Simona Škrabec (Ljubljana, Slovenia, 1968) is a Sloveneliterary critic, essayist and translator who lives and works in Barcelona. She spent her childhood in the small town of Ribnica in the region of Lower Carniola. She has lived in Barcelona since 1992. Skrabec has translated several books from Slovenian to Catalan and from Catalan to Slovenian. In addition to these two languages, she is fluent in Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, German, English and French.
Life and career
Simona Škrabec was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She has lived in Barcelona since 1992. At the University of Ljubljana she received a BA in German philology and comparative literature. In 2002, she obtained a PhD in comparative literature at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). She is a professor at Open University of Catalonia (UOC) in Barcelona. Her main interests are the European literature of 20th century and the relation of literature with the construction of historic memory and identity. In 2014, she was elected chair of PEN International's Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee.
She is the author of the books L'estirp de la solitud (Lineage of Solitude, 2003), L'atzar de la lluita (Of Chance and Struggle, 2005) and Una Pàtria prestada (Borrowed Homeland, 2017). With Arnau Pons she directed an extensive project about cultural exchange between Germany and Catalonia in the 20th century (Grenzen sind Straßen, 2007–2008, 2 vols.).
She has translated more than thirty books, including several books of Serbian and Slovenian authors into Catalan and Spanish (Kiš, Jančar, Pahor, and Šalamun), and the translation of most important Catalan authors (Moncada, Cabré, Ferrater, Marçal, etc.) into Slovenian.
In translation she also participated in the joint study To Be Translated or Not to Be (2007, directed by Esther Allen) about the situation of literary translation in the globalized world and in the volume Constel·lacions variables (Variable constellations, 2012, with Teresa Irribaren) about the impact of digital media in internationalization of literature. In 2016 she directed the PEN International report Culture's Oxygen about the publishing industry in minority languages, commissioned by UNESCO.
She contributes essays and articles about literature in academic and cultural journals and is also a regular literary critic with various Barcelona based newspapers. She has been a member of the editorial board at the humanities journal L'Espill of the University of Valencia since 2007. She has also acted as organizer of several cultural events and symposiums, as a result of which she edited the books Diàlegs sense fronteres (Dialogues without Borders, 2011), about foreign authors established in Barcelona and writing in Catalan, and Les distàncies d’Europa (The Distances in Europe, 2013), an interdisciplinary quest about Europe's future.
Carrers de frontera, Passatges de la cultura alemanya a la cultura catalana, Volume II, curated with Arnau Pons. Barcelona: GenCat, Institut Ramon Llull (2008)
Carrers de frontera. Passatges de la cultura alemanya a la cultura catalana, Volume I, curated with Arnau Pons. Barcelona: GenCat, Institut Ramon Llull (2007)
Lluís Maria Todó. Igra izmišljevanja [El joc del mentider, 1994]. Ljubljana: Center za slovensko književnost (Aleph, 41). (2005)
Jesús Moncada. Proti toku [Camí de sirga, 1988]. Ljubljana: Študentska Založba (Beletrina, 110). (2004)
J.V. Foix. Dnevnik iz leta 1918 [Darrer comunicat, 1970; Tocant a mà, 1972]. Ljubljana: Center za slovensko književnost (Aleph, 84). (2003)
Pere Calders. Kronike prikrite resnice [Cròniques de la veritat oculta, 1955]. Ljubljana: Center za slovensko književnost (Aleph, 71). (2002)
Communications and presentations (selection)
#ProtectLinguists event at the UN Headquarters in New York. [with Linda Fitchett, Ms. María Bassols, Bill Miller, Dr. Maya Hess, Betsy Fisher, Lucio Bagnulo and Maître Caroline Decroix]. (New York, 2019)
Debat sobre [la] cultura catalana. [with Maria Bohigas, Najat El Hachmi, Àngels Margarit and Mercè Picornell]. Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB). (Barcelona, 2019)
La traducción literaria como oxigeno para la cultura. ("The literary translation as highly for the culture"). Inaugural Conference of the degree in translation andapplied languages UOC/UVic-UCC, of the master of digital editing and master's degree intranslation. Open University of Catalonia (UOC), Sala Josep Laporta (Barcelona, 2017)
Gravar el nom a l’escorça d’un arbre ("Record the name in the bark of a tree"). Inaugural Conference of the academic year. Pompeu Fabra University. Faculty of translation and interpreting, communication Campus Auditorium Poblenou (Barcelona, 2015)
El país i la ficció ("The country and fiction") [with Sergi Belbel, Laura Borràs, Francesc Serés and Albert Serra]. III Critical Reflections "Changes in paradigm: challenges and opportunities of the culture".Arts Santa Mònica, Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura (Barcelona, 2011)
