User:Valérie Le Plouhinec/CEATL

The European Council of Literary Translators’ Associations (Conseil européen des associations de traducteurs littéraires, CEATL) is an international non-profit association (AISBL) under Belgian law, officially established in 1993 to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information between literary translators’ associations in different European countries, and reinforce actions designed to improve the status and working conditions of literary translators.

History
At the Assises de la traduction littéraire in Arles in 1987 there was an informal meeting of translators with a few of establishing a Europe-wide association.

In 1993 CEATL was officially established as an international non-profit association. The founding member countries were Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

In 2023, CEATL brought together 35 literary translators’ associations from 29 European countries, representing some 10,000 individual translators.

Objectives
The European Council of Literary Translators’ Associations pursues two kinds of objective, one internal, the other external.

On the internal level, it collects information concerning the situation of literary translation and translators in the member countries, and shares the experiences and examples of best practices observed in those countries. It regularly produces statistical surveys about the legal situation and working conditions of literary translators in Europe.

In external terms, it defends the legal, social and economic interests of literary translators within a European context including lobbying in the European Union and where appropriate responding publicly to events or trends affecting the profession or the quality of literary translation. Individually, it helps member associations to reinforce the position of literary translators in their country.

CEATL publishes a free magazine, bilingual and completely on-line, Contrepoint/Counterpoint, which is published twice a year.

Procedure
The delegates of the member associations meet once a year for the Annual General meeting, which is organised by the associations in turn. The executive committee (Board) is made up of at least three elected members who have a two-year mandate and the possibility of re-election. The Board puts into effect the resolutions voted for at the Annual General Assembly and undertakes all actions necessary for the achievement of CEATL’s objectives.

The working groups (Working Conditions, Authors’ Rights, Visibility, Training and Education, Good Practices) meet throughout the year to put specific projects into practice.