00:05The daughter of an Italian father and a German mother,
00:09literary translator Anita Raya was born in Naples and now lives in Rome.
00:13Both cities shaped her cultural sensibility and feel for language.
00:19What appeals to me about Rome and Naples as well is the overlapping of layers and cultures.
00:25There's a melting pot of cultures that coexist here in a magical way, even if it can seem random.
00:33Rome is a city built in layers.
00:35You can dig deeper and deeper and you'll keep discovering more of them,
00:39layers that were formed without destroying anything.
00:44Her publisher Edizione Eo has just released a new edition of the novel Cassandra
00:49by East German author Christa Wolf.
00:52Raya translated it into Italian in 1983 after discovering Wolf
00:57and then urging the young publishing house to secure the rights.
01:01A smart move.
01:02The book became a huge success and Anita Raya became the Italian voice of Christa Wolf.
01:09Her translation was crucial.
01:11It laid the foundations.
01:13If Cassandra hadn't been translated as brilliantly as Anita did it,
01:17then the whole thing could have become a disaster.
01:20But people immediately started reading the book and talking about it.
01:24It was very much in the public eye.
01:27And when Christa Wolf came to Rome, that was simply magnificent.
01:37On a book tour of Italy in 1984, Christa Wolf was celebrated as a feminist author.
01:43She and Raya developed a close bond.
01:46Raya ended up translating 12 of Wolf's novels.
01:49As a pacifist, Wolf was deeply moved by the fact that almost all of Raya's Jewish family
01:54had died in the Holocaust and that her mother had been forced to flee to Italy.
02:00My mother's story made a big impression on her.
02:03They were about the same age and got along really well.
02:07Their meeting had a profound impact on her.
02:10Later, Christa Wolf became a kind of mother figure to me.
02:14She was always calling me up and telling me I was working too much,
02:18that I couldn't work at the library and translate at the same time.
02:26Anita Raya worked full-time as a librarian,
02:29alongside her colleague and friend, Christina Patalini.
02:33The last place they worked together was the Bibliotheca Europea.
02:38In the 1980s and 90s, Raya helped modernize several libraries,
02:42especially those in Rome's socially disadvantaged outer districts.
02:51For me, an essential requirement of a public library
02:54is that its books must be accessible to everyone,
02:59just as they were for me at university.
03:03Without restrictions based on gender or nationality,
03:09anyone who registers at the library has access to the books,
03:14and all books and media must be on open shelves.
03:18The Bibliotheca Europea is a library jointly run by the City of Rome
03:23and the European Institutes for Culture.
03:26Under Raya's leadership,
03:27Christina Patalini established its children's and youth section.
03:31From the very beginning,
03:32she witnessed Raya's astonishing dual literary life.
04:03Pankow, in the north of Berlin.
04:05Here, Christa Wolf's daughter Tinke often visits her parents' last home,
04:09now a memorial.
04:11Back then, it was a gathering place for intellectuals, artists and translators.
04:16Wolf's books were translated into 40 languages.
04:21The discussions were intense,
04:23and that often led to friendships.
04:26That was certainly the case with Anita Raya.
04:29I think she has an amazing ability to truly immerse herself in literature
04:34and engage with it in a deep way.
04:38After all, translation is a creative act.
04:41It's not just providing a service.
04:43She's recreating the work in another language.
04:46And I don't think there's anyone better at it than Anita Raya.
04:51Back to Rome.
04:52It's clear that Christa Wolf's work has timeless appeal here.
04:56A capacity audience has showed up to an event marking the new edition of Cassandra.
05:01For the renowned actor Sonia Bergamasco,
05:03the novel is one of the most important books she's ever read.
05:07To her, it still feels modern,
05:09thanks in part to the translation.
05:14Even today, the book is definitely still relevant and important,
05:19more than ever.
05:21Ever since the event was announced,
05:23I've seen firsthand how public demand and interest has grown.
05:29Anita Raya's translation is a translation from woman to woman.
05:34It's very empathetic, very powerful.
05:38It shows that there really was a surprisingly magical connection
05:42between the author and the translator.
05:48During the event, it was announced that Anita Raya
05:51would receive the 2026 Goethe Medal.
05:54For a daughter of a German-Polish-Jewish woman
05:57who had to rebuild her life in Italy,
05:59the honor is especially significant.
06:03It's like a reconciliation.
06:06I don't know if that's the word that I or my mother would use,
06:10but I'm sure that my mother would have been very pleased about this award.
06:16For me, it's actually more of a form of restitution
06:19in the sense of recognizing a part of me
06:22that only exists thanks to my mother,
06:25who is returning it to me.
06:33Anita Raya and her work add yet another layer to the city of Rome.
06:37The librarian and literary translator
06:40has devoted her life to connecting cultures through language.
06:43As you can see,
06:52How can they get any other people from these rich нее
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