Monday 8 October, 7:30pm
Literary Classics: Translating Mickiewicz and Madách for the Modern World
Ognisko Polskie – The Polish Hearth Club
55 Exhibition Road, London
Member Price: Free
Non-member Price: £5, book online
Entry price includes a glass of wine.
Three world’s leading literary translators discuss how to translate great national epics.
Come and meet Bill Johnston, whose new translation of Adam Mickiewicz’s classic novel in verse, Pan Tadeusz, brings Poland’s iconic work to a whole new generation, and George Szirtes, whose translation of the Hungarian epic drama, The Tragedy of Man by Imre Madách, gives Hungary’s equivalent to Shakespeare his rightful place in world literature. In conversation with Antonia Lloyd-Jones, they’ll talk about how they gave these much-translated classics a new lease of life for our era.
Bill Johnston is a prolific translator of Polish literature whose work has won him many major awards. He is also Professor of Comparative Literature at Indiana University. His work ranges from classics by Mickiewicz and Słowacki to the contemporary novels of Wiesław Myśliwski.
George Szirtes is a Hungarian-born British poet and translator. As a poet, his awards include the prestigious T.S. Eliot prize for his collection Reel. His prize-winning translations of Hungarian literature include the novels of Sándor Márai and László Krasznahorkai.
Antonia Lloyd-Jones is also an award-winning translator of Polish literature whose work includes contemporary novels by authors including Olga Tokarczuk, reportage, poetry and children's books. She is a former co-chair of the UK Translators Association.
OTHER EVENTS – DETAILS TBC SOON
Tuesday 9 October
Cambridge
Wednesday 10 October
Cambridge
Thursday 11 October
Waterstones Hampstead
68-69 Hampstead High St
London NW3 1QP
All events organised by the Polish Cultural Institute in London with support from the Polish Book Institute and Polish Embassy in London