Kalima, Louvre Abu Dhabi take part in Frankfurt Book Fair

FRANKFURT, 16th October, 2018 (WAM) -- The Kalima Translation Project at the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, DCT Abu Dhabi, has showcased its experience of translating over 1,000 titles from 13 languages into Arabic during a seminar held at Frankfurt Book Fair. Held in cooperation with Louvre Abu Dhabi and moderated by Matthias Ehlert, the seminar, entitled ‘Kalima and Louvre Abu Dhabi as Models for the Cultural Transfer of Literature and Art’, featured speaker Saeed Hamdan Al Tunaiji, Director of the Publishing Department at DCT Abu Dhabi. Al Tunaiji gave a presentation on Kalima’s translation journey, which was launched in 2007 to bring back the ‘Golden Age’ of translation, as it is a key intercultural communication tool. Over the years, Kalima has translated many important titles across different fields, as well as 72 titles on world heritage and cultures of Asia, Europe and the American continent. It also published 110 translations from German in various fields, including literature for children. "Placing special focus on children’s literature, Kalima translated over 235 children’s books from many languages. DCT Abu Dhabi is currently working on transferring Arabic literature into different languages through various publishing projects," Al Tunaiji said. In turn, Myriam Al Dhaheri, Public Relations Specialist at Louvre Abu Dhabi, presented an overview on the Louvre Abu Dhabi Guide, which was published in Arabic during Frankfurt Book Fair to complement its English and French editions. Al Dhaheri also shed light on the establishment of Louvre Abu Dhabi under the French-UAE agreement in 2007 to launch a ‘universal’ museum, in cooperation with 17 museum and cultural institutions, while also highlighting the Children's Museum at Louvre Abu Dhabi, which features artworks and interactive workshops aimed at educating children. For her part, Juliet Singer, Chief Curator at Louvre Abu Dhabi’s Modern and Contemporary Art Department, underlined Louvre Abu Dhabi’s one-of-a-kind narrative, as it exhibits works spanning between modern times and the oldest human civilisations, portraying humanity’s artistic splendours across all historic periods.