Last week saw the start of Canada’s first translation rights fair “Expand Your Horizons”. The event is being hosted by the Canadian Council for the Arts and is part of the $5 million National Translation Program for Book Publishing.

The idea behind this event was to introduce English- and French-language publishers, in order to encourage cultural exchange within the bilingual country.

“The enhanced Translation Program at the Canada Council is, in my opinion, a fabulous development allowing both English and French publishers to bring hitherto unknown stories to a much larger audience,” says Brian Kaufman, publisher of the Anvil Press.

The two day affair included readings, expeditions, displays of simultaneous translation, in which different translators will read out the same texts in different languages, and even a “speed dating” session aimed at introducing various publishing agents.

“Anything that supports translation in Canada, or anywhere else, is a good thing,” says Daniel Wells, publisher of the small Ontario press Biblioasis