Annette Kopetzki and Ingo Herzke

Annette Kopetzki and Ingo Herzke, Translators

Annette Kopetzki (© Ebba Drolshagen) and Ingo Herzke (©Miklós Klaus Rózsa). 

Audioscript Annette Kopetzki and Ingo Herzke

Hello, my name is Annette Kopetzki and I have been translating Italian literature for 30 years.  

I am Ingo Herzke and I have been translating English literature for 25 years.  

Annette Kopetzki: Over the past 15 years, we have both tried to give literary translation the space it deserves at Frankfurter Buchmesse.

Ingo Herzke: In 2004, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of our professional association, the VDÜ - Verband deutschsprachiger Literaturübersetzer und -übersetzerinnen, an international translators' centre was set up at Frankfurter Buchmesse for the first time, and the fair provided stand space for it. 

Annette Kopetzki: In 2010, our stage merged into a much larger centre for politics, literature and translation called Weltempfang. For this we were able to organise consistently well-attended and high-profile discussions, performances and events.

Ingo Herzke: In 2022, the German Foreign Office stopped funding the Weltempfang, which had previously functioned ina very limited way the year before under pandemic conditions.

Annette Kopetzki: We then applied to the BKM for funding for an international translation centre and received generous project funding from Neustart Kultur. We were supported financially and logistically by Buchmesse GmbH. Our most important partners in the implementation were Weltlesebühne e.V., an association founded by translators that brings literary translation to the stage, - and DÜF, the German Translators' Fund. Together with the Federal Association of Interpreters and Translators, we provided information about our profession at this centre.

Ingo Herzke: The centre offered us and many other institutions and organisations involved in translation and cultural exchange a prominent stage. The events were, for example, about the visibility of translators, language, power and politics, cultural diversity as a translation problem, postcolonial translation and sensitive language. At the same time, the translation centre was and is a place of encounter, exchange and networking.

https://www.buchmesse.de/weltempfang