We're always hearing of new opportunities and resources for literary translators, and we want to keep you updated on what is available.
This is the place to find residencies, funding, translator networks and links to other great organisations that support people working in the field.
If you have a new resource or opportunity that you would like to see on these pages please email us at bclt@uea.ac.uk.
MA in Literary Translation
This UEA course focuses exclusively on literary translation and combines translation practice with translation theory. Described by former external examiner Dr Francis Jones as 'deservedly a UK leader in literary translation studies', this innovative course has been training literary translators for over two decades.
The MA in Literary Translation
Ariadne Nicolaeff Scholarship
The Ariadne Nicolaeff Scholarship will support a talented student who has been accepted onto the MA Literary Translation course at UEA. The scholarship is available to both Home and International Fees students. The scholar would be required to translate a Russian dramatic literary piece that has not yet been published in English as their final dissertation/project. The total value of the scholarship will be £26,000 for one year (or two years if the student is studying part-time) to contribute to the student’s living expenses and course fees.
Find out more and apply
Volunteer at the BCLT Library
We are always seeking UEA students to volunteer to help with an ongoing cataloguing project of the BCLT Library. No previous experience is needed as training will be provided.
If you are interested, email the team
CEATL European Conference on Literary Translation
Strasbourg, 2-4 October 2024
The conference will bring together translators, writers, publishers, booksellers, librarians, training establishments, residencies, book festivals and fairs, and all the organisations supporting literary translation in Europe. The working sessions, to be hosted by the European Parliament in Strasbourg, will be an unprecedented opportunity to discuss best practices and the challenges facing the sector.
Stephen Spender Prize
The Stephen Spender Prize is the leading annual prize for poetry in translation, with categories for pupils, teachers and individual young people in the UK and Ireland, as well as an Open category for adults from all over the world. The rules are simple: translate into English any poem from any language – from French to Farsi, from Spanish to Somali—and win publication and cash prizes!
Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia
In 2011 UEA's Creative Writing programme was awarded a Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education, the UK's most prestigious higher education award, in recognition of its continuing excellence in delivering innovative courses at a world-class level.
Warwick Prize for Women in Translation
BCLT co-sponsors the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. The prize is awarded annually to the best eligible work of fiction, poetry, literary non-fiction, work of fiction for children or young adults, graphic novel, or play text, written by a woman, translated into English by a translator (or translators) of any gender, and published by a UK or Irish publisher. The £1,000 prize is divided between the writer and her translator(s), with each contributor receiving an equal share.
John Dryden Translation Competition
BCLT co-sponsors the The John Dryden Translation Competition alongside the British Comparative Literature Association. Prizes are awarded annually for the best unpublished literary translations from any language into English, subject to finding a reader (entrance fee is refunded if no reader is available). Literary translation includes poetry, prose, or drama from any period. The competition is currently hosted by the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies at the University of Leeds. The judges’ panel is chaired by Dr Jacob Blakesley and Dr Caroline Summers.
First prize: £400; second prize: £250; third prize: £150; other entries may receive commendations.
All three prizes also include one year’s BCLA membership.
UEA MA Literary Translation Anthologies
2023
In the writing of poetry and translations, everything and nothing is foreign; everything and nothing is new. This hybrid collection takes us across the globe, showcasing an impressive range of poetry and translated literature, examining places and sensations that are often as familiar as they are strange. In Venice, a woman realises that she is merely “The Photographer’s Girlfriend,” while in Chile, young love is quietly eroded by social and economic realities. Meanwhile, a Ugandan poet explores her family heritage, and the wisdom of Hermann Hesse is passed on in a new translation. In turn surreal, funny, and tender, these contributions offer a diverse collection of writing from members of the UEA 2023 MA Literary Translation and Poetry cohorts.
