Modern Poetry in Translation books on a shelf

British Centre for Literary Translation

The BCLT is Britain’s leading centre for the study and support of literary translation

The British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT) is a research centre in the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing at UEA in Norwich.

We support the MA in Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia, a variety of undergraduate modules in the subject, and an extensive programme of PhD research.

What we do

Our history

BCLT was founded in 1989 by the late W.G. Sebald. ‘Max’ was Professor of European Literature at UEA and a German writer who opted to live in the UK and continue writing in German.

His novels and collections of essays, including The Rings of Saturn, The Emigrants, Austerlitz and On The Natural History of Destruction, established him as one of the leading writers of the twentieth century.

Past and present pieces about his life, work and legacy were shared in 2021 to mark 20 years since his death:

“Doubly Taxing: W. G. Sebald and Translation“, an unpublished article by Jo Catling translated by  Christophe Barnabé from a French-language original.

"Among Translators: W.G. Sebald and Translation", by Anthony Vivis, Christine Wilson and Stefan Tobler, introduced by Jo Catling. This piece was published in In Other Words.

Nick Warr' piece on Sebald's legacy.

British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT)