TEHRAN – Iranian writer and translator Farid Qadami has been invited to attend the 2019 Autumn Literature Translation Studio, which is organized by the Sofia Literature and Translation House every year, the writer has announced on his Instagram account.

Qadami and 13 writers and translators from different countries, including Russia, the U.S., Ukraine and Argentina, have been invited to attend the program running in two separate periods from September 13 to 15 and 27 to 29.

In 2016, Qadami was granted the Joyce Scholarship and Looren Residency, which is offered by the Friends of the Zurich James Joyce Foundation and Translation House Looren located in the Swiss city of Zurich.

Works of many writers, including Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, D.H. Lawrence, Ossip Mandelstam, Walt Whitman and William Butler Yeats, have been translated into Persian by Qadami.

Persian translation of a selection of Allen Ginsberg’s haikus, poems and quotes by Qadami was published in a book titled “American Pieces” in 2017.

He is also the translator of Richard Brautigan’s “Willard and His Bowling Trophies: A Perverse Mystery”.

The program of the Sofia Literature and Translation House is arranged at the Next Page Foundation that started in 2014.

Located in the beautiful former residency of the renowned painter Nenko Balkanski (1907-1977) that was entirely renovated and brought back to life, the house is the first ever space in Sofia specially dedicated to international literary communication and to stimulating a new attitude towards literature. 

It acts as a physical and virtual hub for both Bulgarian and international writers and literary translators.

The Sofia Literature and Translation House provides creative residencies for translators who work from the Bulgarian language into any language of the world as well as to writers. 

The house also functions as a cultural center, offering workshops on literary translation and creative writing, public discussions, book launches and events with children and youth. 

Photo: Farid Qadami in an undated photo. 

RM/MMS/YAW