Thursday 23 March 2017

'Thinking Translation in Creation' 29-30 June 2017, Lancaster University

This looks like a fab event - wish I could go!


The Space in Between: Thinking Translation in Creation
Study Day and Workshop
29th-30th of June 2017, Lancaster University

What happens when artists and writers experiment with translation in their works? What happens when the processes of translation and untranslatability are reflected on visually or artistically? Many multilingual writers use translation, either consciously and unconsciously, in their artistic manipulation of language. Other artists such as Jean-Luc Godard have used translation as a way to critique the cultural hegemonies of their context of production, or in the case of Hans/Jean Arp, as visual portraits of their relationship to languages. 

This colloquium invites researchers, creative writers and artists to reflect on the role of translation in theirs and others’ creative practices. The event will consist of a study day followed by a workshop led by OUTRANSPO.

Confirmed Keynote Speakers:  Dr. Simon Coffey (King’s College London) and OUTRANSPO (http://www.outranspo.com/)

Please send abstracts and titles to Dr. Delphine Grass at d.grass at lancaster.ac.uk by 10 April 2017.


Monday 20 March 2017

Peter Bush seminar added to spring lineup of Bristol translation events :)

It's turned into a bit of an exciting spring for translation events at Bristol. Not only do we have Don Share's visit at the end of the month, and two talks on language jobs in the UN and translation in UK-China trade, but I have just been notified about a seminar on Catalan literary translation taking place this Wednesday 22 March, featuring one of the UK's most respected and widely-published literary translators, Peter Bush:

"La traducció literària del català a l'anglès: Pa negre i alters obres" / 
"Catalan translation from Catalan into English: Black bread and other books". 

Peter Bush (Catalan-English translator): 
Wednesday 22nd March, 14.10-15.40, 12 Woodland Rd, 1G5.

I think you need a current University card to access this venue. Please address any queries to the organiser at marc.comadran at bristol.ac.uk.  


Peter Bush is a freelance literary translator and scholar who lives in Oxford. He has translated fifteen works from Catalan by authors such as Empar Moliner, Najat El Hachmi, Quim Monzó, Josep Pla, Mercè Rodoreda, Joan Sales, Teresa Solana and Emili Teixidor. His translation of Pla´s The Gray Notebook won the 2014 Ramon Llull Literary Translation Prize and he was awarded the Creu de Sant Jordi in 2015 for his translation and promotion of Catalan literature. He has also won awards for his translations from Portuguese and Spanish. He has translated work by Carmen Boullosa,  Juan Goytisolo, Juan Carlos Onetti, Leonardo Padura and Senel Paz and a number of classics including Celestina and Tyrant Banderas. His most recent translation from French is In Praise of Love by Alain Badiou.
For more information on Peter Bush see his Wikipedia page. Readers who have taken my classes in the past may be familiar with some of Peter's writings on translation including this excellent essay looking at different drafts of one of his Goytisolo translations (may download directly as a pdf). 

Wednesday 15 March 2017

Upcoming events at Bristol with Don Share, 28 and 29 March 2017

We have two rare and exciting events coming up later this month in Bristol with poet, editor and translator Don Share, who has been invited with the support of the Bristol Institute for Research in the Humanities and Arts (BIRTHA), the Bristol Poetry Institute and SML Translation Studies:




































More details about the translation event here.

Don Share became the editor of Poetry in 2013. His books of poetry are Wishbone (2012), Squandermania (2007), and Union (2013, 2002). He is the co-editor of The Open Door: 100 Poems, 100 Years of Poetry Magazine (2012), and editor of Bunting's Persia (2012) and a critical edition of Basil Bunting's poems (2016). He is the translator of Field Guide: Poems by Dario Jaramillo Agudelo (2012), Miguel Hernández (2013), and I Have Lots of Heart: Selected Poems by Miguel Hernández (1998), winner of the Times Literary Supplement Translation Prize and the Premio Valle Inclán for Spanish Translation.

Tuesday 14 March 2017

Translation industry events, University of Bristol, spring 2017

We've got two exciting industry-oriented events coming up at Bristol later this spring:

Language jobs in the United Nations system 
Teresa Lander
5.15pm, Thursday 30 March 2017

Link Room 2
3-5 Woodland Road
University of Bristol - Arts Complex
Bristol
BS8 1TE


There are opportunities for more than just interpreters and translators in the United Nations. A whole range of other language professionals – editors, précis-writers, proofreaders – contribute to understanding between nations and the UN’s ideals of multilingualism. Come and find out more about the UN and opportunities for linguists. Advance registration is required, but the event is free - all are welcome!

Teresa Lander is a freelance translator, editor and report-writer, working mainly in the United Nations system. Her languages are French, Russian, German and Spanish to English. She also teaches editing and revision on the postgraduate Translation and Professional Language Skills course at the University of Bath.

