The literary translator and interpreter Claudia Cabrera Luna became the first Mexican to be recognized with the Goethe Medal, the highest distinction in Germany’s foreign cultural policy, reported the Goethe Institute in our country.
Claudia Cabrera is one of the best literary and theater translators of the German language in Mexico. Since 1994 she has translated more than 60 novels, plays and non-fiction books into Mexican Spanish. Among them, works by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Julia Franck, Cornelia Funke, Franz Kafka, Heiner Müller, Robert Musil, Silke Scheuermann and Anna Seghers
said the jury, which announced its ruling on Wednesday in Munich.
With this impressive performance, Claudia Cabrera contributes significantly to the notoriety and popularity of German literature, as well as its authors, in Mexico and Latin America.
Furthermore, the jury continued, He constantly works to increase the visibility, professionalization and networking of his profession in Latin America, and participates in the German-Mexican cultural exchange through his work.
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The distinction will be awarded on August 28 in the German city of Weimar, the day of birth and place of death of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the most representative writer of German literature.
It is the second time that a person of Mexican nationality has been recognized with this medal; The first was the writer and translator José María Pérez Gay in 1995.
Since 1955, the Goethe Institute has awarded this medal once a year as an official distinction of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is awarded every year to personalities of foreign nationality for their contributions to art, science and culture, which are proposed by the headquarters of that institute, in consultation with the German delegations in the world.
The Goethe Institute Mexico suggested Claudia Cabrera as a candidate, recognizing her vast work as a mediator between the German and Mexican cultures. Together with her, this year they will receive the prize from the hands of Carola Lentz, president of that worldwide institute, Iskra Geshoska, art historian and cultural manager from North Macedonia, and the Chilean Carmen Romero Quero, founder and director of the International Festival Teatro a Mil, which takes place in the Andean country.
Born in 1970 and with a career of more than 20 years as a literary translator from German, Claudia Cabrera finds it significant that a recognition that is granted not only for the dissemination of the German language and culture, but also for the promotion of international cultural cooperation, has been several times for translators, such as the Spanish Miguel Sáenz.
“Without us, the different languages and cultures would be islands, there would be no exchange of knowledge or experiences of any kind. In this context, I really like to quote José Saramago, who said: ‘if authors make national literature, translators make universal literature,'” said the award-winner, who is currently working on a project to rescue and translate female writers. German speakers Anna Seghers, Alice Rühle-Gerstel and Lenka Reinerová, exiled in Mexico during Nazism.
Another purpose of the Goethe Medal is to raise awareness among the German public about cultural issues and actors of global relevance. Among the 380 personalities from 70 countries who have received it are the Italian literary critic Claudio Magris, the Argentine conductor Daniel Barenboim, the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, the Hungarian composer György Ligeti, the Brazilian photographer and activist Claudia Andújar, as well as the writers Lenka Reinerová (Czech Republic), Michel Tournier (France), Imre Kertész (Hungary), Jorge Semprún (Spain) and John le Carré (Great Britain).