Sebald Lecture, 20 Feb 2017: Michael Longley on translating Latin & Greek poetry

The British Centre for Literary Translation
In association with the British Library

The Sebald Lecture 2017

Releasing the Lyric: Translating Latin and Greek Poetry
Michael Longley CBE

Monday 20 February 2017
7pm, The British Library Conference Centre
London NW1 2DB

Tickets £12 (£10 over 60s, £8 con)
On sale from the British Library Box Office
www.bl.uk/events

Since studying Classics at Trinity College Dublin, Irish poet Michael Longley has frequently drawn on classical models in his poetry and established allusive parallels between ancient and modern concerns. Over the course of his career he has also translated a wide variety of fellow poets, from classical authors to Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, prompting Justin Quinn to write that ‘for Longley, translation becomes a way of thinking about the world’. In this lecture he will be reading, and commenting on, his translations from Latin and Greek. He will begin with his youthful versions from Sextus Propertius and progress to later poems derived from Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, taking in Sappho and Tibullus on the way.

One of Britain’s finest poets, Michael Longley has received many awards for his lyrical poems about love, death, memory, history and nature, published over more than fifty years. His collection Gorse Fires (1991) won the Whitbread Poetry Prize, and The Weather in Japan (2000) won the Irish Times Literature Prize for Poetry, the Hawthornden Prize, and the T.S. Eliot Prize. His most recent book The Stairwell won the 2015 Griffin International Prize. His next collection Angel Hill will be published in June 2017. He was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2001, and was appointed a CBE in 2003. He was Professor of Poetry for Ireland from 2007 to 2010.

The Sebald Lecture is given annually on an aspect of literature in translation and is named after W.G. Sebald who set up BCLT in 1989. ‘Max’ was a German writer who opted to live in the UK and continue writing in German. His novels and essays include The Rings of Saturn, Austerlitz and On the Natural History of Destruction, and they established him as a leading writer of the 20th century.

British Centre for Literary Translation mentor scheme, 2013

The British Centre for Literary Translation has announced the list of languages and mentors for 2013, with an amazing lineup of participating translators. All mentorships are for translation into English.
For more information, see the BCLT website:

Considering making a career in literary translation? Already embarked on your course but feel you could do with more help and support? If so, you might be one of the talented emerging translators we’re looking for to participate in the 2013 BCLT Translator Mentoring Scheme  (1 January – 30 June 2013)

Launched in 2011, the scheme has already produced twelve mentorship ‘graduates’ in languages ranging from Catalan to Polish. Several of the 2011-12 mentees have had work published as a result of contacts made and skills honed during the mentoring process, and our Arabic mentee, Emily Danby, was commissioned to translate a novel, The Scent of Cinnamon by Samar Yazbek, during her mentorship.

How to apply

Mentorships will be awarded in fifteen languages

• Arabic (mentor PAUL STARKEY)
• Danish (mentor BARBARA HAVELAND)
• Dutch (mentor DAVID COLMER)
• Italian (mentor HOWARD CURTIS)
• Greek (mentor DAVID CONNOLLY)
• Japanese (mentor MICHAEL EMMERICH)
• Norwegian (mentor DON BARTLETT)
• Polish (mentor ANTONIA LLOYD-JONES)
• Portuguese (mentor MARGARET JULL COSTA)
• Russian (mentor ROBERT CHANDLER)
• Swedish (mentor SARAH DEATH)
• Tamil (mentor LAKSHMI HOLMSTROM)
• Welsh (mentor TONY BIANCHI)

Mentees in these languages will be selected by open application.
To apply for a mentorship please submit the following:

• A brief, up to date CV
• A statement as to why you believe you would benefit from a mentorship and how you would use it
• A short sample of your translation work (not more than 2000 words) with accompanying notes

We expect most applications to come from translators living and working in the UK, but will consider all applications on their merits.

All enquiries and applications should be made by email to Sarah Bower, Scheme Co-ordinator at S.Bower at uea.ac.uk.

The deadline for applications is 31^st October 2012

Successful applicants will be informed by 30^th November 2012. Mentorships will commence immediately after the New Year holiday.

