Projects
Details of some of our projects, past and present
We participate in international projects in partnership with other organizations. Currently, in collaboration with Literature Across Frontiers and partners in South East Europe, we have embarked on a new phase of Ulysses Shelter, a project offering exchange residencies to young writers and translators, supported by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. Read the open call for residencies in 2023 here.
Ulysses’ Shelter
Ulysses’ Shelter is the third stage of a project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union aiming to build a network of exchange literary residencies across Europe and designed primarily for young writers and literary translators. It is led by the Croatian publisher and literary agency Sandorf and managed jointly by Literature Across Frontiers and Wales Literature Exchange in Wales. The other partners in the growing network are Krokodil in Belgrade, Serbia, Thraka in Larissa, Greece, Culture Reset in Prague, Czech Republic, The Mallorca Film Foundation in Spain, Iniziamed in Valetta, Malta, and the Slovene Writers Association in Ljubjana, Slovenia.
The literary residency programme focuses on audience development and transnational mobility for emerging authors and translators and will allow them to work, perform and present themselves in different social and cultural contexts. The residencies can bring new opportunities and possibilities to establish contact with other authors, translators, editors, publishers and representatives of various literary organisations from the partner countries. The residencies will be accompanied by a supporting programme of activities and events aimed at specific local target groups.
Our Past Projects Include:
Schwob
The Dutch Foundation for Literature launched Schwob.nl in 2011 as a website and initiative that facilitates the promotion of as yet untranslated modern literary classics from all parts of Europe. It allows translators and publishers to share their knowledge of modern classics with each other and with readers.
In May 2013, Schwob started operating at a European level with support from the Creative Europe programme of the European Union and in collaboration with partners in six other Countries: Catalonia (Institut Ramon Llull), Finland (Finnish Literature Exchange), France (European Society of Authors), Poland (Polish Book Institute), Belgium (Flemish Literature Fund) and the UK (Wales Literature Exchange).
The partners worked together on the selection, distribution and promotion of ‘Schwob titles’ – the truffles of world literature; exceptional but hard to find or undiscovered modern classics that whet the appetite. They came together twice a year to select ten titles. From among those, each selected the five titles they found most suitable for their own language area, which they then presented to publishers and promoted via the website, at festivals and through other activities.
A new, expanded, bilingual edition of the Schwob website was launched, as a prelude to this Europe-wide collaboration.
Writers' Chain
A project created by Wales Arts International in partnership with The British Council and managed by Wales Literature Exchange in cooperation with Literature Across Frontiers. The aim of the project during its pilot stage (2008-09) was to facilitate literary exchange between Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and India, focusing on multilingualism and working in collaboration with the London Book Fair and the British Council India 2009 initiative. In that year the first event took place in Rajastan where poets from India and the UK met to translate each other's work and to learn more about the diverse literary transitions of both countries. The result were showcased in a performance at the Jaipur Literature Festival. In 2011, a poetry translation workshop in Kerala brought together poets from Wales and India and performed at the Hay Kerala Festival. In August and September 2013, Writers' Chain took writers from Wales to Argentina and Chile.
Scritture Giovani
Scritture Giovani was launched in 2002 by Festivaletteratura Mantova (Italy) to promote young European writers. The project ran until 2016. One of its main partners was The Hay Festival (Wales). A Welsh writer participated in the programme every year and their writing was published, with the support of Wales Literature Exchange in a number of languages. Participants from Wales included Rachel Trezise (2002), Angharad Price & Richard John Evans (2003), Owen Sheers (2004), Fflur Dafydd (2005), Aneirin Karadog (2006), Caryl Lewis (2007), Cynan Jones (2008), Owen Martell (2009), Catrin Dafydd (2010), Anna Lewis (2011), Eurig Salisbury (2012), Meirion Jordan (2013), Jemma L. King (2014), Llyr Gwyn Lewis (2015) and Rebecca F. John (2016).
Transcript
Europe’s Online Review of International Writing was a Literature Across Frontiers publication promoting literature in translation into three languages, English, German and French from a European perspective. The online journal was launched in 2002 and ceased publication in 2013. Visit the review here.
Sealines
Sealines was a two-year international residency exchange programme for writers and translators initiated and coordinated by Literature Across Frontiers in 2005. The project took place in six bilingual port cities in Europe. You can read more about it here.
Mosaic Publishers Network
A partnership of independent publishers in Europe committed to publishing literature in translation initially set up by Mercator Institute for Media, Languages and Culture following its conference 'Mosaic: promoting literature across frontiers' in Aberystwyth in 1998. The network operated informally for several years with publishers exchanging information about titles.
