Translating cultures – Cultures of translation. 33rd European Meeting of Cultural Journals

The 33rd European Meeting of Cultural Journals will take place from 7–9 November 2025 in the Slovenian–Italian cities of Nova Gorica/Gorizia, a ‘borderless’ European Capital of Culture in 2025. The conference is co-organized with Razpotja magazine.

Taking its lead from the cities’ bilingual and bi-national identities, the conference returns to a topic at the core of the Eurozine project: translation as means for the formation of a transnational public sphere.

When Eurozine met in Belgrade back in 2003 to discuss Europe and the Balkans: Politics of Translation, the political dimensions of translation emerged in sharp focus. With the violent collapse of the Yugoslav state still fresh in memory, translation seemed to be a ‘central metaphor of our time’. Translation was linked to an optimistic vision of ‘interculturality’, understood as an engagement with difference that avoided the pitfalls of identitarianism. But over two decades later, does the understanding of translation as ‘intercultural praxis’ appear utopian? Do culture wars and new nationalisms, linguistic homogenization and AI, call for a more utilitarian definition?

In Nova Gorica/Gorizia, the Eurozine network will be reassessing translation’s role in the formation of a transnational public sphere, discussing not just the ‘translation of culture’ but also ‘cultures of translation’. Panels will range from the literary and linguistic aspects of translation to questions about the ‘translation’ of authoritarian politics, and changing understandings of translation in the age of artificial intelligence. 

All panels and keynotes will be open to the public.

Programme

FRIDAY 7 NOV

KEYNOTE 18:00–19:30: Marci Shore

SATURDAY 8 NOV

PANEL 1 09:30–11:00

Directions of travel: Literary translation and cultural power

This panel brings together literary translators and journal editors to discuss how relationships of cultural power are not just reflected in but also challenged by practices of literary translation. Starting with wider questions about literature and cultural power, the discussion will move to concrete examples of hegemonic and counter-hegemonic translation.

Panelists: Jordan Elgrably, Stefan Ingvarsson, Erika Johnson Debeljak

Moderator: Ann Ighe

PANEL 2 11:30–13:00

Cultures within limits: Minority languages and translation

This panel explores how multilingual polities negotiate relations between minority and majority languages, and the role of translation in these processes. Taking Nova Gorica’s multilingual identity as a starting point, cultural journalists and linguists will discuss issues around language rights and language protection in a range of minority-majority constellations.

Panelists: Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones, Marco Stolfo, Sofiya Zahova

Moderator: Simona Škrabec

PANEL 3 14:30–16:00

Tyranny in translation: The transfer of authoritarianisms

The concept of translation can be used to understand processes through which political ideas, ideologies and practices migrate. Bringing together historians and journalists, this panel will explore the ‘translation’ of authoritarian politics at  regional and global levels. The aim is not to compare authoritarianisms in the abstract but to identify concrete and organic processes of transfer and exchange.

Panelists: Hamit Bozarslan, Stefano Bottoni, Marci Shore

Moderator: Luka Lisjak Gabrijelčič

PANEL 4 16:30–18:00

Transnational public spheres in the age of AI: Translation and technological change  

Neural machine translation wouldn’t exist without access to the work of translators. But how are AI translation tools altering the function of translation? How is the ubiquity of AI impacting on the formation of transnational publics? And how is AI’s ‘revolutionization’ of translation impacting the ethics of cultural content creation? Translators and researchers offer answers to these questions, drawing conclusions for cultural journals in particular.

Panelists: Florian Cramer, Claudia Hamm, Tanja Petrič

Moderator: Igor Harb

KEYNOTE 19:00: Mladen Dolar (tbc)