Free of charge, ‘Dall’italiano al mondo’ on the translation of Italian literature is on November 24; registration closing November 21.

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

Registration Closes November 21

A third edition of a translation conference is being offered on November 24, and because it’s being digitally produced, it’s available to our international readership.

Named Dall’italiano al mondo—”From Italian to the World”—the program is an initiative of the Salone Internazionale del Libro, and it’s intent is to promote and support literary translators whose work “gives voice to Italian literature all over the world.”

Many book markets now are making highly organized and nationally cooperative efforts to approach the international marketplace to boost translation and publication in far-flung territories and languages.

The more this kind of outreach to translators is developed by international rights trading centers like Torino and Frankfurter Buchmesse (which is one of the organizations supporting Torino in this effort), the more those translators are boosted into view. It’s a win-win approach to the international literary rights-trading industry, in other words.

The program on the 24th, one week from today, is free of charge to all participants and is set to run from 2 to 6:30 p.m. CET at home base in Torino. For our readers in the Americas, that’s a comfortable 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. ET, and for translation to other zones, it’s 1 to 5:30 p.m. GMT. The program will be delivered on the Torino fair’s SalTo+ platform, details of which will come to those registered.

Ilide Carmignani, a translator herself and an editorial consultant with the Salone, is curating the event. For registration and information, see the program’s SalTo+ page here.

The conference is open to all translators from Italian and the expected working language is Italian. Afterwards, participants will receive illustrative material and contacts. Registration is to close Tuesday (November 21). For registration and information: https://saltopiu.salonelibro.it

Once you have entered the platform, complete your profile with your details. To access registration, go to the Our online courses section. Any interested foreign agents or publishers can submit an application via email: dallitalianoalmondo@salonelibro.it

Programming for November 24

As was announced in October at Frankfurter Buchmesse by the incoming 2024 Guest of Honor Italy program, the recent “State of Publishing in Italy” report from the Association of Italian Publishers (Associazione Italiana Editori, AIE) indicates that sales of Italian translation and publication rights on the world market are stable after the growth recorded in 2019, when as many as 8,569 titles were sold.

In 2022, the report says, there were 7,889 rights-sale contracts tracked, with the main buying markets being France, Spain, and Poland.

Dall’italiano al mondo on the 24th is expected to include:

• Latest trends in Italian fiction and nonfiction with input from L’indiscreto and Prodenonelegge, an annual book festival held in Pordenone
• An overview of novels and poetry collections engaged with the Strega Prize, with the collaboration of the Bellonci Foundation
• A focus on children’s literature with collaboration from Andersen magazine
• An assessment of the work of literary agents in the book value chain
• Commentary on the state of contemporary Italian literature, with input from a literary podcast, Timbuctu

Speakers for this third edition are to include, in addition to the curator, Carmignani:

• Annalena Benini, director of the Salone Internazionale del Libro di Torino
• Juergen Boos, president and CEO of Frankfurter Buchmesse
• Francesca Novajra, president of the Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs Littéraires (CEATL)
• Roberta Locksmiths of the PETRA e-Network
• Jan Naess of the Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs (FIT)
• Edoardo Rialti, a translator
• Vanni Santoni, a writer with L’Indiscreto
• Stefano Petrocchi, director of the Bellonci Foundation, which organizes the Premio Strega
• Gian Mario Villalta, poet and artistic director of Pordenonelegge
• Laura Pugno, writer and manager at the ministry of foreign affairs
• Martina Russo of the children’s literature magazine Andersen
• Marino Sinibaldi, journalist and literary critic, the creator of Timbuctu podcast for Il Post
• Monica Malatesta of the MalaTesta literary agency
• Carmen Prestia of the eponymous Carmen Prestia Literary Agency

‘Avenues for Italian Books’

The upcoming conference was originally conceived in connection with next year’s Guest of Honor Italy program at Frankfurt, and in its third year, it’s seen by many editorial specialists and translators working in Italiano as an important event.

Carmignani, the curator of the program says she sees part of its importance being the channel it created for developing “a support network for the export of our publications. It’s in fact quite common for translators to combine their professional activity with scouting initiatives,” of course, as she points out, “which can create new avenues for Italian books beyond our borders, especially in smaller publishing houses.”

As examples of this dynamic, she names the novels La vita sessuale di Guglielmo Sputacchiera by Alberto Ravasio and Ferrovie del Messico by Gian Marco Griffi, key overseas sellers in the past.

The Salone created its associated program called Autore Invisible, in 2001 also curated by Carmignani.

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More from Publishing Perspectives on Italy and its book publishing industry is here, and more on the Italian Publishers Association (AIE) is here. More on Frankfurter Buchmesse is here, more on its guest of honor program is here, while more on translation and translators is here, with more on international publication and translation rights here.