#FreeAllWords has selected Ukrainian and Belarusian authors whose works will be translated into various European languages ​​| Culture

The second season of the European Writers’ Council project #FreeAllWords started in late 2023. in autumn The project received 30 applications from Belarusian and Ukrainian authors. The international jury of the project, consisting of representatives of Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine, selected 15 authors whose works will be translated into various European languages.

These are 8 authors from Belarus and 7 from Ukraine. Among the new participants are Belarusian poets and poets Taciana Niadbaj, Uladzimir Niakliajeu, Uladzimir Lobač, Nadzeja Hareckaya, Ukrainian authors and authors Natalija Matolinec, Tetiana Malenka, Olena Kican, Andrij Kostynskyj ir kt.

A total of 46 authors are currently participating in the #FreeAllWords project, including 29 Belarusian and 17 Ukrainian representatives. Among the participants of the project are Belarusian human rights defender, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiacki, political prisoner journalist Kaciaryna Andrejeva, former Belarusian political prisoner Anatol Chinevich.

Poet Ina Snarskaya comes from Polotsk in Belarus and has been living in Poltava, Ukraine for many years. Other authors of the project live in Ukraine – Kharkiv poets Oleksandr Boboško and Andrij Kostynskyj, poet from Poltava Oleh Shapošnikov, poets and researchers from Kyiv Nadija Havryliuk, Tetiana Malenka and others.

“When I think about our Free All Words project and its incredible results, I can only be proud,” says Miguel Ángel Serrano, writer and president of the European Writers Council. – I always emphasize how important it is to keep words alive where repression and violence are unfortunately always around.

Opening windows to the expressions of our colleagues from Belarus and Ukraine is a noble idea, and the Council of European Writers is determined to continue this. #FreeAllWords is the best proof of what writers are capable of: giving the world a truly human, ever-new experience. The work of translators, through which works are made accessible to other cultures, gives them the opportunity to reach a wide circle of readers.

I am grateful to be a part of it. I would really like to just write the final report and finish the project: that would be a sign that the repression and the war are over. Unfortunately, this is not the case. So we continue the project, giving freedom to the words and works of our colleagues.”

For the second season of the project was restructured websiteyou can now read selected translations in the selected language.

43 translators work with the authors’ texts, they translate the works of the project participants into 13 European languages ​​- English, Hungarian, Danish, Spanish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, German, Portuguese, Romanian, Finnish and French. During the life of the project, a total of more than 130,000 words were translated. works of Ukrainian and Belarusian authors.

The project’s plans are to popularize the work of Belarusian and Ukrainian writers, to expand the opportunities for it to reach literary publications of other countries.

The #FreeAllWords initiative continues to collect applications for new participants. To join the project, send texts (no more than 7000 characters with spaces) with the subject: “author” to: [email protected]. The works are selected through a competition. Both poems and prose are accepted. All questions related to the project can be addressed to: [email protected].