Transpoesie - News

• 04/02/2020

The Call for Participation for TRANSPOESIE 2020 is now open”

Transpoesie 2020 is now calling for participation in this year’s celebration of poetry and linguistic diversity in Brussels.

ABOUT TRANSPOESIE 2020

TRANSPOESIE is an annual poetry festival organised by EUNIC Brussels, the network of European Union National Institutes for Culture, and its partners. The festival, now in its 10th year celebrates language diversity by bringing poetry in as many languages as possible to the international public of Brussels.

Our goal is to mark the annual European Day of Languages and Linguistic Diversity on 26 September by organising a series of events in September and October.

Our ambition is to introduce original and contemporary poems and poets to the Belgian and international public of Brussels by displaying poems in their original languages in the public transportation network through collaboration with STIB / MIVB (The Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company), and via the Transpoesie website. Both the website and the printed materials will contribute to raising awareness of the diversity of languages by providing a visible platform for their poetic expression.

By organising separate events under the umbrella of Transpoesie (with local partners such as Flagey, MuntPunt, Pianofabriek, Fondation Boghossian, Balassi Institute), where the poets and others can meet, the project will contribute to future cooperation between writers, cultural institutes and diverse language communities, stimulating new translations and other literary and linguistic exchanges.  

PREVIOUS EDITIONS

The TRANSPOESIE project was launched in Brussels in the autumn of 2011 for the European Day of Languages, inspired by the successful and long-standing Poems on the Underground in London and Wiersze w Metrze in Warsaw, as well as similar projects run in various capital cities all over the world such as Paris, New York and Montreal. Over the past 9 years, 197 European poets have presented their poems in the framework of the project, and all the participating poems and information about the poets are gathered on the Transpoesie website. This year’s poems and poets will be added to this growing compilation.

Our partners during the past editions have been: Brussels International House of Literature Passa Porta, Center for Fine Arts BOZAR, City of Brussels, the Representation of the European Commission in Belgium, European Commission DG EAC, Galerie Anspach, Loterie Nationale, STIB/MIVB, Actissia, MuntPunt, Le Cercle des Voyageurs etc.

WHAT WE OFFER in 2020

1. publishing of poems in their original languages, as well as translations, on the website of TRANSPOESIE
2. display of poems in their original languages and two translations (French and Dutch) in the public transportation network of Brussels - with 1 million journeys / day
3. showcase the poems in the TRANSPOESIE brochure and other printed materials
4. possibility of inviting the poet to one of the poetry events organized in Brussels
5. networking and new collaboration possibilities for the poets / translators

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

We propose two types of participation:

1. with a poem, published on our website and displayed in the public transportation network in original language and two translations (French and Dutch).
2. with a poem and a poet attending one of the reading events organised in Brussels in September and October

•   Poems for public display must be limited to a maximum of 8 lines, in order to allow graphic space for the translations. The 8 lines can of course be an extract from a longer poem, and the complete poem will be included on the website.

The participation fee is 300 euros per poem.

WHAT WE EXPECT

Costs and organisation

• if you participate with a poem, in addition to the participation fee, we expect you to cover the costs of translation and any copyright fees
• if you wish to have a poet participating at a reading event, we expect you to cover the costs of bringing the poet to Brussels ( e.g. travel, accommodation, fees etc.) and translations of the poems to be performed and any copyright fees

Quality of writing and translations

• the poet should be chosen in collaboration with professional literary entity of your country/region
• the translations should be made by literary translators with experience in translating poetry

Communication about Transpoesie and the events through all your channels of communication during September and October.

HOW TO APPLY

1. Deadline for notification of participation: 2 March 2020.

Please confirm your interest by sending an email with your contact info to info@transpoesie.eu.

Please also indicate whether you intend to invite a poet to Brussels.

After receiving your notification, the Transpoesie Team will contact you with more information.

1. Deadline for sending us the name of the poet, bio, photo, video and the poem together with the translations: 30 April.

By 30 April, we expect to receive from you the poem, (maximum 8 lines), the name of the poet, a short biography (in EN, FR, NL), and the translations of the poem to French and Dutch. You will receive further guidance on the submission of this material after 2 March, once we have received a clear indication of participation.

NB: the 3rd deadline below is only applicable if your poet participates in one of the events.

1. Deadline for sending us poems in translation to be read at one of the events: 30 June.

By 30 June, we expect to receive from you the poems that are to be read at the event in September or October and translations of them into French and Dutch. The poets should read about 8 min (approx. 700 words).