This five-week workshop is designed for practising translators as well as those curious about
the craft of literary translation. The workshop will be held in English. We’ll begin with close readings of contemporary texts into English, identifying and discussing the techniques at work. As the workshop progresses, we’ll evaluate these approaches in the context of broader
questions in literary translation:
– What makes a reading ‘faithful’?
– What makes a translation faithful?
– How useful are these notions?
– Is translation an act of empowerment?
– Does the translator have a voice—and how can that voice shape both your own work and
the translator’s place in the publishing world?
By the end of the course, you will have developed a practical toolkit to help you refine and
revise your translations. Depending on group size, one to two sessions will be devoted to
workshopping participants’ own translations. We will be looking at translations from several different languages. No prior experience in literary translation is required and all language enthusiasts are welcome.
Email us at hello@thereaderberlin.com to sign up!
Lucy Jones is a translator from the German whose work includes both contemporary authors
and distinctive twentieth-century voices such as Brigitte Reimann, Anke Stelling, Charlotte
Gneuß and Ronald M. Schernikau. Her translation of Schernikau’s cult book
SMALLTOWNNOVELLA is published by Ugly Duckling Press on 1 November. She has run
summer schools in translation for Bristol University and a writing workshop at Bard College
Berlin.