Words, Actions: On Translation and Activism

Please note due to industrial action at UCL, this event has been moved to the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia (17 Dartmouth Street, London SW1H 9BL)

Suzana lives and works in Ljubljana as a writer, translator and essayist. Her books and short stories have been translated into more than twenty languages, while she herself has translated an impressive array of fiction and non-fiction into Slovene, including authors such as Judith Butler, Eileen Myles, Kate Bornstein, Ian McEwan and Truman Capote. As a co-founder of the pioneering lesbian group, Škuc-Lezbična sekcija LL, and an organiser of Ljubljana’s LGBT Film Festival, Tratnik is as proactive in society as she is productive on paper;  a synergy that she documented in her memoir Lezbični aktivizem po korakih (Lesbian Activism Step-by-Step; 2013). In 2016, a selection of Suzana’s stories became available to an English-speaking audience: Games with Greta and Other Stories (translated by Michael Biggins et al.) was published by Dalkey Archive Press. Discussion will turn to prominent themes in this work – marginal destinies in contemporary urban life, childhood in 60s and 70s Yugoslavia, and of course, her own experience of being translated.

This event is part of the World Festival of Slovene Science and Art organised on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the University of Ljubljana and being held at more than sixty universities around the world where Slovene is taught.

The event is hosted by UCL SSEES and made possible by the generous support of the Centre for Slovene as a Second and Foreign Language at the University of Ljubljana and the Slovene Ministry of Culture. Slovene wine will be served, courtesy of the Embassy of Slovenia in London. All are welcome, registration is free but essential via Eventbrite.