Γράφει: Παναγιώτης Σιδηρόπουλος

Λογοτεχνία & μετάφραση: Αρχαίοι πολιτισμοί & σύγχρονες γλώσσες
Συνάντηση συγγραφέων από την Κίνα & την Ελλάδα
2 Μαΐου 2019 - 19:00-20:50
Polis Art Café

Συμμετέχουν:

• QIAN Xiaoqian, Αντιπρόεδρος, Εταιρεία Συγγραφέων Κίνας
• LIU Guanjun, Πρόεδρος, Εταιρεία Συγγραφέων Πεκίνου, μυθιστοριογράφος
• CHI Zijian, Πρόεδρος, Εταιρεία Συγγραφέων Χεϊλονγκτσιάνγκ, μυθιστοριογράφος
• WANG Yuewen, Πρόεδρος, Εταιρεία Συγγραφέων Χουνάν, μυθιστοριογράφος
• LIANG Hongying, Διευθυντής, Εφημερίδα της Λογοτεχνίας & των Τεχνών, κριτικός
• Γιώργος Βέης, Αντιπρόεδρος, Εταιρεία Συγγραφέων, ποιητής & κριτικός
• Φίλιππος Δρακονταειδής, πεζογράφος & μεταφραστής
• Έρση Σωτηροπούλου, πεζογράφος
• Ευγένιος Τριβιζάς, πεζογράφος & συγγραφέας παιδικής λογοτεχνίας

Συντονίζουν:

• ZHANG Tao, Γενικός Διευθυντής, Τμήμα Διεθνών Σχέσεων, Εταιρεία Συγγραφέων Κίνας
• Γιώργος Χουλιάρας, Πρόεδρος, Εταιρεία Συγγραφέων

«Λογοτεχνία & μετάφραση: Αρχαίοι πολιτισμοί & σύγχρονες γλώσσες», είναι το θέμα μιας δημόσιας συζήτησης συγγραφέων από την Κίνα και την Ελλάδα, που διοργανώνεται στις 2 Μαΐου 2019, στις 7μμ, στο Polis Art Café (Πεσμαζόγλου 5 & Σταδίου), στο πλαίσιο σειράς συναντήσεων της Εταιρείας Συγγραφέων με συγγραφείς από άλλες χώρες.

Στην αντιπροσωπεία συγγραφέων από την Κίνα, που έχει προσκληθεί στη χώρα μας, συμμετέχουν ο Αντιπρόεδρος της Εταιρείας Συγγραφέων Κίνας και επικεφαλής της αντιπροσωπείας QIAN Xiaoqian, ο Πρόεδρος της Εταιρείας Συγγραφέων Πεκίνου, μυθιστοριογράφος LIU Guanjun, η Πρόεδρος της Εταιρείας Συγγραφέων Χεϊλονγκτσιάνγκ, μυθιστοριογράφος CHI Zijian, ο Πρόεδρος της Εταιρείας Συγγραφέων Χουνάν, μυθιστοριογράφος WANG Yuewen και ο Διευθυντής της Εφημερίδας της Λογοτεχνίας & των Τεχνών, κριτικός LIANG Hongying.

Στην εκδήλωση θα υπάρξουν πολύ σύντομες τοποθετήσεις και συζήτηση, στα αγγλικά με συνοπτική διερμηνεία, από μέλη της αντιπροσωπείας συγγραφέων από την Κίνα και από Έλληνες συγγραφείς και μέλη της Εταιρείας, όπως ο Γιώργος Βέης, ο Φίλιππος Δρακονταειδής, η Έρση Σωτηροπούλου και ο Ευγένιος Τριβιζάς, ενώ τη συζήτηση θα συντονίσουν ο Γενικός Διευθυντής του Τμήματος Διεθνών Σχέσεων της Εταιρείας Συγγραφέων Κίνας ZHANG Tao και ο Πρόεδρος της Εταιρείας Συγγραφέων Γιώργος Χουλιάρας.

Η εκδήλωση περιλαμβάνει 12λεπτη «πρόγευση» σύνθεσης ποιητικού λόγου, που ετοιμάζεται από το Διαπολιτισμικό Κέντρο Τεχνών σε έρευνα και σκηνοθεσία Θάνου Μιχαλά. Η σκηνική παρουσίαση του έργου-χορικού θα έχει αποσπάσματα από τη Ραψωδία Θ΄ (υποδοχή του Οδυσσέα ως «ξένου») της Οδύσσειας του Ομήρου σε μετάφραση Σίδερη, τον Καβάφη και άλλους, όπως επίσης από τον Χε-Τζι-Τζανγκ (659-747 ΚΧ), τον Γουάνγκ-Γουί (701 -761 ΚΧ), τον Ντου-Φου (712 -770 ΚΧ), τον Τζια Ντάο (779 - 843 ΚΧ) και νεότερους. Για την παρουσίαση συνεργάζονται Χρήστος Μηλιώνης, Cian X Su, Li Fang, Guo Q, Zeng Zkeng, Έλλη Στεργίου και άλλοι.

