In 2026, Stefanie Bose, a German translator, cultural manager, and mediator, will work in Trenčín. She has been selected as the city chronicler within the framework of the Trenčín 2026 – European Capital of Culture project.
Her appointment was decided by an expert jury assembled by the German Cultural Forum for Eastern Europe, which also included representatives of the Slovak cultural community and the City of Trenčín. The residency will last five months, from May to September 2026.
During her stay, Stefanie Bose will focus on exploring the German–Jewish–Slovak–Hungarian history of the city, building literary bridges between Slovakia and Germany, and conveying the stories of Trenčín to a German-speaking audience. In her work, she will not shy away from challenging and topical issues, including discussions of the current cultural and political situation in Slovakia.
While in Slovakia, she will also develop activities with the local community, such as an international children’s literature project and workshops with people learning German.
Who is Stefanie Bose
Stefanie Bose (born 1983) comes from Germany and lives in Leipzig. She studied Western Slavic Studies with a focus on literary and cultural studies, Eastern European and Southeastern European studies, and ethnology at the University of Leipzig. Even before her studies, she completed a European Voluntary Service project in eastern Slovakia, where her professional and personal connection to Slovakia began.
She worked as a research assistant at the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of East-Central Europe (GWZO) and for more than ten years as an assistant to the Honorary Consul of the Slovak Republic for Saxony and Thuringia. Alongside this, she has long been active as a cultural mediator and a translator of literature from Slovak and Czech into German.
She is also active in the field of international municipal cooperation—as chair of the Leipzig/Brno Town Twinning Association. In 2023, she received the international Susanna Roth Award for translation, and in 2025 she completed a residency fellowship for translators in Banská Štiavnica.
In 2026, her translation of the novel “Do You Remember, Trenčín?” (Weißt du noch, Trenčín?) by Trenčín author Lukáš Cabala will be published by the German publishing house Allee Verlag.
During her residency, Stefanie Bose will keep an online diary documenting her meetings, experiences, and reflections from her stay in Trenčín. The blog will be published in both German and Slovak, and the public will be able to stay in contact with her throughout the entire period from May to September 2026.
At the following link you can find her profile listed in the Association of German Translators of Literary and Scholarly Works:
https://verzeichnis.literaturuebersetzer.de/personen/bose-stefanie/
The City Chroniclers’ Scholarship of the German Cultural Forum for Eastern Europe is supported by the German Federal Ministry and administered by the German Cultural Forum for Eastern Europe in cooperation with the Creative Institute Trenčín 2026 and the City of Trenčín. Its main goal is to preserve and disseminate the shared cultural heritage of regions in Central and Eastern Europe where Germans have lived not only today but also in the past. The project also focuses on mutual understanding and intercultural dialogue.
This traveling scholarship has previously taken place in the following cities: Gdańsk (2009), Pécs (2010), Tallinn (2011), Maribor (2012), Košice (2013), Riga (2014), Plzeň (2015), Wrocław (2016), Brașov (2017), Lviv (2018), Olsztyn (2019), Rijeka (2020), Odesa (2021), Klaipėda (2022), Timișoara (2023), Tartu (2024), and Szczecin (2025).
