On March 19th and 20th, Lukukeskus, Kulttuuria kaikille and Sivuvalo organized the second round of discussions on the situation of authors writing in other languages than Finnish or Swedish.
This time the emphasis was on how to promote the visibility of these authors and figure out solutions to the problem of translations. Publishing is the natural way for every writer to get visibility but how can an author become published if his/her work is not translated into Finnish or Swedish? How can publishers and foundations evaluate these texts? How can readers get to know these authors if they don’t have any presence in literary circles and structures? Mass media play an important role in the building of an author’s visibility. How to make the Finnish society aware of the benefits of multilingualism?
Discussions centered on these issues brought together writers, journalists, researchers and representatives of FILI and Kone Foundation.
For its part, Sivuvalo will take a next step and publish an online magazine and a Cartonero book. These are alternative spaces for authors who write in other languages to share their production and to overcome language barriers.
Article of the Swedish magazine Ny Tid on the topic: Den annanspråkiga litteraturens osynlighet
Sivuvalo Platform 