Bachmann Prize in seven languages

This year, for the first time, the texts on the net will not just be in German, but also in English, Italian, French, Spanish, Slovenian and Czech.

This year, for the first time, the texts on the net will not just be in German, but also in English, Italian, French, Spanish, Slovenian and Czech.

Even the up to date coverage will be translated

In addition, all of the up to date coverage of the competition will be translated into all the languages. The aim of the project is to provide young German speaking writers with a European platform from which to publicise their work. Egyd Gstättner, well-known Carinthian writer, will provide literary commentary on the event in the Klagenfurt ORF theatre.

"Die Grenzen meiner Sprache bedeuten die Grenzen meiner Welt." (Ludwig Wittgenstein)

 
ORF Provincial Director Willy Haslitzer and EU coordinator Reinhard Lorenz at the presentation of the "Bachmann Prize goes Europe".

European Stage for the Authors

Translation means overcoming language barriers and opening up to the outside world. By having their texts translated, the authors will have the chance for the first time in the history of the competition in Klagenfurt to have their texts noticed and read outside of the
German-speaking world.

At the same time as the readings are taking place in the ORF theatre, the text of each author will appear online in seven languages: English, Italian, French, Spanish, Slovenian, Czech and German.

Renowned literary translators

For the translations, we were able to find famous literary translators:

English: Martin Chalmers, Stefan Tobler
French: Bernard Banoun
Czech: Radovan Charvat
Slovenian: Amalija Macek, Urska P. Cerne
Spanish: Nicolás Gelormini
Italian: Vito Punzi

Naturally, not only will the texts appear in the internet in seven languages but also the translations of the jury discussions in the ORF theatre. Thus, the German Literature Days will become a competition taking place before a European-wide audience.