Summer updates from the CELA project

As Europe is still enduring the corona pandemic and huge parts of the world are still in crisis, the CELA project partners have been searching for alternative ways to (re-)connect with each other. Join us in reading about what’s in store for the project and how they’ve stayed busy this summer!

Save the date! Saturday November 7th

The CELA talents and partners are virtually gathering in November to re-connect and discuss the future planning of CELA, the influence of corona and to share some exciting developments! We can’t tell you too much about what we are preparing just yet, but what we can do is tell you to mark the evening of November 7th in your calendar for the public element of the re-connect week! It is promising to be an exciting evening with some of the CELA talents on stage. Save the date and more on this soon!

Congratulations to…

Congratulations to Vincent van Meenen, Belgian CELA writer, for being selected for a residency at ‘Het Huis van de Dichter’ in Watou, Belgium! Since 2018 the house of Gwy Mandelinck is sixteen weeks per year open as a writers residency.

Congratulations to Aleksandra Lipczak, Polish CELA writer, for launching her second book ‘Lajla znaczy noc’, which translates loosely to: Laila means the night! Curious? You can read more about (and order!) the book here.

Congratulations to Charlotte van Rooden, Belgian CELA translator, for her first translation ‘Hartenvrouw’ from the Moldavian roman ‘Dama de cupă’ by Iulian Ciocan! You can read more about the translation here.

Congratulations to Gabriel Borowski, Polish CELA writer, for the premiere of his Polish translation ‘Kolekcjoner porzuconych dusz’ of the book by Eliane Brum! Read more about it here.

Art in Times of Corona

In an interview with Albert Meijer from Creative Europe, Dutch artistic coordinator Kim van Kaam, literary professional Stefanie Liebreks and writer Nikki Dekker talk about the current edition of CELA and the effect that corona has on its future! You can read the interview here! A little preview:

That travelling performance is the first outcome of the project, but the experience of the first edition of CELA has shown that the programme can also lead to other things. Kim van Kaam: “Maybe the most valuable thing is the network that you build as participants. The friendships that started in CELA can ultimately lead to an exchange about artistry between writers, translators and literary professionals, which has already led to a professional international network.”.

Launch of ‘Besmette Stad’ by deBuren

This summer, CELA partner deBuren launched the multimedia project ‘Besmette Stad’ (Contaminated City), in which a selection of Flemish and Dutch artists provide an artistic response to the corona crisis. They are inspired by ‘Bezette Stad’, an internationally renowned collection of poetry in which the Flemish writer Paul van Ostaijen looks back on the First World War. You can explore and read their contributions here!

About CELA poject

CELA offers a European context to a new generation of literary creators. The project allows intensive cooperation between European writers, translators and literary professionals with talent in the early stages of their professional career. They have the opportunity to work together on an international scale and present themselves to the European public. CELA offers lower-spread languages ​​a greater opportunity to improve the sound of continental voices in a choir dominated by great singers.

CELA offers participants a four-year training itinerary, tools and a network of contacts in order to facilitate an international career and build a combined professional practice for selected talents. Focusing on capacity building and transnational mobility, we specifically integrate digital opportunities for literature, new ways of generating income and the labor insertion of participants.

The second edition of the talent development program begins in September 2019 and will last until September 2023. In the first years, innovative organizations will jointly select and guide authors, translators and literary professionals, and offer them a training and education program. The program offers the target groups the capabilities, the international network and the necessary materials for the following years: their presentation in the European literary market.

In 2022 and 2023, participants will be presented through international marketing and advertising campaigns, a European tour of festivals and the connection with renowned writers (ambassadors) and literary organizations. With their participation in this project, literary talents will gain access to countless professionals in the publishing industry, such as translators, agents, publishers, event organizers, university professors of literature, ambassadors and official entities, private sector programmers and the public. We will increase the number of contracts for literary creators and the ability of participants to make an international career, as our methods at the national level have demonstrated.