Minister of Culture: "The Republic of Moldova needs visibility abroad from a literary and scientific point of view"
The authorities of the Republic of Moldova aim to promote the works of local writers abroad. Thus, according to a draft law, voted in the Parliament, the translation of native works and their publication outside the country will be financed by the state. The directors of the publishing houses say that it is an initiative that could create a real value system in the country, but there are several aspects that need to be analyzed so that the law is fully effective.
Any publishing house from abroad, which intends to translate and to publish an author from the Republic of Moldova, will be able to apply to a competition to obtain financial support from the state, says the Minister of Culture, Sergiu Prodan. The official said that in this way our writers will become known to the public abroad. "The Republic of Moldova needs visibility abroad both from a literary and a scientific point of view. However, a translation into a foreign language will not appear if the country from which this publication originates does not take care of the appearance of this translation. All developed countries in the world have this program to support translations through competition.” In the context in which the Republic of Moldova obtained the status of a candidate country for joining the European community, there will be an opportunity for the EU countries to know more about the literary potential of our country, said in an interview for Radio Moldova, the director of a publishing house from Chisinau, Gheorghe Erizanu. He also says that in the short term, the solution would be an advantageous one. "This will not be long-lasting, because we are not an important country to attract attention for a long time, but in the short term it will be very, very beneficial. And the interest towards the Republic of Moldova could be effective. It matters which foreign publishing houses will apply to this project. Many times foreign publishers have a bigger budget than the Republic of Moldova, then they might not even participate in the competition. Another problem, the value system of writers from the Republic of Moldova, which in the last 30 years was lost. It is possible that these translations will also create a real value system in the Republic of Moldova." Gheorghe Erizanu said that this elaborated law represents the correction of an error, as previously the Government granted money for the translation of books in the Republic of Moldova and not abroad. We remind you that this project was voted in the first reading. Later, the Government will develop the mechanism to support the translation and editing of books abroad.