Translation competitions (update) and literary translation mentorships

Is it really June? Arggh! Further to my new-year-resolution list of translation competitions, a few updates:

The Harvill Secker Prize for young translators has announced its chosen language for this year (Chinese). The deadline is 27 July 2012. Prizes for the winner include participation in a mentorship programme run by the British Centre for Literary Translation.

The Joseph Brodsky/Stephen Spender prize for the translation of Russian poetry closes on 31 August 2012.

And a new prize on the block is the British Council prize for translation from Turkish. Entrants translate one of a selection of set poetry and/or prose texts. The deadline is 28 September 2012. The prize includes a mentorship with eminent translator Maureen Freely.

Lastly, New Books in German invites applications for its Autumn 2012 Emerging Translators Programme:

Six emerging German-English translators will take part in the project. Each translator will be commissioned to produce a sample translation of a book from the Autumn 2012 issue of New Books in German. The translations will be commissioned at the end of July 2012, and completed by October 2012. Participants will be invited to a workshop in London in September, run by an experienced translator, where the group will work together on each sample translation.
Applicants are invited to send a short C.V. and a translation of a prescribed extract from Annett Gröschner’s Walpurgistag (reviewed in NBG 31), by 16th July

As always, good luck to any of our readers who apply! :)

UPDATE 22 JUNE 2012: The Translators' House Wales has announced its Challenge for 2012, which consists of a translation of a set text in English by the South Asian writer Sampurna Chattarji into Welsh. More details here. 

London event, 31 May: The Joys of Being Lost in Translation

A forthcoming event for readers within reach of London:

The Joys of Being Lost in Translation

with Valeria Luiselli, Christina MacSweeney and Daniel Hahn

Thursday 31 May at 6.30pm

at Bookhaus 70, Cadogan Place London, SW1X 9AH

BCLT and Granta invite you to consider The Joys of  Being Lost in Translation.

Mexican novelist Valeria Luiselli will be discussing her outstanding debut Faces in the Crowd, with her translator Christina MacSweeney and Daniel Hahn, BCLT National Programme Director.

Admission free but rsvp at granta.com to reserve a place.

Literary translator residencies, Free Word Centre, London

Crossing Cultures: Translating Tales
Translator in residence programme at the Free Word Centre, London
September 2012 – May 2013

The Free Word Centre in London is offering two four-month residencies for practising literary translators in London, in association with the Translators Association, with support from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

One translator will work from Turkish, as Turkey will be the country focus for the London Book Fair in April 2013. The second translator will be working from another language that is widely spoken in the local community, i.e. the local boroughs of Islington, Hackney, City and Tower Hamlets. These include: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Greek, Gujarati, Punjabi, Somali, Spanish, Urdu and Vietnamese.

The role of translator in residence will be both challenging and rewarding. Therefore, FWC are looking for a professional, practising translator, with an aptitude for working in community settings and a proactive, collaborative approach that will engage a wide range of participants and audiences.
Translators will be responsible for researching ideas and developing innovative projects which will be realised with the support of Free Word, and where appropriate working with Free Word Founder Members and Associates, including The British Centre for Literary Translation, English PEN, the Reading Agency and Arvon.

Part of the programme of events should also include developing a project with the local community; this might include working with local schools, colleges, businesses or community groups.

A fee of £5000 is available for each individual residency, together with a small budget to realise projects.

Applications: Please send a CV and covering letter outlining why you want to be translator in residence at the Free Word Centre. Please include an outline of some initial ideas on how you would fulfil the project objectives and send to Siobhan [at] freewordonline.com by 11 June at 10am.

More information here.

2012 Harvill Secker translation prize: Chinese to English

The Harvill Secker Translation Prize organisers have announced the source text for their third annual competition: the short story 'The Wig' by the Chinese writer Han Dong. The text can be downloaded from the competition website.

This competition is distinctive in that it chooses a different source language each year (previously Spanish and Arabic) and provides a set text. The competition is for translation into English only, and  is open to young translators who are between 18 and 34 on the submission deadline of 27 July 2012.

