Madrid held a presentation of anthologies of Kazakh literature in Spanish
On 27 September this year, at the Instituto Cervantes’s headquarters (Madrid, Spain) a presentation was made of the anthologies of modern Kazakh prose and poetry in Spanish, Strategy2050.kz informs.
The event saw the distinguished Spanish literary figures, translators, scholars, journalists, and the members of the Kazakh club of friends in Spain in attendance. Aida Balayeva, Assistant to the Kazakh President, Secretary of the National Commission on the Rukhani Zhangyru Programme, Konstantin Zhigalov, Kazakh Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Spain, Rauan Kenzhekhanuly, Executive Director of the National Translation Bureau, Akberen Yelgezek, Deputy Chair of the Kazakh Union of Writers represented the Kazakh side.
A strategic partner and a creative consultant of the project under the Rukhani Zhangyru programme included Spain’s Ministry of Culture and the Instituto Cervantes respectively. Meanwhile, the Visor-Libros publishing house made literary translation, publication and distribution, involving the best literary translators. One of them is María Sánchez Puig, a Spanish royal family translator, doctor of philology, professor, who also wrote a preamble to the anthology of Kazakh prose. Modern Kazakh poetry is introduced by a prominent Spanish poet, philologist, and academic of the Royal Academy Luis Alberto de Cuenca.
Rosa León, Director of the the Instituto Cervantes, marked that he and his counterparts understand and support Kazakhstan’s desire to bring its culture and literature to the world.
“I am certain that Kazakh readers are familiar with our prominent writers, poets and painters, we have worked hard to make the world know them. However, the real friendship and understanding of cultural exchange should be reciprocal. Therefore, the publication of such collections is of great importance for us, which is the genuine interpenetration of cultures,” Rosa León said.
In her turn, Aida Balayeva noted that the translation and publication of the anthologies of Kazakh literature in 6 UN languages carried out as part of the Rukhani Zhangyru Programme put forward by first Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.
“One of the projects under the Rukhani Zhangyru Programme is dubbed “Modern Kazakh culture in a global world,” that aims at presenting a modern Kazakhstan through its culture. Therefore, to ensure the good quality of the translation to reach out to the hearts of Spanish readers was the most significant thing for us. To that end, the translators left for Kazakhstan to get to know the authors, country and culture, becoming agents of our friendship relations. We hope that this cooperation will promote an increased convergence of Kazakh and Spanish cultures, foster the relations among our countries,” she said.
The anthologies of modern Kazakh prose and poetry are published in Spanish in 10 thousand copies, and will be available in libraries, educational institutions and academic centres of Spain as well as 18 Latin American countries with an audience of 600 million people.
About the project. The translation of two anthologies of contemporary Kazakh literature is made as part of the project “Contemporary Kazakh Culture in the Global World”, which is one of the focuses of the Rukhani Zhangyru porgramme. They are “An anthology of contemporary Kazakh poetry” and “An anthology of contemporary Kazakh prose”. Each anthology extends over a total of some 500 pages, includes collected works of 30 Kazakh authors.
