Literary congress for freedom of expression
2009.12.09
The Swedish Writers’ Union is working with Bilgi University in Istanbul to prepare the WALTIC writers’ congress. The organizing committee in Istanbul includes Turkish authors, translators and publishers, plus a member of the Turkish PEN Center.
WALTIC, which stands for Writers’ and Literary Translators’ International Congress, is committed to promoting literacy, defending freedom of expression and strengthening authors’ and translators’ rights. All are highly topical issues in present-day Turkey.
“We must speak freely and invite the guests we want to have,” says Mats Söderlund, of the Swedish Writers’ Union. “Kurdish poets, for instance, will be taking part in the program and reading from their works. The idea is to make a platform available so that cultural workers in Turkey can push the limits a bit.
“At the WALTIC congress in Istanbul, we’ll be discussing things like copyright and the digitalization of cultural heritage, and the means and prospects for translating other countries’ literature. Translation is, after all, a vital element in the exchange of ideas and experience between cultures.”
However, Türker Armaner, a member of the Turkish organizing committee, views WALTIC primarily as a literary conference.
“The obstacles to freedom of expression are a matter of ill-conceived legal codes,” he says. “So this congress of literature should not, I think, be bound by the juridical framework. However, international congresses, especially ones dealing with literature, represent an opportunity for all countries to reflect on political issues and perhaps suggest improvements.”
The WALTIC global congress held in Stockholm in 2008 attracted over 700 participants from 90 countries. Several of them were able to come to Sweden as the result of a scholarship program established by Sida and the Swedish Institute. According to Mats Söderlund, this led to a considerable number of exchange and translation projects.
“The response in 2008 was tremendous, and we have a thick file of press clippings to show for it,” he says. “Now we’re hoping to repeat that triumph in Istanbul.”