The winning translator receives £1,000 and a selection of Harvill Secker titles. As part of a scheme supported by the British Centre for Literary Translation the winner will also be mentored by the distinguished translator Nicky Harman.

For information on other translation competitions out there, see this previous post. Translators of poetry into English may be particularly interested in the Times Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry Translation which closes on 1 June 2012.

Literary translation workshops and summer schools, 2012

Lots of fun stuff on this summer in the way of hands-on translation workshops...

The British Centre for Literary Translation Summer School, now running for over a decade, takes place in Norwich from 22 to 27 July 2012 with a distinguished line-up of writers and translators. This year's language combinations are Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Norwegian and Spanish into English. (Alas, the announced English to Italian workshop seems not to be taking place this year.) Deadline for registration is 8 May.

The BCLT is also a partner in a new Arvon Foundation literary translation workshop which will run at Lumb Bank in Yorkshire from 27 August to 1 September 2012. Places by selection: submit one double-spaced page of translation and the same text in the original to lumbbank at arvonfoundation.org by 29 June 2012.

There are fees for both of these events but some financial support may be available; see here for Arvon Foundation Grants and here for more information about travel grants, etc., for the BCLT Summer School. 

The BCLT is also running a literary translation workshop at the upcoming Translation Conference in Doha, Qatar from 29 April 2012.

In London, the Use your Language, Use your English summer school is taking place once again from 9 to 13 July 2012; see this previous post for more information. Source languages include Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. There is also a workshop on editing.

The Use your Language, Use your English project also includes a free online translation component in seven language combinations (Arabic, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish into English, as well as editing). To register and gain access to the materials, email useyourcontact at bbk.ac.uk.



Lastly, for translators of German children's literature there is a really nice-looking workshop in September 2012 organised by the Arbeitskreis für Jugendliteratur with the support of the Robert Bosch Stiftung. Funding is available to cover participation:

Bereits zum dritten Mal laden die Robert Bosch Stiftung und der Arbeitskreis für Jugendliteratur e.V. (AKJ) ins Hamburger Elsa-Brändström-Haus zu einer Übersetzerwerkstatt ein, die sich speziell der deutschsprachigen Kinder- und Jugendliteratur widmet.

Kinder- und Jugendliteratur öffnet die Tür in die Welt des Lesens und erweitert den Horizont der jungen Leser in kultureller und sprachlicher Hinsicht. In diesem Vermittlungsprozess über Sprachgrenzen hinweg kommt den Übersetzern eine wesentliche Rolle zu.

Daher bieten die Robert Bosch Stiftung und der AKJ 15 professionellen Übersetzern vom 16. bis 21. September 2012 die Möglichkeit, sich mit aktuellen Tendenzen der deutschsprachigen Kinder- und Jugendliteratur sowie spezifischen Übersetzungsproblemen des Genres auseinanderzusetzen.

Die Teilnehmer werden mit dem Übersetzer Tobias Scheffel konkret an Texten arbeiten, sie werden neben den Autoren Isabel Abedi und Andreas Steinhöfel auch Illustratoren, Lektoren und Kritiker kennenlernen und Informationen zu Fördermöglichkeiten und bestehenden Netzwerken für Übersetzer erhalten.

Bis zum 2. Mai 2012 können sich professionell arbeitende Übersetzer deutschsprachiger Kinder- und Jugendliteratur bewerben, die aus dem Deutschen in ihre jeweilige Muttersprache übersetzen. Die Werkstatt ist offen für Bewerber aller Sprachen. Übersetzer aus „kleinen“ Sprachen werden schwerpunktmäßig berücksichtigt. Die Teilnehmer erhalten einen Reisekostenzuschuss sowie Unterkunft im Doppelzimmer und Verpflegung für die Dauer der Werkstatt.

More information at http://www.jugendliteratur.org/veranstaltung-45-kein_kinderspiel.html.

