Tomas Dirgėla at the writers’ and translators’ residency in Northumberland
(On the photo of Tomas Dirgėla the author is with the colleague David Almond in Northumberland)
On 8-15th June, the children’s and young adults’ writer Tomas Dirgėla took part in the week-long residency “Writing Borders” in Northumberland, United Kingdom. The residency was organised by the Hexham Book Festival.
This residency, dedicated to cultural exchange and translation, is held for writers from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the UK whose target audiences are children and youth. The programme aims to bring down the walls between British and European writers and strengthen links between them by creating an environment where they could exchange ideas, share their creative output and work with translators.
During the residency, Tomas Dirgėla worked with the translator Romas Kinka on translating an excerpt from his book “Lukas Šiaudelis deda iš viršaus” (“Lukas Šiaudelis Slam Dunks”). The author also spoke about Lukas, basketball and Lithuania in his discussions with British school children.
The organiser of the residency, Hexham Book Festival, has also commissioned Tomas Dirgėla to write a text for the publication in the festival’s anthology.
This writer’s participation in the residency continues the presentation of Lithuania organised by the Lithuanian Culture Institute as part of the London Book Fair 2018 “Market Focus” programme.