Please click here to download a PDF of the final draft of the program. A printed full version of the final program will be available on-site at the Congress. For practical information concerning your visit to Istanbul and WALTIC, please download the Welcome Letter that may assist you in your planning.

Register for one day or as a student

It is now possible to register for one day only and students may register for a special fee, please register on-line or at the registration desk on-site.
Read more about the registration fees.

Bosphorus tour on boat and Turkish night

On Saturday night, there is an optional social activity that you may book on-site at the Congress upon arrival on the 2 Sept.
It will be a nice experience for you to have a dreamy Bosphorus Tour on boat accompanied by traditional Turkish Music and rapturous dance shows. The price of 70EUR includes: two way Transfers to the Boat by Minibus, all the Mentioned Shows and Musical Performances on boat, Wellcome Cocktail, Meal and Unlimited Local Beverages.

Registration opening hours on-site

Shuttle Service between Taksim Square and WALTIC

On the topic of Authors' Rights, WALTIC proudly presents invited speakers: Jiang Zilong, Sandhya Rao and Martin de Haan.

	Jiang Zilong (China) Award winning writer Jiang Zilong was born in Changzhou, China, in 1941 and has published more than 90 books since he made his literary debut in 1960. Zilong will deliver a speech entitled "Creation is the quintessence of mind. And safeguarding the copyright is equal to protecting and respecting the value of life." Jiang Zilong is the vice President of Chinese Writers' Association and President of Tianjin Writers' Association.
	Sandhya Rao (India) Sandhya Rao writes for children and works as Editor at the pioneering Chennai-based Tulika Publishers. Her presentation will focus on issues of copyrights in children's books within the context of India. It reflects on the experiences of a small, independent company publishing in several languages where innovation and risk-taking are both faces of freedom, and examines the factors that can/may influence policy and practice.
	Martin de Haan (The Netherlands) Martin de Haan is a Dutch essayist, literary translator and critic. His translations from French into Dutch include novels and essays by well-known contemporary writers like Michel Houellebecq and Milan Kundera, as well as several classics.

Read more about the Invited Speakers.
Download the press release for the invited speakers.

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On the topic of Cultural Translations, WALTIC proudly presents invited speakers: Maureen Freely and Olov Hyllienmark.

Maureen Freely (Turkey/United States/United Kingdom) Maureen Freely was born in the US but grew up in Istanbul, where her family still lives. She was educated at Radcliffe College (Harvard University) and has made her home in England for the past twenty-five years. She is the author of six novels and has been a regular contributed to several journals as well as translated among others, Orhan Pamuk.

Olov Hyllienmark (Sweden) Olov Hyllienmark is one of Sweden's most accomplished translators today, and he translates from Italian, Dutch, English and Norweigan to Swedish. His translations include works by Lars-Saabye Christensen, John Irving, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Valerio Massimo Manfredi and Saskia Noort.

Read more about the Invited Speakers
Download press release

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The Call for Papers, Best Practices and Stories has received a record number of abstracts!

More than one hundred contributions were submitted, most of which were of very high quality, making the selection process difficult. At this stage, 100 presenters from 30 countries have been accepted to the program.

The preliminary program consist of ca 25 panel sessions distributed on the three main themes of Cultural Translation, Freedom of Expression and Authors� Rights. Each panel session is 2 hours and will include three presentations.

Countries represented are: Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chad, China, Cyprus, Denmark, Ethiopia, Finland, Germany, Haifa, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, Norway, Pakistan, Palestine, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, Uganda, United States, Uzbekistan.

Read more about the program.
Download the press release

WALTIC proudly presents Renata Salecl and Ko Un as Keynote Speakers!

Renata Salecl (Slovenia) �Today words like freedom, rights and choices are often empty categories which have lost its original mobilizing force to make social critique. What happens when once powerful word empties out; what is the power struggle behind such emptying, is there a need for the reinterpretation of their meaning or the invention of new ones?� Salecl is Centennial Professor in the Law Faculty at the London School of Economics, London and a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana.

Ko Un (Korea) Born in 1933, internationally acclaimed poet, essayist, novelist, editor, and literary critic Ko Un grew up during the Japanese occupation of Korea at a time when speaking Korean was prohibited and considered a crime. With an astonishing oeuvre of almost 150 books Ko Un is one of the most prominent poets of his times and as such repeatedly mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Moreover Ko Un is nothing less than the living testament of the value of words.

Read more about the Keynote Speakers
Download press release

We are delighted to announce that on the 2nd – 5th of September 2010, the second Writers´ and Literary Translators´ International Congress will take place at the Bilgi University in Istanbul, Turkey, to manifest the power of words.

In 2008 the Swedish Writers´ Union hosted more than 600 authors, translators and scholars from across the globe in the first ever WALTIC.

The issues that were raised in Stockholm need further talks and more collaboration. The challenges embedded in literacy, freedom of speech and authors rights have to be a constant preoccupation.

Digitalization is pushing new forms of writing and creativity. Our aim is to establish WALTIC as an arena where these changes can be discussed from a global perspective with the primary goal of achieving comparability between the different nations of the world.

We look forward to welcome you to Istanbul in September!

Bülent Somay, Congress Chair, WALTIC 2010
Istanbul Bilgi University

Mats Söderlund, President, WALTIC
Swedish Writers’ Union