British Centre for Literary Translation Summer School

Hi all,

A quick reminder about this - I have very happy memories of this summer school and it should be a brilliant experience for peeps (and indeed now tweeps!) with an interest in literary translation:


Call for participants: British Centre for Literary Translation Summer School
University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
22-27 July 2012

The British Centre for Literary Translation Summer School, now in its 12th year, runs July 22-27 in Norwich (UK). This is a fabulous opportunity to work with not only leading translators, but also the best in contemporary writers from around the world. This year we are offering workshops translating into English from  Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Norwegian and Spanish.

Writers in residence: Daniel Gascón , Nino Haratischwili, Furukawa Hideo,  Martin Page, Gustaaf Peek, Kjersti Skomsvold

Workshop  leaders:   David Colmer,  Kari Dickson, Katy Derbyshire, Michael Emmerich, Adriana Hunter, Anne McLean

In each workshop, participants work with a writer-in-residence under the guidance of a workshop leader, who is an experienced literary translator. There will also be opportunities to meet editors and other guests from the publishing sector. Sessions run from 9.00 - 4.30pm each  day and are followed by plenary events and panel discussions, including the presentation of the 2012 John Dryden Translation Prizes. At the end of the week everyone comes together to present their work.

You can read more about the programme at  http://www.bclt.org.uk/index.php/summer_school/.  The closing date for applications for the Summer School is 8 May.  To apply, download the application form from http://www.bclt.org.uk/index.php/summer_school/registration/ and email it to us together with a copy of your CV.

For more information, please contact Valerie Henitiuk at V.Henitiuk at uea.ac.uk.

Valerie Henitiuk (Dr.), Director, British Centre for Literary Translation, Senior Lecturer, School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing, Tel.: (44) (0)1603 592739, www.bclt.org.uk

two translation competitions

A quick reminder about two open literary translation competitions. The deadline for the Joseph Brodsky/Stephen Spender prize for the translation of Russian poetry into English is coming up (31 August). Electronic as well as postal entries are accepted.

The next deadline has been announced for one of the most established literary translation competitions in the UK, the John Dryden Translation Competition, jointly run by the British Comparative Literature Association and the British Centre for Literary Translation. Entries should be unpublished translations of prose, poetry or drama from any language into English. The deadline for the next competition is 15 February 2012.

BCLT Literary Translation Summer School 2011

Registration is now open for the 2011 British Centre for Literary Translation Summer School. This year's School will run from 24 to 30 July 2011 in Norwich. Workshops announced include Arabic, Chinese, German, Japanese and Spanish to English, and an English to Italian workshop. It's a chance to spend a week working with a writer in a small group led by an experienced literary translator. Portsmouth students have attended in the past and really enjoyed it.

Translation competitions (German-English, Russian-Italian, any-English)

Just came across this 'concorso per traduttori esordienti' from Russian to Italian. The website says that 'L'Associazione Premio Gorky dà il via al concorso rivolto ai giovani talenti della traduzione letteraria. Il concorso vuole diventare un buon auspicio per i traduttori emergenti'. See here for the Russian text to be translated (by the end of February) and here for the rules.

Readers in the US translating from German might be interested in this competition for aspiring German to English literary translators (deadline 28 February 2011).

Also, a deadline reminder for the Dryden Prize for unpublished literary translations from any language into English, jointly organised by the British Comparative Literature Association and the British Centre for Literary Translation. The deadline for 2011 is 14 February (postal entries only).

Literary translation events in London this winter

The British Centre for Literary Translation announces two forthcoming events on literary translation this winter in London: 

 

Sebald Lecture and Presentation of the 2010 Translation Prizes

Speaker: Ali Smith

7pm, Monday 31 January 2011
Kings Place, London
Tickets now on sale
The Sebald Lecture celebrates the best in contemporary translation, with readings and presentation of the annual Translation Prizes (administered by the Society of Authors). Prizes presented by Sir Peter Stothard, Editor of the Times Literary Supplement.

Translating Celan

23 November 2010

Goethe-Institut, London
Paul Celan, Europe's most compelling post-war poet, was a German-speaking, East European Jew. His writing exposes and illuminates the effects that Nazi destructiveness left on language. On the 90th anniversary of Paul Celan’s birth, translators and Celan experts discuss and debate his life, his poetry and approaches to translating his work. Speakers include Jean Boase-Beier, Ian Fairley, Charlotte Ryland and Wieland Hoban.
This event is organised by the Goethe-Institut and supported by BCLT.

