W

ith the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair approaching, Indonesia is stepping up its preparation to exhibit its literature to the world.

The country was chosen to be the guest of honour at the event in Frankfurt, Germany, which will take place between Oct. 14 and 18 this year. It is the largest book fair in the world and attracts thousands of visitors every year.

Indonesia has set up the Indonesian National Organizing Committee (NOC) to tackle the task of preparation. Members of this committee are well-known Indonesian writers, publishers and members of the Indonesian Publishers Association (IKAPI).

The committee is aiming to present around 200 books translated into German in their exhibit titled '€œ17,000 Islands of Imagination'€.

Publishers such as Gramedia, the largest publishing house in Indonesia and the Lontar Foundation, which is well known for its translation of Indonesian literature into foreign languages, are working together with authors and translators to achieve that aim.

Despite the promotion of Indonesian culture, participation at the book fair can also play a large role in preparing Indonesian literature for the European market.

Germany, which is the second-largest book market in the world, should therefore be an attractive option for Indonesian publishers. However, stepping into that market is only possible if Indonesian stories are available in the German language.

The chairman of the book fair, Jürgen Boos, addressed this need last year in his speech at the 2014 Frankfurt Book Fair.

'€œNow the biggest challenge is to find translators who can translate into German language,'€ said Boos as reported by Tempo.

The fact that before this preparation started, only a few books from Indonesian authors had been translated into German, made it very '€œhard to promote and read their works'€, he said.

The NOC'€™s chairman Goenawan Mohamad, a noted writer, used similar words in an interview with The Jakarta Post: '€œBahasa Indonesia is not a very known language and there are very few German native speakers who can translate Indonesian literary works into German.'€

Because of these concerns, funding subsidies worth a total of US$1 million have been provided by the government through a '€œTranslation Funding Program'€ (TFP) for applicants such as Indonesian and foreign publishers, copyright holders or foreign and Indonesian translators.

Jan Budweg, the German Managing Editor for Lontar'€™s series BTW Books pointed out, that '€œliterary translation needs translators who are native speakers of the target language. Many of these live abroad and have higher living costs and other charges compared to their Indonesian colleagues. That'€™s why good international literature translations cost international prices.'€

Goenawan is also aware of that particular shortcoming.

'€œThe tariff, according to the law, is about Rp 160,000 [$11.81] per page. But this is not the international standard. So we had to change. But the changes took a month! Until today the comic book program is still fighting for the budget,'€ he said.

That eventually caused an unwillingness on the part of German translators to work with Indonesian publishers. The outcome is that two months before the event begins, there are less than 100 books that have been translated.

'€œSo we are going to be very poorly represented in the German language,'€ he admitted.

Despite this, the committee remain optimistic, as they believe the prestigious event will still be a good opportunity for cultural exchange between Indonesia and Germany.

Sometimes quality is more important than quantity, and regardless of the total, the availability of excellent works of Indonesian writers at the fair will establish mutually beneficial cultural interaction.

'€œWe come to Germany with a lot of humanity. We are not going to expose ourselves as great literary producers, but as somebody who wants to knock at the door of the world and step into the arena of literary competition,'€ Goenawan emphasized.

Bringing Indonesian literature into the world arena is a project that will continue into the future, and will probably take longer than just one or two years.

But the process starts now, with the first step being the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair.

To ensure that Indonesia will be capable of further achievements in the future Goenawan Mohamad implores that '€œThe translation project must continue after the Frankfurt Book Fair.'€