Buy UEA MA Literary Translation & Poetry Anthology 2023 from Egg Box Publishing
2022
The 2022 MA in Literary Translation Anthology holds nine contributions from five languages. From Italian, we listen to the witty voice of Beatrice Portinari, and ride the wind to discover the secrets of an ancient biscuit recipe, taking us to Spanish where a bartender lends an ear to their client’s subway adventures. From French, we delve into intimate thoughts from the diary of a nonpuritan puritan, and are later invited to a 19th-century Christmas feast. From German, we take a plunge into the deep ocean of nature writing, attend church with a little girl in Austria, and share the everyday joys and frustrations of a modern woman. Finally, from Arabic, we read a chapter in the life of a Palestinian villager as he pursues his education. This unique range of translated extracts from novels, novellas, short stories, essays, and autobiographies is our vessel to the vastness of the world’s literatures.
"Every translator has to draw up their own map and find their own way, but they’re not alone: we have each other’s backs out there in the literary wilderness. This is just the beginning, and I hope the cohort stay in touch with one another, and reach out to us, their new peers in striving, endeavouring, attempting." (Jen Calleja)
Buy UEA MA Literary Translation Anthology 2022 now from Egg Box Publishing
2021
Changes: UEA MA in Literary Translation Anthology 2021
This anthology is a collection of eleven texts, translated from eight different languages, each concerned with the theme of 'changes'. Read Olivia Hellewell’s foreword on New Writing.
2020
Voices from the Outside: UEA MA Translation Anthology 2020. An anthology of ten translated texts across seven different languages, each concerned with the themes of moving between spaces, both figuratively and literally. From the graduates of the UEA Master's in Literary Translation 2019 and 2020.
Translating Trans Identity: (Re)Writing Undecidable Texts and Bodies
By Emily Rose
Routledge Series - Studies in Literary Translation (Series Editors Duncan Large and Jacob Blakesley)
This book explores the ways in which translation deals with sexual and textual undecidability, adopting an interdisciplinary approach bridging translation, transgender studies, and queer studies in analyzing the translations of six texts in English, French, and Spanish labelled as ‘trans.’
Rose draws on experimental translation methods, such as the use of the palimpsest, and builds on theory from areas such as philosophy, linguistics, queer studies, and transgender studies and the work of such thinkers as Derrida and Deleuze to encourage critical thinking around how all texts and trans texts specifically work to be queer and how queerness in translation might be celebrated. These texts illustrate the ways in which their authors play language games and how these can be translated between languages that use gender in different ways and the subsequent implications for our understanding of the act of translation and how we present our gender identity or identities.
In showing what translation and transgender identity can learn from one another, Rose lays the foundation for future directions for research into the translation of trans identity, making this book key reading for scholars in translation studies, transgender studies, and queer studies.
My BCLT - 30th Anniversary Edition
Celebrating 30 years of the British Centre for Literary Translation in 2019/20
In 2014, BCLT ran a 25/25 series in which contributors reflected on the impact of BCLT in their work - this became a book entitled 'My BCLT', edited by Daniel Hahn and Catherine Fuller. To celebrate our 30th Anniversary we commissioned 7 new contributions and created a 30th Anniversary edition of the publication. This edition was edited by Duncan Large, Anna Goode and Johanne Elster Hanson. The cover was designed by the local artist/designer Olivia Bush.
Contributors include Bill Swainson, Charlotte Collins, Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Sasha Dugdale and Katy Derbyshire to name but a few.
Untranslatability: Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Edited by BCLT's Prof Duncan Large, Motoko Akashi, Wanda Józwikowska and Emily Rose.
This volume is the first of its kind to explore the notion of untranslatability from a wide variety of interdisciplinary perspectives and its implications within the broader context of translation studies. Featuring contributions from both leading authorities and emerging scholars in the field, the book looks to go beyond traditional comparisons of target texts and their sources to more rigorously investigate the myriad ways in which the term untranslatability is both conceptualized and applied.
