Quick Facts
Biography
Volha Hapeyeva (Belarusian: Вольга Гапеева; born 1982 in Minsk) is a Belarusian poet, writer, translator, and linguist.
According to her website, Hapeyeva holds an MA in linguistics, sociology and gender studies, and a doctorate in comparative linguistics. She teaches at two universities in Minsk.
Hapeeva has published poetry, prose, and drama since 1999. In addition, she is a translator of fiction and poetry from English, German, Chinese, and Japanese. She is a member of the Belarusian PEN-Centre and of the Union of the Belarusian Writers.
Her works have been translated into English, German, Polish, Czech, Macedonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Slovenian, Georgian, Dutch, and Russian. She collaborates with electronic musicians and gives audio-visual performances.
Translation activity
Volha Hapeyeva translates to Belarusian mainly from English, German and Chinese, but also other languages, including Japanese, Latvian and Ukrainian. She teaches translation theory and practice at Minsk State Linguistic University and gives seminars on translation studies for various initiatives and organizations. She does not use bridge languages or word-for-word translations and always translates directly from the original language. Among others, she has translated works by Robert Walser, Sarah Kane, Dai Wangshu, Mari Konno, Maira Asare and Sergei Timofeev.
Scholarships and awards
- August 2008 Sommerakademie für Übersetzer deutscher Literatur, Literarischen Colloquium Berlin.
- July–August 2009 Literary Colloquium Berlin (Germany)
- August 2010 International House of Writers and Translators Ventspils (Latvia)
- 2011 “Golden Apostrophe” Literary Award for the Best Publication of Poetry
- July 2012 International House of Writers and Translators Ventspils (Latvia)
- July–August 2013 Artist in Residence in the International Hause of Authors Graz „IHAG“ (Austria).
- Autumn 2013 “Ex-libris” Prize for the best Children's book "Sumny sup” (‘Sad Soup’).
- April–May 2014 Artist-in-Residence in Wien (KulturKontakr Austria und Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur).
- 2015 – winner of the Literature Prize “A Book of the Year”.