Ekaterina Petrova is a freelance translator and journalist. She loves writing about culture and documentary topics. She travels and tells stories, and her columns have been published in leading Bulgarian publications. Just a day before entering the Academy of Playwriting "Home for the Naughty", Ekaterina talked to us about what motivates her and what she expects to find at the Academy.
We are sure that this type of training forum is not unfamiliar territory for you, but still, why did you choose to participate in the "Home for Naughty" Academy?
In fact, this is the first time I have participated in a training program focused entirely on playwriting, and I am looking forward to the start of the program with great excitement and interest. I decided to apply to the Academy for several reasons. As a freelance translator and journalist, I am curious about different approaches to storytelling and writing. Although I regularly translate film scripts and sometimes theater plays, I do not have much experience with playwriting. As an author, I would like to learn more about this process. I am particularly interested in the boundaries (or lack thereof) between fiction and documentary in writing texts, and I would like to explore them within the framework of playwriting. Last but not least, I was particularly intrigued by the locations (and the contrast between them!) where the Academy will be held – the former educational school in the village of Gabrovci and the Kilifarevo Monastery.
You write freelance texts. What are your favorite topics and interests?
All my texts are somehow related to the topic of travel, which never ceases to excite me, both creatively and on a very personal level. In addition to the “traditional” travelogues that I have published in various Bulgarian and international publications, I also run the column “Neštostrsach” in the magazine “Kapital Light”. There I tell the stories of curious objects that I have found in different places around the world. Recently, I had the extremely valuable and exciting opportunity to participate as an author in the collection “My Brother’s Suitcase: Stories about the Road” with a text about what home means to me. The text can also be read here >>> . I have also been maintaining my blog for years There, although much less frequently lately, I upload photos and stories of various pavements, asphalt, and other ground surfaces that I find myself on.
Where do you find yourself between creating texts and translating from different languages written by foreign authors?
In fact, apart from a single experience with the literary translation of a short story from French, and my relatively rare engagements as an interpreter in both directions, I generally deal mostly with the so-called “reverse translation” from Bulgarian to English. The fact that I translate from Bulgarian (unlike translators who translate from various foreign languages) gives me the opportunity for easy access, consultations, and sometimes quite close collaboration with the authors whose texts I translate – not only is this very useful, it is also a great privilege.
Otherwise, regarding the difference between authorship and translation, which you ask me about – both activities are both a pleasure and a challenge for me. In my case, they complement and are mutually beneficial, although they are obviously also fundamentally different. With authorial texts, the writer has to come up with everything and make sure that the text sounds credible and impactful. With translation, someone has already thought about these things, has struggled with them and this work is already done (or at least it should be) and the task and difficulties of the translator are of a different nature – he must try to convey them in the new language in an equally impactful and convincing way.
What would you add after the word "time"?
...there's something for everything. Or at least I wish it were so.
You have studied in many countries around the world, and one of them is Kuwait? What impressed you the most about your stay there?
That was a long time ago – I did finish my secondary education there, after all. Perhaps one of the most impressive things about Kuwait is the diversity and coexistence of many nations, cultures and languages, since about two-thirds of the country's population consists of foreigners. This coexistence, unfortunately, is not always completely peaceful and completely equal. And yet, it seems to me that growing up in such a heterogeneous environment was extremely formative for me and certainly affected my development later on.
You can read our conversations with some of the other participants here and here
