Without translators, many books from other literatures would never get to be read – and yet the translation itself is only the visible tip of the iceberg. Below the surface lies a whole range of roles translators take on, sometimes out of conviction, sometimes out of necessity: they find publishers, negotiate with them, seek out grant funding, maintain relationships with authors and agents, organize readings – in short, they become ambassadors for the literature they represent. This raises the question of curatorship: who decides what gets translated and published? In a market environment favouring authors from the home country and translations from English, a literary translation from a small language can only succeed if someone gets behind it and stakes their time, energy and reputation on it. The panel will discuss what motivates translators to step beyond the boundaries of their own craft and how they navigate the space where translation, curation and cultural policy overlap.

Veronika Siska, Susanna Räty, Julia Miesenböck. Moderation: Jitka Hanušová