Κατά την παραμονή της στην Αθήνα, η αντιπροσωπεία συγγραφέων από την Κίνα θα συναντηθεί με την Υπουργό Πολιτισμού Μυρσίνη Ζορμπά, ενώ διμερούς ενδιαφέροντος συζητήσεις θα έχει με το Διοικητικό Συμβούλιο της Εταιρείας Συγγραφέων.

Literature & Translation: Ancient Cultures & Modern Languages
A public discussion with writers from China and Greece
May 2, 2019, 19:00 to 20:50
Polis Art Café (5 Pesmazoglou & Stadiou Street)

Participants

• QIAN Xiaoqian, Vice President, China Writers Association
• LIU Guanjun, President, Beijing Writers Association, novelist
• CHI Zijian, President, Heilongjiang Writers Association, novelist
• WANG Yuewen, President, Hunan Writers Association, novelist
• LIANG Hongying, Chief Editor, Literature and Arts Newspaper, critic
• Philip Dracodaidis, prose writer & translator
• Ersi Sotiropoulos, prose writer
• Eugene Trivizas, prose writer & author of books for children
• Yiorgos Veis, Vice President, Hellenic Authors’ Society, poet & literary critic

Discussion coordinated by

• ZHANG Tao, Director General, International Liaison Department, China Writers Association
• Yiorgos Chouliaras, President, Hellenic Authors’ Society

“Literature & Translation: Ancient Cultures & Modern Languages” is the theme of a public discussion with writers from China and Greece, which is being held on May 2, 2019, at 7pm, at the Polis Art Café (5 Pesmazoglou & Stadiou Street), in the context of meetings sponsored by the Hellenic Authors’ Society with writers from other countries.

Led by the Vice President of the China Writers Association QIAN Xiaoqian, the delegation of Chinese writers includes the President of the Beijing Writers Association, novelist LIU Guanjun, the President of the Heilongjiang Writers Association, novelist CHI Zijian, the President of the Hunan Writers Association, novelist WANG Yuewen, and the Chief Editor of the Literature and Arts Newspaper, critic LIANG Hongying.

There will be very brief comments in English by members of the delegation and by members of the Hellenic Authors’ Society, such as the prose writer and translator Philip Dracodaidis, the prose writer Ersi Sotiropoulos, the prose writer and author of books for children Eugene Trivizas, and the poet and literary critic and Vice President of the Hellenic Authors’ Society Yiorgos Veis, while discussion will be coordinated by the Director General of the International Liaison Department of the China Writers Association ZHANG Tao and the President of the Hellenic Authors’ Society Yiorgos Chouliaras.

The event also involves a 12-min-long preview or “foretaste” of a synthesis of Chinese and Greek verses, currently being prepared by the Crosscultural Arts Center under the direction of Thanos Michalas. The production of this poetic chorus will include verses from Book 9 of Homer’s Odyssey (on welcoming the “foreigner” Odysseus), transposed into modern Greek by Zissimos Sideris, as well as by ancient Chinese poets, C.P. Cavafy and others. Christos Milionis, Cian X Su, Li Fang, Guo Q, Zeng Zkeng, Elli Stergiou and others are collaborating on the project.

While in Athens, the high-level delegation of writers from China will meet with the Culture Minister Dr. Myrsini Zorba as well as have discussions on issues of bilateral interest with the Executive Board of the Hellenic Authors’ Society.

Regarding the Society

The Hellenic Authors’ Society is the principal association in Greece of poets, prose writers, essayists, translators, literary critics and academics writing primarily in Greek. Nobel laureate Odysseas Elytis was its first honorary president. Corresponding and honorary members include prominent writers outside Greece, such as Umberto Eco and Seamus Heaney. There are more than 350 members, while peer-reviewed membership requires nomination by seven standing members and an augmented majority in a secret ballot by its General Assembly, which also elects an Executive Board. Freedom of expression, the rights of authors, copyright issues, and the projection of Greek literature abroad are principal objectives of the Society, which bestows four literary awards annually to emerging and established writers and has an extensive program of publications. The Society’s engagement with international organizations, such as UNESCO, has led, for instance, to the establishment of a World Poetry Day.

