Literary translator from Albanian into German in residency at Poeteka in Tirana, Albania
Bio
Dr. Zuzana Finger was born in Czechoslovakia in 1959 and is a German citizen since 1986. She is a translator from Albanian, Czech, Slovak, Serbian and Hungarian, as well as a foreign language teacher, ethnologist and organizer of numerous cultural activities.
For more than 10 years she has been translating authors who write in the Albanian language, publishing their work in German literary magazines, such as Akzente, außer.dem, Abwärts !, Feuerstuhl, Lichtungen, Ostragehege, Sinn und Form, stadtgelichter, Wespennest etj.
In addition to being a translator of literature, Zuzana Finger is a referent of popular culture at the Sudeten-German Association, Munich; a scientific assistant at albanology at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich; has joined the Project ‘Integration of Migrants in the Labor Market‘, Innere Mission, Munich and AGEF Berlin. She is a lecturer of German language at DAAD: German Academic Exchange Service, at the University of Montenegro, and at the University of Prishtina, as well as a scientific assistant at Freie Universität in Berlin.
Residency goals
During her residency stay at at Poeteka in Tirana (Albania), Zuzana will be working on the translation of contemporary Albanian poetry into German.
Residency events and materials
Conversation between writer Arian Leka and translator Zuzana Finger
Find our more about the event here.
Zuzana Finger: Workshop – Introduction to Literary Translation
Find our more about the event here.
Photos from the event:
Feedback from resident
Creative residencies are indispensable and irreplaceable for the productive work of literary translators. Being in the country of the source language during my residency at Poeteka was the best opportunity to experience and keep up with current language developments and changes, as dictionaries quickly become outdated. The residency provided the opportunity to hear the spoken language in many everyday situations that is existentially important for the translator’s work – to be able to place the language of literary works in a stylistic context.
