A Gibraltar Literature Symposium, themed ‘Llanito Culture and Writing’, will be held at the University of Cambridge on the 12th and 13th September. The event will see the participation of Gibraltarian authors, international academics and the Minister for Culture, Professor John Cortes.
The symposium, which is being held at the Faculty of English, University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Gibraltar’s Ministry for Culture, will focus on language use, literary expression, and other aspects of Gibraltarian identity.
The Gibraltarian authors who will give presentations on their work have all contributed to the forthcoming volume Gibraltarians and their Language: Twenty-One Linguistic Biographies, edited by Professor Elena Seoane, University of Vigo. They include Rebecca Calderon, Giordano Durante, Humbert Hernandez, Gabriel Moreno, Jonathan Pizarro, Mark Sanchez and Jonathan Teuma among others.
Academics from Italy, Spain, Germany and the UK will also be participating in the two-day event in Cambridge, with delegates exploring the role which language plays in Gibraltarian writing and Gibraltarian culture in general. Some of the areas featured will include language and emotion, Llanito under siege, language choices and transitions, and what can get lost in translation.
This will be a historic occasion, celebrating Gibraltarian literary authors who write in Llanito, English or Spanish and focusing on their linguistic choices. Recent initiatives such as the Gibraltar National Book Council, the formation of the Patuka Press collective, as well as the Gibraltarians For A Multilingual Society all go to show that Gibraltar’s authors are flourishing, and receiving international attention.
The Minister for Culture, Prof John Cortes, said: “This is a really exciting event, and shows the academic interest there is in Gibraltarian Culture, which in turn reflects how our Literature is developing and consolidating. I am most grateful to Cambridge University for hosting this very significant event, which will be the start of a relationship that will greatly impact on the promotion of Gibraltar, its Culture, languages and Identity.”
ENDS