The Hellenic Authors’ Society Executive Board

• Yiorgos Chouliaras, President
• Yiorgos Veis, Vice President
• Angeliki Stratigopoulou, General Secretary
• Iro Nikopoulou, Treasurer
• Maria Koursi, Member
• Liana Sakelliou, Member
• Makis Tsitas, Member

Biographical information

Qian Xiaoqian

Born in 1955 in Shanghai, he went to work at a farm after graduating from high school in 1973. In 1979, he went to study at the Renmin University of China and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in law. In 1983 he began theoretical studies. He has held many positions. In February 2004, he was appointed Deputy Director of the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China. In May 2011, he was appointed Deputy Director of the State Internet Information Office. In May 2013, he was elected Vice President of the China Writers Association (CWA) and a Secretariat member, while serving concurrently as the Dean of the Lu Xun Academy of Literature until March 2015. Since the end of 2014, he presided over the daily work of the Secretariat of CWA. He was elected again Vice President of the China Writers Association and a Secretariat member at the 9^th National Congress of CWA in December 2016, continuing to preside over the daily work of the Secretariat.

Liu Guanjun

Born in Beijing in 1954, he is the chief editor of Beijing Literature, Vice President of the China Writers Association, President of the Beijing Municipal Writers Association and a member of CPPCC. He studied at a primary and middle school affiliated with Beijing Foreign Studies University. He joined the PLA Navy in 1969 and retired in 1975 to be a fitter and assembler in Beijing Automobile Manufacturing Factory. In 1979, he was transferred to Beijing Literature to be an editor on fiction and later became a resident writer of the Beijing Municipal Writers Association. Since 1977 he has published many works including the novels Black Snow, Ode to Leisure, and Daydreams on Green River, the novellas White Whirlpool, Fuxi Fuxi, Sapless Illness, and No One Else Knows, the short stories Dogshit Food, Small Millstone, Education Poems, and Master of Martial Arts. He has won national and provincial literary prizes, while his work has been translated into English, French, Japanese, Italian, German, Korean, and other languages. Since 1988 he started writing plays and adapting fiction for the theater. His work includes the film scripts My Animal Year, Ju Dou, Without Confusion at Forty, The Story of Qiu Ju, King of Western Chu, Red Rose White Rose, One and a Half, A Soul Haunted by Painting, Breaking the Silence, Zhang Side, The Knot, Assembly, Tie Ren, The Flowers of War, The Tree in the Rain, Sha Jie, My War, Surrounding, and 731 and the TV scripts The Road Facing the Sky, The Happy Life of Chatter-box Zhang Damin, and Young Emperor among others. He has received many awards in film and television festivals at home and abroad, including Best Screenplay Awards.

Chi Zijian

Born in 1964 in Mohe City, Heilongjiang province, Ms. Chi Zijian started writing stories in 1983. She has published literary works of over 6 million Chinese characters, most of which are novels, coupled with 90-odd separately printed books. Her major works include the full-length novels The Puppet State of Manchukuo, Sunshine Behind the Clouds, The Last Quarter of the Moon, Snow and Raven and Peak among the Mountains; the novella collections Tales from an Arctic Village, The Snowy Graveyard, Travels to White Nights, Dead Streams, Come and See the Snow, My Friends, Washing off the Dust of the Road, Mist, Moon and Cow Byre, The Andante Stepping on Moonlight, and All Nights in the World; and the essay collections The Beauty of Sentimentality and Snow Falls upon My World. She is the winner of the 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th Lu Xun Literary Prize, the 7^th Mao Dun Literary Prize and the Australian Suspended Sentence Award, among others. Her works have been translated into English, French, Japanese, Italian, Korean, Thai, Dutch, and Swedish.

Wang Yuewen

Writer and President of the Hunan Provincial Writers Association, he is the Deputy Director of the Committee on Culture, Education, Public Health, Sports, Literature and History under the Hunan Provincial CPPCC. As a member of the Presidium of the China Writers Association, he has been honored as Hunan Provincial Artist of Professional Excellence and Moral Integrity, National Cultural Personality as well as with membership of Four “A Patch” Talent. Other awards include the Lu Xun Literature Prize, the Hunan Provincial Cultural Innovation Award, the Hunan Provincial Literature and Arts Prize, the Hunan Provincial Youth Literature Award as well as awards by literary magazines such as Selected Fictions, Chinese Writers, and Dangdai Bimonthly. Principal works include the novels Traditional Painting, Stories in Meici, Ghost Bird, From Morning to Night, Premier of Qing Empire, Black and Yellow, and First Year of Love Calendar, the novellas Manshui and A Snowless Winter, the selected essays Cost of Humor, and the selected interviews Not Against Principles and Wang Yuewen’s Literary Memoir. Manshui and Premier of Qing Empire have been translated and published in the UK and Japan respectively. Enjoying a high reputation among literary circles and readers, his work vigorously expresses life, a humanistic quest in history and an affectionate retrospection for his hometown.  

