform in February 2010, concerning issues within our area of expertise: cultural policy, copyright, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, etc.

During the year, the Swedish Enquiry of Copyright concerning changes in legislation about copyright contracts was presented. SFF is critical to the report. SFF, who have long pursued the issue of strengthening the position of writers and other authors in connection with contracts, is of the opinion that the legislation should encourage the signing of trade agreements. The report proposes instead a number of legal rules that specify what copyright agreements should look like and how they should be interpreted. The rules proposed are not to be binding, but should be possible to circumvent by way of other agreements.

The union has also maintained a strong commitment to library issues, both through the SFF Library Council and the Committee for Cultural Policies. During the fall a critical statement was made concerning the internet bookseller Adlibris and their mandate from the Stockholm Public Library to handle their book purchases. The protests against Nacka Municipality's plans to outsource its libraries have great momentum and will continue in 2011.

In the time running up to the parliamentary elections in 2010 SFF held a conference in collaboration with a few other organizations: "Literature and power." Freedom of expression, libraries, reading and translation were some of the topics of the program, which ended in a panel debate with some politicians.

SFF has also launched a new forum for young writers and translators, “Fyren” (= The Lighthouse). They have had a few popular activities during the year. The goal is to create a community and an interest in the questions that are common for young writers and translators.
 
The writer Henning Mankell's donation to the Swedish Writers' Union and the Swedish Playwrights' Union, a house outside the city of Sveg, was inaugurated in June. Receivers of a specific grant connected to the donation have been here since the fall of 2009.

SFF continues its engagement in the Committee for the author imprisoned in Eritrea, Dawit Isaak. During this year's AGM Isaak was elected as an honorary member of the SFF.

The international activities have included exchanges with the Union of Belarusian Writers and also delegations of visitors from China and Bangladesh. In September the second edition of WALTIC - Writers' and Translators' International Congress was held in Istanbul, Turkey. The project organization was divided between Istanbul and Stockholm. The ambition to bring together 300-400 participants ended up with the number of participants being about 180 people. Keynote speakers were the Korean writer Ko Un and Slovenian writer Renata Salecl.

The SFF Board has also worked to develop organizational structures. A new management solution that consists of various digital support modules for case and member management has been contracted. During the discussions with the four sections (fiction writers, non-fiction writers, writers of childrens’ fiction and literary translators) about the future of the union and strategic development, we have leaned towards the idea of partially modifying the office of the union and the way it is structured today. The newly formed service company (SFF Service AB) will have a central role in the changes.

2011 will be a year full of innovation and new ventures. The goal is a long-term balanced budget and a modern and efficient organization that strengthens members' legal, economic and social status both as individuals and as groups.

 

WRITERS’ UNION OF ST. PETERSBURG

In 2010 became the Writers' Union of St. Petersburg time fundamental changes in the forms and methods of organizational and creative activities. It should be noted the following trends and new directions for the Writers' Union of St. Petersburg:
1. Systematic interactive work directly with readers, targeted work with young people and children, the active work with readers in the Leningrad region and the North-West Russia, regular meetings of writers with schoolchildren from the suburbs of St. Petersburg district, Leningrad region and other regions of Northwest Russia (Karelia, Pskov, Novgorod, Vologda region) directly at schools.
In the Russian Federation such literary activities has not yet been conducted.
In particular, the spring of 2010 was held on 30-day "Literary Journey" by the Leningrad region, involving more than 40 writers, the event was attended by more than 9,000 children. Fall 2010 (September-November) in conjunction with the Committee on Culture and the St. Petersburg Libraries conducted 32-day “Literary Marathon” in the suburbs of St. Petersburg Program "Tolerance" which was attended by 30 writers (at meetings attended by more than 6,000 students).
In addition, about 50 writers took part in a program promoting reading in urban schools and libraries.
2. Literary studies and creative actions.
In 2010, the Writers' Union of St. Petersburg held 120 seminars of writers, poets, translators, run by such famous persons as Strugatsky, Gamper, Alferova, Akhmatov, Guzman, Shestakov, Chernysheva, Kushner, Leikin, Popov.
There were organized six creative workshops playwrights in the form of experimental productions with professional directors and actors, also conducted 57 presentations of new books and creative parties of St. Petersburg writers.
The main objectives of this activity are to raise the profile of contemporary literature in the field of education of the young generation, attracting readers and the public interest in the book as a source of good moral principles, research and promotion of authors of literary works that could make a significant contribution to the revival of culture, raising the level of artistic works.
Information on the seminars (with photos) and creative promotions can be found on website of the Center for Contemporary Literature and books on the button "News’:    
http://www.litcenter.spb.su/news.html
It should be noted that these programs are being implemented with substantial financial support from the Government of the Leningrad region and from the St. Petersburg Government.
3. In the 2010 first used this form of cooperation with the libraries as "Night at the Library" - an open event in the international "Night of Museums" program.
4. It should be noted the growth of socio-political activity of members of the Writers' Union of St. Petersburg. In particular, this resulted in signing an open letter in defense of the Nobel laureate, Liu Xiaobo, in defense of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev.
5. In 2010, established Writers' Union of St. Petersburg Publishing House, which started to work. In addition, 5 of literary anthologies "Northern Dimension" were published with a total circulation of 7,000 copies (almanacs were distributed to city, district, village and school libraries in Russia), which is widely represented St. Petersburg modern literature.
Plan of the Writers' Union of St. Petersburg in 2011 is:
- rehabilitation and development of international relations of the Union of Writers of St. Petersburg,
- constructive engagement with civil society organizations and creative unions of Saint-Petersburg, Leningrad region and the North-West region of Russia?
- the development of its own publishing activities of the Union of Writers in St. Petersburg.
                                                                                                          Nikita Filatov