Many Egyptian translators are seeking to translate the works of Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer, who received Nobel Prize for Literature this year, while others reject the idea of translating Nobel Prize winners. Editor-in-chief of the Public Egyptian Book Organization, Sohair el-Mosadfa told Youm7 that she would send letters to Transtromer requesting to translate one of his prose texts. She said there are not any good Arabic translations of his works, except one by the publishing house Bedayat. That version was presented by the Syrian poet Adonis. Ahmed Abdel Latif, who translated all Saramago's works, said: “Tomas Transtormer has a big literary project that deserves to be in the spotlight. Egypt has to seek to translate his works.” He said translation strategy in Egypt is not clear. According to Abdel Latif, the Nobel Prize tends to focus on foreign novelists who are ignored by the translation movement in Egypt. He said problems facing translation in Egypt are the small numbers of translators, the lack of new subjects, and the absence of real advisory bodies. Editor-in-chief of the Afaq Alameya, Talaat el-Shayeb, said he did not translate any of Transtromer's works before because he rejected the idea of pursuing those who win awards. Telaal Faisal also said he rejects the idea of translating works Nobel Prize winners, commenting that it is a short phenomenon that fades with some novelists. He said that this makes us classify Nobel Prize winners into two kinds, those whose fame continues and those whose does not. Faisal disagreed, saying translation has a valuable and precious meaning. He said translating a book means seeking literature and creative values, and not just celebrating someone's prize. He said that this phenomenon has been repeated with more than one novelist, such as the French novelist Martin Dogar and the Australian author Patrick White. Arabic here