For more information click here. 

John Dryden Translation Competition 2011 (closing date 14 February)

Entries are invited for the 2011 John Dryden Translation Competition, a long-running literary translation prize jointly sponsored by the British Comparative Literature Association and the British Centre for Literary Translation.
Entries must be translations of (extracts from) literary works of any period and from any language into English. There are cash prizes and winning entries will be published. The existence of copyright in any work places no restriction on its translation but only, in some cases, on publication of a translation. Translations of work previously translated are acceptable.

Entries must be the original work of the translator and must be unpublished. Entries may be the collective work of any number of translators.

There are no limitations on entrants with respect to age, nationality, place of residence, or professional status. Submissions and judging are strictly anonymous.

The closing date for receipt of entries (which must be by post) is 14 February 2011.

Further details can be found on the website.  Good luck to any readers of this blog who decide to enter!

British Centre for Literary Translation summer school

A quick reminder from the BCLT about this year's literary translation summer school: the Japanese-English, and English-Italian workshops are full, but there are a few places remaining on Chinese-English, French-English, German-English and Spanish-English workshops.

literary translation workshop, Cairo, January 2010

This looks really good - and is fully funded for the first year of its operation. It is based on the summer school format piloted by the British Centre for Literary Translation. Talented translators from and into Arabic with literary interests should find it extremely rewarding. Do draw it to the attention of anyone you think might be interested.


Call for participants: Arabic Literary Translation Workshop
Cairo, 24-30 January 2010

The Arabic Literary Translation Workshop is an intensive one week residential literary translation training programme that will provide the opportunity for hands-on translation practice, alongside exploration of literary translation as a bridge between the Arabic and English language publishing industries. It is organised by the British Council, the British Centre for Literary Translation, Arts Council England and Penguin Arabia, with the support of Banipal Magazine.

The longer term aims:
· To create and maintain a network of talented new generation translators who are plugged into the international publishing and theatre network
· Combat the shortage of translators from English to Arabic and Arabic to English in order to encourage the quality and quantity of contemporary Arab and British fiction and plays in translation.
· To support industry professionals looking to work with English and Arabic translators
· Engage industry professionals and partners to support and influence the local infrastructure

Format: The basic model involves a week-long, residential programme of hands-on translation practice, supplemented with seminars and lectures addressing various aspects of the theory, practice and business of literary translation. The hands-on practice is offered in the form of language-specific workshops, led by an experienced, practicing translator.

Each workshop group comprises no more than 8 participants, who are generally early- to mid-career translators, led by an expert translator who possesses a great deal of experience and a significant reputation in the field. The author of the piece of text to be translated is also a vital part of the workshop group. Participants are organized into Arabic-to-English and English-to-Arabic language groups, depending on their mother tongue or language of habitual use. The group works together to produce a consensus translation of the selected piece of text, which may be a play, a short story or a chapter from a novel.

The translation workshops are supplemented throughout the week by seminars on the business of translation and the relationship with all facets of the publishing industry, given by leading representatives in the field.

Networking is also a key part of the week. Participants have the opportunity to interact with publishers, editors, agents and authors, and to establish a community of translators for future collaboration and support.

Participants are required to take part for the entire duration of the course, arriving in Cairo on Sunday 24 January, and departing on the morning of Saturday 30 January. There will be allotted free sessions for sightseeing/exploring the city during the course of the week, but as part of this residential intensive programme, participants will be expected to attend every session.

Participant profile: Participants are expected to be at differing stages in their careers, but will all have a proven enthusiasm for and some background in literary translation. The most experienced participants will already have full-length works of translation published in the target language, but will be looking for skills input and publishing know-how to raise their abilities to the next level. The less experienced students will have a demonstrable interest in literary translation, and a desire to become more professionally active in this field. Academic qualifications will bolster an application, but will not be the sole criteria upon which decisions are made. They will have experience of translating either novels or for the theatre. For this course we will not be including the translation of poetry.

