In Norwich, May 6, on Magdalen Street at the Mischief tavern. Image – Getty iStockphoto: Yackers
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
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Deadline for Entries: August 31
In the United Kingdom, the National Centre for Writing in Norwich has today announced (July 22) the available languages and mentors in its Emerging Translator Mentorships program for the 2022-2023 cycle.
In its 13th year, the program is intended to encourage “successive new cohorts of literary translators into English, particularly for languages the literature of which is under-represented in English translation.”
Languages and Mentors Named
- Arabic – mentored by Sawad Hussain
- Danish – mentored by Paul Russell Garrett
- Hindi (The Saroj Lal Mentorship) – mentored by Daisy Rockwell
- Indonesian (Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize) – mentored by Khairani Barokka
- Italian – mentored by Howard Curtis
- Japanese – mentored by Juliet Winters Carpenter
- Korean – mentored by Anton Hur
- Norwegian – mentored by Rosie Hedger
- Polish – mentored by Sean Gasper Bye
- Québec French or First Nations languages – mentored by Sarah Ardizzone
- Swedish – mentored by Nichola Smalley
- Ukrainian – mentored by Nina Murray
- Visible communities – mentored by Meena Kandasamy
As to the reference to “visible communities,” it’s “a mentorship open to UK-based literary translators who are either Black, Asian and ethnically diverse, or working from heritage, diaspora, and community languages of the United Kingdom.”
The slot for mentoring in Québec French or First Nations languages is open to literary translators working from either one or more of the following languages: Québecois French, Algonquin, Atikamekw, Cree, Innu, Inuktitut, Micmac, Mohawk, or Naskapi.
Rebecca DeWald
In a prepared statement, the center’s program manager, Rebecca DeWald, is quoted, saying, “‘We’re looking forward to offering 13 promising literary translators the opportunity to work with an experienced translator to hone their skills and expertise and build their confidence as key players in international literature.
“The selection of languages we’re supporting this year spans many Asian, European, and Afro-Asian languages, as well as, for the first time, First Nations languages spoken in Québec. In addition, we’re pleased to be able to offer a dedicated Ukrainian mentorship this year, and to feature Hindi for the second time, thanks to the Saroj Lal mentorship. We’re also excited to continue our biannual partnership with publisher Harvill Secker for this year’s Young Translators’ Prize in Indonesian.”
Established by writer, editor, and translator Daniel Hahn in 2010, the program’s mentorships run for six months and focuses on practical translation projects, developing craft through working on texts. Mentees receive a £500 bursary (US$599) and access to a dedicated week of training and talks, UK industry events such as International Translation Day and London Book Fair, and a digital showcase.
So far, the program has had more than 100 participants working in 35 languages, according to the center’s media messaging.
The program has support from Arts Council England, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, the Danish Arts Foundation, The Saroj Lal Mentorship, Harvill Secker, the Italian Cultural Institute, the Tadashi Yanai Initiative, the Literary Translation Institute of Korea, The Royal Norwegian Embassy, the Polish Cultural Institute, the Québec government office in London, the Swedish Arts Council, the British Centre for Literary Translation, the British Council, and Visible Community.
More information and application—deadline August 31—is here.
More from Publishing Perspectives on translation is here, more on the National Centre for Writing is here, and more from the United Kingdom’s market is here.
Publishing Perspectives is the world media partner of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award.
More from us on the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here.