The first half of the volume focuses on untranslatability as a theoretical or philosophical construct, both to ground and extend the term’s conceptual remit, while the second half is composed of case studies in which the term is applied and contextualized in a diverse set of literary text types and genres, including poetry, philosophical works, song lyrics, memoir, and scripture. A final chapter examines untranslatability in the real world and the challenges it brings in practical contexts. Extending the conversation in this burgeoning contemporary debate, this volume is key reading for graduate students and researchers in translation studies, comparative literature, gender studies, and philosophy of language.
In Other Words
The journal for practising translators and for anyone interested in them and the world in which they work. 53 issues of this journal were published from 1993 - 2019 at BCLT and National Centre for Writing.
Translation in Practice
Information and advice for translators
You can download Translation in Practice for free. It is a guide published by Dalkey Archive Press in partnership with BCLT, Arts Council England, the Society of Authors and the British Council. This was published in 2009, so please be aware that some information may now be outdated.
NewWriting.net
#NewWriting.net is run by the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, showcasing new writing from UEA (students, faculty and alumni). The website includes a dedicated translation section.
BCLT YouTube Channel
Visit the British Centre for Literary Translation YouTube Channel to watch an increasing number of videos on literary translation, including Sebald Lectures by Emily Wilson and Arundhati Roy.
BCLT also has an older YouTube channel with an archive of films that are worth watching, including Sebald Lectures by Boris Akunin and Margaret Atwood.
BCLT SoundCloud Channel
Visit the British Centre for Literary Translation SoundCloud Channel to hear/download an increasing number of podcasts on literary translation, including Sebald Lectures by Emily Wilson and Arundhati Roy.
The British Archive for Contemporary Writing
The British Archive for Contemporary Writing (BACW) is a collection of archives based at UEA that includes material from acclaimed contemporary authors and translators. BACW holds a Literary Translation Archive formed from the work of BCLT with additional deposits from former UEA staff, and includes papers from Anne Born, Anthony Vivis, David Bellos, John Fletcher and Paul Verlaine.
Lily Meyer was a visiting fellow at BACW in 2022. During her fellowship, she researched the literary translation archives of David Bellos, Anne Born, and John Fletcher. Read her article Eager Or Reluctant? A Translator’s Dilemma.
BACW holds the following collections in its archives:
W.G. Sebald Audiovisual Archive
Translators Aloud YouTube Channel
Translators Aloud is a new initiative co-founded in June 2020 by literary translators Charlotte Coombe and Tina Kover. Their aim is to provide a space where literary translators can share videos of themselves reading from their published work, as they feel that sharing readings in this way is a good way to bring literary translators and publishers of translated fiction into the spotlight, help translators to do a little self-promotion, and provide a wealth of amazing readings for colleagues in the literary translation field, or academics, students, readers, publishers, literary agents, and so on. It is also an attempt to feel more connected to the literary translation community, particularly during this time of isolation and social upheaval.
Join Translators Aloud on X (formerly known as Twitter)
In terms of submissions, for the moment they are focusing on readings of published translations from any language into English, but they would also welcome submissions of side-by-side readings (either the translator reading snippets of both languages, or a translator/author collaborations) from any language into English, or vice versa. The only constraint is that the reading is a maximum of 5 minutes in total.
They also plan to start a playlist for unpublished samples, i.e. translators reading from samples they have translated of books seeking publishers. They hope that doing this will help to connect translators of great books in a variety of languages, with potential publishers in English. They will be doing a call for submissions for this in due course.
2 Seas Agency Translation Grant Listing
Translation grants list compiled by 2 Seas Agency.
Aldus Directory of Translation Grants
The Aldus directory of translations grants is a global database providing a country by country insight on funding opportunities for literary translation projects. Designed as a tool for professionals in the book sector, the directory is meant to provide comprehensive and updated information on existing initiatives providing financial support for translating literary works, including details on eligible works, languages, funding available and links to the relevant organizations to be contacted for applying to the grants. Starting from the work done by AIE Research department, the directory builds upon the regular contributions of Aldus network members.
