Translating literature from Eastern Europe into English has until now been an expensive process limiting the number of authors available to readers in English speaking countries. Is this about to change with AI? Using AI can reduce the cost of translation dramatically. But can AI deliver quality translations? A publisher, translator and a reader kick off a discussion on this important topic.
Speakers:
Susan Curtis-Kojakovic, the founding director of Istros Books, is an independent publisher of contemporary literature from South East Europe, based in Bloomsbury, London. Istros Books was set up in 2011 to to showcase the very best of literature – both fiction and non-fiction – from the Balkan region to a new audience of English speakers, bringing the best of European writing through quality translation.
Christina Zoric, is a translator of Croatian fiction and previously a translator at The Hague. She has translated more than thirty books from Serbo-Croat and French into English. Some of her major translations include:
- The Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavić
- Landscape Painted with Tea by Milorad Pavić
- Zlata’s Diary by Zlata Filipović
- Tales of Old Sarajevo by Isak Samokovlija
- Frida’s Bed by Slavenka Drakulić
- Herbarium of Souls by Vladimir Tasic
- The House of Remembering and Forgetting by Filip David
Roy Cross, former Director of the British Council in Croatia. Roy’s career with the British Council spanned more than four decades as teacher, trainer, English Language officer, country director, regional director and consultant. He started work as an English language lector at Zagreb University in 1979, and along the way has worked and lived in Baghdad, Berlin, Bucharest, Edinburgh, London, Munich, and Stockholm.