More information and free online booking at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/language-jobs-in-the-united-nations-system-tickets-32705826006


The Importance of Translation for UK-China Trade and Investment
Jonathan Smith

5.15pm, Wednesday 26 April 2017
Room G77A, Arts Complex (entry via 3-5 Woodland Road)
School of Modern Languages
University of Bristol
Bristol
BS8 1TE


This event will highlight the many ways in which translation is a key aspect of business relationships between the UK and China. The talk will cover trade and investment links between China and the South West, the different factors that make China an attractive market for UK businesses, and the future of UK-China relations. There will be plenty of time for informal conversations over refreshments. Advance registration is required, but the event is free - all are welcome!

Jonathan Smith is Business West's Market Specialist for China, working primarily on the Extend Your Global Reach project. He has worked helping foreign companies of all sizes succeed in the China market through working at North Head, a boutique strategy consultancy in Beijing, and the China-Britain Business Council. He holds a masters degree from Peking University in International Relations and can speak Chinese. In his spare time Jonathan organises events for Sinophiles in Bristol.

More information and free online booking at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-importance-of-translation-for-uk-china-trade-and-investment-tickets-32811830067

Monday 6 March 2017

CFP: The Materiality of Feminist Texts and Translations: Economy, Production, and Text, Bern 23-24 June 2017

The Materiality of Feminist Texts and Translations: 

Economy, Production, and Text

Bern, Switzerland 23-24 June 2017


International Network "Translating Feminism: Transfer, Transgression, Transformation (1945-1990)"

Organisers: Dr. Maud Bracke, Dr. Penny Morris and Dr. Kristina Schulz

23 June 2017-24 June 2017, Bern, University of Bern
Abstract deadline: 15 March 2017

The project "Translating Feminism" brings together scholars from three continents wishing to pursue original, interdisciplinary research focused on the global reach of feminist writing and women’s movements. While the transformation of women’s social status is one of the most significant developments of the post-war period, little is known about the precise ways in which women’s rights campaigners across different national and cultural settings communicated with one another, read and translated each other’s texts, and locally recontextualised them. The first international workshop in Glasgow in November 2016 provided the opportunity to discuss historical findings and new theoretical approaches. These discussions will be pursued further at the second international workshop that will take place in Bern, Switzerland, June 23-24, 2017.

More precisely, the forthcoming workshop will be dedicated to the materiality of feminist texts and to the material culture of feminist literary activities, with a special focus on translation. Following Roger Chartier, the meaning that readers give to a text is never detached from the material conditions in which it is produced and diffused. Chartier reminds us that the printed object is crucial to an understanding of why and how people make sense of what they read. This applies to translations in particular ways, as the physical quality of both the source text and the translation establish an (imagined) relationship between transnational and translingual writers and readers.

Women’s literary activities involved producing, diffusing, reading, translating, and discussing texts from a woman’s point of view. But what was considered to be a "woman’s point of view", and how do global transfers and translations de-stabilise accepted notions thereof? Instead of studying feminism as a given system of ideas, regardless of the context of its production and reception, we aim to study the variety of material supportive of women- centred ideas, ranging from pamphlets to self-published pirated editions and to printed books, as well as the literary activities by which they are produced and transmitted. This includes the fact that, while practising what social movement theorists call 'counter-cultural retreat', when it came to literary activism, feminists did engage with a broader public, both in terms of a (potential) feminist public and the institutions and actors of the publishing market.

Translating Feminism: Transfer, Transgression, Transformation (1945-1990)

We invite papers that deal with different aspects of feminist text and book production, diffusion, and translation, such as:
– The materiality of the printed object and the conditions of (non-)reproducibility
– The economic contexts of book publishing and translation
– The technical conditions of writing, translation and transnational communication transfer
– Aspects of distribution
– Bookshops and reading communities
– The history of translation and a transnational feminist reading market

Practical arrangements:
Presenters will have approx. 15 minutes to discuss their paper, and panels will consist of 3-4 papers. The pre-circulation of papers is intended to foster deep engagement with each other’s work.
Presenters may be asked to act as discussant for another paper. Please include the following in your proposal:
– A 300-word paper abstract
– A 200-word biographical statement with main publications and current affiliation
– State if you are seeking funding, with reference to the following criteria: Limited funding to cover travel and accommodation is available for researchers working on temporary contracts, and for academics working outside Europe and North America.

Please send your proposals to the organisers by March 15, 2017. You will be notified by mid-April 2017 and will be asked to circulate a draft of your paper by June 1. The programme will be finalised and published in the course of May 2017.

Second Workshop of the Leverhulme Trust funded International Network 'Translating Feminism: Transfer, Transgression, Transformation (1945-1990)'; organised by Dr. Maud Bracke, Dr. Penny Morris and Dr. Kristina Schulz

Please address your abstract and any questions to Dr. Emily Ryder:
translatingfeminism at gmail.com