Second Newsletter

Events of 1999

The second year of The Transaltors House was as eventful as the first: during this period the House has been visited by foreign translators from all over the world. Apart from working, the translators took an active part in the cultural and social life of Balatonfüred and Veszprém county. Szava Babic, Daváhügijn Ganbold and Kjoszeva Szvetla have all been guests of the Lipták Szalon in the Kedves café. (Sz. Babic opened an exhibition, participated in the premier of a book and initiated the planting of a Hamvas Béla Memorial Tree, which will take place in the spring of the year 2000.) On the 14-15 th of May we organised a conference with the title: Being bound without boundaries about the theory of translation and Hungary 's preparation to the Frankfurt Book Fair. The list of lecturers included: Christoph Vitali ( Switzerland ), Mihály Szegedy-Maszák, Ernő Kulcsár Szabó, László Kúnos, Péter Krasztev, Lajos Pálfalvi, Viktória Radics, Endre Bojtár, Ildikó Józan, Kinga Klaudy, Szvetla Kjoszeva, György C. Kálmán (Pro Helvetia Programe). On the 12 th of June we had our traditional and increasingly popular garden-party, which also served as the opening celebration for a fine-arts exhibition organised by the house. The following artists generously lent one of their works for a year's duration: Ferenc Banga, Imre Bak, Márton Barabás, Imre Bukta, László Fehér, Áron Gábor, Károly Kelemen, György Kemény, Károly Klimó, András Koncz, László Mulasics, István Orosz, Zsuzsa Szenes, János Szirtes, László Szotyory, Ferenc Závodszky - we thank them once again. The exhibition was organised by Krisztina Jerger, art historian, vice-directress of the Műcsarnok, Ákos Vörösváry, president of the Első Magyar Látványtár (First Hungarian Sight Repository) made the opening speech. At the garden-party Gábor Kövi and Szabolcs Kövi were our musician guests.

On the occasion of the 1999 Frankfurt Book Fair the HTHF - with help from the Pro Helvetia Fund - sponsored the German edition of five Hungarian books; with the support of the Csokonai and Balassi publishing houses the Foundation also helped the publication of 5 important feminist works. The Translators House has been present at the Frankfurt Book Fair: we held a press conference where we introduced the foundation and presented the books we sponsored: Agáta Gordon: Kecskerúzs, István Gábor Benedek: Az elégett fénykép, Attila Hazai: Budapesti skizo, Györgyi Vándor: A rémület éjszakái, Ágnes Rapai: Versek. We also helped the publication of the volume with the title: Neue Theaterstücke aus Ungarn. - The library of the Translators House received 300 additional volumes. - The winners of the French translators' contest organised by the French Department of the ELTE University were invited for a week's stay to the House. - In the future we plan to travel abroad with the aim of developing public relations with those interested in the House. In the second half of November Péter Rácz, invited by the Hungarian Institute in Warsaw , spoke about the facilities of the Translators House at the Jagello University in Krakow and in the Hungarian Institute in Warsaw . - From the Cultural Department of The French Embassy we received a gift of 20 reference works. - In the course of the year 1999 the following newspapers reported about the work of the Translators House: Balatonfüredi Napló, Napló (Veszprém), Népszabadság,Magyar Hirlap, Népszava, Magyar Nemzet, Élet és Irodalom, Der Neue Pester Lloyd, Tages-Anzeiger (Zürich), The World of Translation (Japan), Hungarian Television, Schweizer Frensehen (Zürich), Der Schweizer Buchhandel (Zürich), Eine Welt (Bern) etc. - Zsuzsa Bocsor Mrs. Szamosfalvi our caretaker did a wonderful job.