WHEN the translation dual format was invented, literature scholars thought it would just be a bit of nerdy fun.

Five years later the format, in which a piece of literature is translated into another language by two experts, attracts world renowned scholars and now is coming to the Marlborough Lit Fest.

Translation experts Margaret Jull Costa and Rosalind Harvey will be going head to head as they translate a text taken from Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years Of Solitude and discuss in front of an audience.

The chair of the festival also revealed that tickets had already been sold to people from as far as Manchester for the event.

Jan Williamson, who has chaired the festival for four years and is from Avebury said:“It is an absolute first for us to do a translation dual like this and I think it will be interesting for many people involved.

“It will highlight in a sense the problem of looking at a text and choosing how you capture it in another language, whether you go for the spirit or what choices you make about things like the tone because that is subtle but important too.

“As with anything, the words you choose to use reveal a lot about personality and has a huge impact on the tone.”

Daniel Hahn, a writer, editor and translator, will be chairing the competition.

Mr Hahn has taken part in around 40 duals and is looking forward to bringing it to Marlborough.

He said: “It's important to get the translation "right", in the sense of conveying the meaning of the original accurately, but other things matters just as much. Writing isn't just about information, it's also about voice and pace and tone and rhythm and wit and all kinds of things, and a translation should be aiming to keep all those things.

"We'll find out on September 30th just how well our two translators have managed this basically impossible task!

“My job is to mediate the conversation between Rosalind and Margaret, to draw out things from their work that might be interesting to talk about, and hopefully to keep things entertaining, too.”

The Translation Dual takes place on September 30 inside St Mary’s Church Hall from 12 noon. Tickets cost £10 and can be bought from http://www.marlboroughlitfest.org