We are thrilled to inform you that the second stage of the translation workshop, which was aimed at helping beginning translators find inspiration to translate the first chapter of the book of their choice into Hebrew, has ended.

Three selected participants, under the supervision of a renowned translator Miriam Borenstein, prepared the first chapters of three excellent books:

• Rina Bodankin – “Agla” by Radek Rak

An extremely intensive and colorful novel from the fantasy genre by one of the most respected Polish writers of the young generation, a laureate of the Nike Literary Award in 2020, the most important prize for best authors in Poland.

“Agla,” with the title referring to the cabalistic term, is an adventure, surrealistic story about stages of life and adolescence, multidimensional transformation, love and hatred, violence, cruelty, and dark secrets. Undoubtedly, “Agla” was one of the remarkable books that did not go unnoticed in Poland.

• Arieh Nevo – „Things I didn’t throw out” by Marcin Wicha

It is a touching, personal story about the Author himself, who goes through things left by his late mother. An extraordinary woman of Jewish origin, an obsessive collector of various things, leaves her son with an apartment full of memories. The search through mother’s stuff leaves the Author with an endless void, a difficult dilemma regarding the importance of objects, moments of laughter and sadness, and the need to face a final closure.

“Things I didn’t throw out” brought Marcin Wicha the Nike Literary Award in 2018.

• Ryszard Fagot – “Dirty deeds” by Marek Hłasko

Marek Hłasko was one of the most distinguished Polish writers of the 20^th century. This uncompromising, rebellious Author is not widely known among Israeli readers, in spite of the fact that between the years 1959-60, he had lived in Israel, made friends, and even included the Jewish state in his novels. Until now, two of his works have been translated into Hebrew: “The Eight Day of the Week” (by B. Tene, 1972) and “Killing the Second Dog” (by I. Halpern, 2018).

“Dirty Deeds” was the first “Israeli” novel of Marek Hłasko, a result of his Israeli inspirations. The book tells the story of a pilot who, deprived of a license to fly, prepares to return to his profession and plans revenge for his dear friend’s death. Hłasko’s dark novel draws a picture of a man entangled in a circle of hatred and difficult love that may bring light into his lost mind.

Now, the most important stage of the workshop lies ahead of us—finding the Israeli publishing houses that will publish the Hebrew translations of the above books. With the assistance of the Polish Institute, the translators will start their search for publishers, presenting their sample translations of great pieces of Polish modern literature!

We would like to congratulate Rina Bodankin, Arie Nevo and Ryszard Fagot on their wonderful works, and hope that this year will bring them good news and successful publications!