Liang Hongying

Born in June 1962, he is the editor-in-chief of Literature and Art Newspaper and a member of the presidium of the China Writers Association. Before his present post, he had been in charge of the Creation and Research Department of CWA. Once engaged in literary translation, now he is mainly working on literary criticism and prose writing. Collections of literary criticism he has published include Watchman of the Sky of Literature, Literature: Towards Endless Possibilities, Pursuing Truth and Making Inquiries and The Reasons for Writing. In addition, he has published prose in such magazines as October, Shanghai Literature, and Beijing Literature.

Zhang Tao

He studied in the English Department of the Sichuan International Studies University from 1982-1986, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and American Language and Literature. Having attended the People’s University of China since 1986, he was conferred a LLB on International Law and International Relations by the University in 1988. He also took refresher courses on Human Resources Management at the London School of Economics and Political Science from 1994 to1995. He has long been involved in international exchanges of literature between China and foreign countries and has undertaken translation and interpretation work. He is an organizer of bilateral interactions among writers as well as a sort of midwife to multilateral literary activities that include Sino-foreign literary forums, international sinologist conferences, and international writing programs. He is now Director General of the International Liaison Department of the China Writers Association.

Yiorgos Chouliaras

A poet, essayist, fiction writer and translator, he was awarded in 2014 an Academy of Athens prize for his work in its entirety.  Published in major periodicals and anthologies, including Harvard Review, Poetry, World Literature Today, and Modern European Poets, his poetry has also been translated in Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, and Turkey among other countries. Born in Thessaloniki and educated in the U.S., he worked mostly in New York as university lecturer, advisor to cultural institutions (including MOMA, the Cultural Capital of Europe, and the Hellenic Foundation for Culture), correspondent, and Press Counselor at Greek Embassies in Washington, DC, and elsewhere. A co-founder of the influential literary reviews Tram and Hartis and an editor of U.S. literary and scholarly publications, he served twice as Jury President for the European Union Prize for Literature and was elected President of the Hellenic Authors’ Society.

Philip Dracodaidis

A novelist and short story writer, his essays focus on political, ethical, and social issues. He closely follows scientific and technological developments (computing, artificial intelligence, fourth industrial revolution) in order to examine their potential cultural repercussions. He has translated Montaigne (Essays), Rabelais (Gargantua and Pantagruel), Baltazar Gracián (Oráculo Manual, El Héroe), Pessoa, Juan Rulfo, and Milan Kundera. He collaborates with literary magazines (book presentations and reviews) and newspapers (political commentaries). He is Officer of Letters and Arts (France) and Commander of the Order of Isabel (Spain). A founding member of the Hellenic Authors’ Society and a Member of the Board of the Greek Collecting Society for Literary Works, Dr Dracodaidis is an international expert on cultural programs and projects financed by international donors such as the European Union and the World Bank.

Ersi Sotiropoulos

The author of sixteen books of fiction and poetry, her work has been translated into many languages, while she has been awarded the Greek National Book Prize twice, the Book Critics Award, and the Athens Academy Prize, and has been shortlisted for the European Book Prize. Her novel What’s Left of the Night won the Prix Méditerranée Étranger 2017 in France. She has written scripts for film and television and participated in exhibitions of Visual Poetry. She served for nine years as the Cultural Attaché for the Greek Embassy in Rome and has been a fellow at the University of Iowa International Writing Program, Princeton University, Schloss Wiepersdorf in Germany, Villa Yourcenar in France and elsewhere. She was a writer in residence of the 2018 Shanghai Writing Program.

Eugene Trivizas

Greek children's writer. Although educated in law and a specialist in criminal law and comparative criminology, Trivizas has published more than 120 children's books and is one of the most popular Greek authors. He has written short stories, fairytales, picture books, novels, poems, television series, songs, plays, and even opera librettos for children. Humor, subversiveness, a multilevel complexity and the unexpected transformations of classic stories and images are the key elements of Trivizas’ work. His international appeal, however, is clearly evident in his best-known work, The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig (1993). Trivizas’ clever twist on the classic fairytale of the three little pigs took the world by storm through numerous translations, and sales reached a million copies in the United States alone, earning it second place on a list of best sellers for children. Creator of strange creatures and imaginary lands, Trivizas’ mastery of imagination, transformation, satire, and wordplay has secured him major status in both contemporary Greek and international children's literature. (Jack Zipes, Editor-in-chief, The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Children's Literature, Oxford University Press, 2006)

Yiorgos Veis

Born in Athens in 1955, he has served as Ambassador to UNESCO and at other postings, including a total of eight years in the P. R. of China. He has been the recipient three times of the Greek National Literary Award for his travel memoirs. The Academy of Athens has honored his poetry twice. He is currently the Vice President of the Hellenic Authors’ Society. Other distinctions include the Andreas Kalvos Award from Queens College, City University of New York, for his support as Consul of Greece and Grand Commander of the Greek Order of the Phoenix.