PEN International’s Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee is organising a new Video-Poem Marathon in Indigenous and Minoritised Languages, from February 21, 2025 (International Mother Language Day) to March 21 (World Poetry Day).
This simple activity is essential for making visible linguistic communities and literary works that are too often ignored. Each new poem created in a minoritised language revitalises that language and empowers the artists who work with it. Displaying that poem alongside dozens of literary creations in similar linguistic situations adds a small but important drop to a community frequently deprived of access to its own culture.
In the last four years, we have collected more than 200 poems in around 140 languages from around the world. The requirements are simple:
– A poem read/recited by its author ONLY in the original language.
– Recorded horizontally (panoramic mode).
– Duration: ideally, 0.30 to 1.00 (small is beautiful!), no more than 1.30 minutes.
– No edition or post-production: Just the poet reciting the poem.
– Check the audio: we want to hear the poem and the language well.
We also need a text file, with the poem and its translations. Ideally, in columns facing each other. If it is not written in the Latin alphabet, please also include a transcription.
Finally, a couple of sentences (250 characters), to contextualize the language.
Videos should have a resolution of 1920 x 1080. We need the original files. Since WhatsApp compresses the files, it is convenient to upload them (Drive, WeTransfer, Dropbox, etc.) and send us a link by email pen.tlrc@gmail.com.
Any questions, queries or questions, do not hesitate to write to us, so we can explain the final details. The deadline is February 14, 2025 (but we would appreciate it if you contacted us as soon as possible!)
CALL TO TRANSLATE AND SHARE THE PROJECT
What if my center works in a non-minoritized language (English, Spanish, German, Arabic, Mandarin, Russian, Japanese…)? We believe that it is important to reserve this space for poets in minoritised languages, who generally have much lower visibility than those in mainstream languages, even in their own countries. However, there are other ways to participate:
– The dynamic of many PEN centers is to work in the main language of their country, without paying much attention to the existing indigenous communities and minoritised languages. This could be an excellent opportunity to invite them to participate and start a new relationship with artists who, perhaps unintentionally, did not have access to the PEN center itself.
– Most video-poems only have one translation, into English, French or Spanish. Why not help translate (some of) those poems into your language? Although translation is not an easy task, creating subtitles is. A beautiful way to disseminate these works is to translate them into other languages. We at TLRC will add the subtitles, and the center will be able to use these translations in its activities.
We look forward to your participation!
You can watch previous videopoems on the YouTube channel of the PEN International TLRC or Follow PEN International TLRC on Facebook.
