A Space of Encounter: Translation – Reception – Transfer. The Work of Karl Dedecius on the 10th Anniversary of His Death
The Institute of Literary Studies at Jan Długosz University in Częstochowa, in cooperation with the Karl Dedecius Foundation at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), the Department of Translation Studies and Language Teaching at the University of Wrocław, and the Faculty of International and Political Studies at the University of Łódź, cordially invites participants to an international interdisciplinary academic conference dedicated to the achievements of Karl Dedecius as a literary translator, author, theorist, and critic. The aim of the organisers is to systematise the current state of research on Dedecius’s work and to assess the impact of his achievements on various academic disciplines. At the same time, the conference will address issues of cultural transfer, as well as the promotion of Polish culture in Germany and German culture in Poland.
Karl Dedecius, undoubtedly the most eminent translator of Polish literature into German, and thus its foremost promoter and advocate, significantly shaped cultural cooperation between Poland and Germany, as well as across the entire German-speaking world. His person and work have been widely recognised by the scholarly community through the establishment of the Karl Dedecius Foundation at the European University Viadrina and the Karl Dedecius Archive at the Collegium Polonicum, the creation of the Karl Dedecius Prize, the naming of a school in Łódź in his honour, and numerous research projects and conferences devoted to his legacy. The most wide-ranging initiative commemorating Dedecius was the celebration of the centenary of his birth, organised, among others, by the University of Łódź and the Karl Dedecius Foundation. With the present conference, we seek to continue this tradition of honouring the translator, essayist, and translation theorist, as well as a committed advocate of Polish-German cultural cooperation, marking ten years since his death.
The conference will take place on 8–10 October 2026 at the Faculty of Humanities of Jan Długosz University in Częstochowa.
Further details regarding this interdisciplinary research project can be found on the conference website:
Application form: https://forms.office.com/r/r7xuR6HhjE?origin=lprLink
We warmly invite all interested scholars to register for active participation via the online submission form available on the conference website.
