SHORT SUMMARY

The goal of the project "Borges is Relevant" is to publish, by 2026 and with the support of the "Actual Art" publishing house, a bilingual (Spanish-Armenian) collection of poems by the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges,in translation by Asmik Amiraghyan and Samvel Tavadyan.

The project offers Armenian readers the opportunity to enjoy Borges' poetry in a direct translation. After all, Borges’ poetry is perhaps one of the forms of happiness — as he himself described it.

The first Armenian translation of Borges's poems was born out of extensive correspondence between translators in Yerevan, Stepanakert, and Barcelona. The themes of Borges’s poetry are diverse: ranging from intellectual exploration to deep emotion, from Argentine motifs to eternal, universal human concerns. Our collection includes works from almost all of Borges’s poetic books, offering a comprehensive view of his creative legacy, which holds exceptional literary value. The book will be available to both Spanish-speaking and Armenian-speaking readers, contributing to the promotion of art and the development of cultural dialogue.

PROBLEM

The poetry of Jorge Luis Borges—one of the most famous and widely read authors of the 20th century—is little known in the Armenian context. Borges’s multi-volume poetry collections have never before been published in Armenian, nor has a bilingual collection aimed at promoting the study of the Spanish language ever been published.

SOLUTION

Our collection will fill this gap by publishing, for the first time, the Armenian translation of poems by the great Argentine thinker. The bilingual format will also serve an educational purpose—by presenting the original text alongside the translation, it will facilitate comparative study and language acquisition. The volume will include forty poems (the copyrights of which were acquired by the "Actual Art" publishing house) from eleven of Borges’s poetry collections, published between 1923 and 1985.

TEAM

Asmik Amiraghyan

Translator, Editor

Graduate of Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, PhD in Philology. She has translated from the original and published works by J. L. Borges, Jiménez, Juan Manuel, García Lorca, and other Spanish-speaking authors.

Samvel Tavadyan

Translator

Translator and educator, whose numerous translations of French- and Spanish-language poetry have been published on the literary platform "Granish" and in the magazine "Actual Art."

The publishing house "Actual Art"

Mkrtich Matevosyan (Director)

Mkrtich Matevosyan has served as the founder and chairman of the "Actual Art" NGO Culture Union since 1995, contributing to the promotion and preservation of Armenian arts and culture.The publishing house "Actual Art" has released around 200 books to date, including art catalogs, translations in art history and philosophy, children’s literature, as well as works of contemporary Armenian literature.

BUDGET

The total budget is 480,000 AMD

Stage 1: Book design and layout — 60,000 AMD

Stage 2: Printing 300 copies of the book — 420,000 AMD

FAQ

1. Where did the idea for the project come from?

The idea to publish Jorge Luis Borges’s poems in a Spanish-Armenian format originated during the blockade of Artsakh, as a result of prolonged correspondence between translators from Yerevan, Stepanakert, and Barcelona. The goal was to create a series of books titled "Original and Translation."

2. What contributions have you made so far?

The publishing house has already paid the copyright fees for the translation from Spanish to Armenian (300 USD) as well as for the reprint rights of the original Spanish text (200 EUR). The copyright is valid until 2029․Our team has completed the translation, editing, and proofreading of the poems.