Participants are likely to be solicited from:
· Formal and informal groupings of literary translators (online communities, academic associations and institutes, and others)
· Editors and translators known to local contacts and stakeholders as enthusiastic and committed literary translators with a bright future

Potentially suitable participants should be contacted as soon as possible and encouraged to apply. In the case of this pilot, we are inviting applications through a wide network of contacts, which will be selected by a steering committee made up of British Council, Arts Council, Penguin Arabia and the British Centre for Literary Translation. In this first year, the return airfare, accommodation and cost of the one-week course will be free of charge to participants.

How to apply: Participants should submit the following to Rachel Stevens rachel.stevens@britishcouncil.org before 26 November 2009:
· CV/Resume in English, including professional and academic qualifications
· Cover letter in English, indicating their area of interest, their current involvement with literary translation, and their reasons for joining the course
· A sample translation of up to 1000 words of a piece of literature (attaching both the original text and the translation)

For more information, please call Rachel Stevens on +44 (0)20 7389 3165, or email Rachel.stevens@britishcouncil.org

BCLT Summer School registration open

Dear all,
Just a quick reminder that registration is open for this summer's BCLT literary translation summer school in Norwich, language combinations Chinese, FR, PT, DE, ES into English and also an English-Italian workshop. Portsmouth students have found this event very rewarding in the past. Enquiries to Valerie Henitiuk at the address below.

19-25 JULY 2009

Registration is now open for BCLT's annual international Literary Translation Summer School.

The Summer School brings together renowned writers and translators for an intensive week of workshops, round tables, seminars and readings. In 2009, a translation workshop from Chinese into English will be offered for the first time. Other workshops are offered into English from French, German, Portuguese and Spanish, and from English into Italian. In each workshop, participants work with a writer-in-residence under the guidance of an experienced literary translator.

Bursaries are available.

Details on our website: www.uea.ac.uk/bclt

Valerie Henitiuk (Dr.)

Associate Director, British Centre for Literary Translation
Lecturer in Literary Translation

“When people migrate, they take with them their seeds and their songs, and I think that essentially that’s pretty much all you’ll need when you get there…. (Um, well, I should amend that: there are other things that you’re going to need: a shaving kit and all that … a change of clothes would be important. But, you know, you get the point.)” - Tom Waits

School of Literature and Creative Writing
University of East Anglia
Norwich NR4 7TJ
E-mail: v.henitiuk@uea.ac.uk
Tel.: (44) (0)1603 592739
Fax: (44) (0)1603 592737

Literary Translation Summer School

The BCLT Literary Translation Summer School will be taking place from 19^th to 25^th July 2009, with workshops translating from French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese into English. Workshops will be led by Daniel Hahn, Nick Caistor, Nicky Harman, Shaun Whiteside and Sarah Adams. Writers in residence confirmed so far include Xinran, Eduardo Berti and Gonçalo Tavares. This is an event which Portsmouth students with an interest in literary translation have very much enjoyed in the past. Further details and registration forms from Catherine Fuller at BCLT (c.fuller@uea.ac.uk) or www.uea.ac.uk/bclt.

Sebald Lecture on literary translation

That would be the gentleman with his picture just to the left, there. His feast day is 30 September, and in celebration the British Centre for Literary Translation is holding its usual annual shindig at the South Bank:

The Sebald Lecture on Literary Translation and Presentation of the Translation Prizes

Monday 29 September 2008 at 8pm

Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Centre, London SW1

A Day out for Mehmet Erbil: A Tale of Translation told by Louis de Bernieres

In association with the Society of Authors and the Times Literary Supplement.

Louis de Bernieres, author of Captain Corelli's Mandolin, explores fiction as the terrain for translation between cultures, inspired by his interest in history and place, and its relationship to Englishness

6.30pm: Readings from the Translation Prizes 2008

Free admission with ticket to the Sebald Lecture

Tickets: £10

Box Office 0871 663 2500 or online from www.southbankcentre.co.u

See http://www1.uea.ac.uk/cm/home/schools/hum/lit/bclt for more details about the Centre's activities.