Literary Translation Database
Literary Translator Charlie Coombe has set up a literary translation database covering publications, journals, review blogs, awards, contests, events, residencies, grants, funding, organisations and unions. It is a Google Doc that you can update with anything you believe other literary translators may find useful.
chill subs
There are too many opportunities out there, and that's pretty overwhelming. Where to submit my new poem? Where to find an editor? I guess I need a website, but how are those created? Or how to get people to actually read my new story, and not just the tweet about its acceptance? Chill subs is here to help with that. They give you some very nice search tools and details about each opportunity which makes it really easy to actually take action. They also promote your work and help you connect with people. You can create a profile, add your publications and services, AND browse other profiles and their publications and services. Find out more about chill subs.
Prismatic Jane Eyre
The website 'An Experiment in the Study of Translations: Prismatic Jane Eyre' is now live at prismaticjaneeyre.org. You will find there interactive maps and visualisations of the novel's more-than-500 translations into more-than-50 languages worldwide, together with some new ways of thinking about translation and world literature. Do please visit, share, subscribe to the blog and (if you wish) join in the project via the 'contribute' and 'feedback' buttons. BCLT's Eugenia Kelbert has been involved with this project from the Russian perspective.
Prismatic Jane Eyre is part of the Prismatic Translation project, led by Matthew Reynolds, funded by the AHRC under the OWRI research programme in Creative Multilingualism, and hosted by the Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation Research Centre (OCCT).
Emerging Translators Network
The Emerging Translators Network is a forum and support network for early-career literary translators working into English (primarily) and focused essentially on the UK. ETN provides an email-based discussion group, where you can ask questions, seek and give advice, exchange tips and resources, post details of events and opportunities or even pass on work. Occasional meetings, socials, events and workshops are held in London throughout the year. Members outside London also organise meetings in their own areas. It’s free to join, but prospective members should demonstrate a genuine interest in developing a career in literary translation.
Literature Across Frontiers
Literature Across Frontiers is a European platform for literary exchange, translation and policy debate. Surveys of national organisations and publishers supporting literary translation can be downloaded from the LAF website. LAF also publishes data and statistics on literary translations in the UK and Ireland. You can also download the list of publishers in the UK and Ireland who publish translations.
PEN Translates
PEN Translates was launched in 2012, with support from Arts Council England, to encourage UK publishers to acquire more books from other languages. Their awards help UK publishers to meet the costs of translating new works into English – whilst ensuring translators are acknowledged and paid properly for their work.
PEN Translates will fund up to 75% of translation costs for selected projects. When a publisher’s annual turnover is less than £500,000 they will consider supporting up to 100% of translation costs.
The PETRA-E Network
The PETRA-E Network is a European network of institutions dedicated to the education and training of literary translators.
RECIT
BCLT is a member of RECIT, the network for European literary translation houses.
The Translators' Association
The Translators Association is the UK’s professional association for literary translators. The TA is a source of expert advice and information, including details about payment rates for literary translation. It is the experience of the Society of Authors, when reviewing contracts, that UK publishers are prepared to pay in the region of £90 per 1,000 words.
New Books in German
A guide to new publications
Aimed chiefly at British and American editors who would like to publish more translations but would appreciate independent help in finding the right title from among the thousands published each year in the German language.
Poetry Translation Centre
The Poetry Translation Centre gives the best contemporary poems from Africa, Asia and Latin America a new life in the English language, working with diaspora communities for whom poetry is of great importance. They run regular poetry translation workshops and their website is a free archive of international poetry. They are currently celebrating their 20th anniversary with a series of events and activities.
Poetry of the Holocaust
In this interview Professor Jean Boase-Beier talks to Inpress about editing the anthology 'Poetry of the Holocaust' and also in general about editing translated poetry. 'Poetry of the Holocaust' is a ground-breaking anthology of translated poetry written during, or about, the Holocaust. Featuring the work of over 90 poets writing in 20 languages, this multilingual anthology includes many poems translated into English for the very first time.