More on the Nobel Prize in Literature

If you can read Swedish, this article on the Nobel Prize gives a bit more insight. Thank you to Duncan Large, now the head of the BCLT, for sending me the link.

Gulf Coast Translation Prize

Here is some information about a new translation prize you might be interested in submitting work for. Also see https://gulfcoastmag.org/contests/prize-in-translation for more details.

We Are Now Accepting Entries

For the Inaugural Gulf Coast Translation Prize!

Deadline: August 31, 2014

Gulf Coast is now accepting entries for the inaugural Gulf Coast Translation Prize. In 2014, the contest is open to poetry in translation. The winner receives $1,000 and publication in the journal. Two honorable mentions will also appear in issue 27.2, due out in April 2015. All entries will be considered for paid publication on our website as Online Exclusives.

This year’s contest will be judged by Jen Hofer, a Los Angeles-based poet, translator, social justice interpreter, teacher, knitter, book-maker, public letter-writer, urban cyclist, and co-founder with John Pluecker of the language justice and literary experimentation collaborative Antena. Her recent translations include the homemade chapbook En las maravillas/In Wonder (Libros Antena/Antena Books, 2012); Ivory Black, a translation of Myriam Moscona’s Negro marfil (Les Figues Press, 2011, winner of translation prizes from the Academy of American Poets and PEN); and two books from Dolores Dorantes by Dolores Dorantes (Counterpath Press and Kenning Editions, 2008). Her essays, translations and poetry are available or forthcoming from numerous small presses, including Action Books, Atelos, Counterpath Press, Kenning Editions, Insert Press, Les Figues Press, Litmus Press, LRL Textile Editions, Palm Press, Subpress, Ugly Duckling Presse, and in various DIY/DIT incarnations. She teaches bookmaking, poetics, and translation at CalArts and at Otis College.

Guidelines

Poetry: Send up to 5 pages of poetry translated into English. Preference will be given to contemporary work published within the last fifty years.

As part of your submission, include the text in its original language, provide a brief synopsis (no more than 200 words) of the author you are translating, and indicate whether you have, and can grant us, permission to publish the original work and the translation. If you have rights to reprint the original text in the U.S., please let us know that as well.

Demonstrations of Permission

We will not consider submissions without permissions. In your submission, please provide one of the following:

            --A document stating that the original text is in the public domain.

--From the copyright holder: Written permission granting you right to translate the work in your contest submission. Permission should name the work being translated, date consent was given, and identify the copyright holder.

--Please let us know if you have rights to reprint the original text in the U.S.

Contest Guidelines for Online Submissions

-       Submissions accepted via Gulf Coast’s online submissions manager.

-       Submit up to five translated poems, including the original text, single .doc, .docx,

.rtf, or .pdf file.

-       Only previously unpublished work will be considered.

-       The contest will be judged blindly, so please do not include your cover letter, your name, or any contact information in the uploaded document. This information should only be pasted in the “Comments” field.

Contest Guidelines for Postal Mail Submissions

-       Only previously unpublished work will be considered.

-       Please address postal mail entries to:

ATTN: Translation Prize

Department of English

University of Houston

Houston, TX 77204-3013

-       The contest will be judged blindly, so your contact information should appear only on your cover letter.

-       Please include your $17 reading fee, payable in U.S. dollars to “Gulf Coast.”

ProZ Community Choice Awards

This blog was nominated on ProZ.com for “Best overall blog related to translation”. Please vote for me here.

Nobel Prize in Literature

This year’s Nobel Prize in literature goes to Mo Yan.

What do you think? I must confess I'd never heard of this author!

Versatile Blogger Award

I was really pleased to receive a Versatile Blogger Award from translator Judith Carrera a few months ago. I’ve had so many other things to post in the meantime that I failed to acknowledge Judith’s kindness.

My Spanish skills have faded quite a bit over the years, but from what I can understand of Judith’s blog and website, she has some interesting thoughts, so do check out her site if you can read Spanish.

Chapbook Contest

Some of you might be interested in this contest.

ANOMALOUS PRESS ANNOUNCES OUR FIRST-EVER CHAPBOOK CONTEST!

March 15 – May 15

$500 prize plus publication!

Finalist manuscripts will also be considered for publication, and all submissions will be considered for publication in the journal.

$15 fee.

We will publish the winning manuscript in each of the following categories:

* Translations. Specifically innovative translations, translations that draw attention to themselves, hybrid translations, translations that defy convention, translations that prey on, magnify, distort, and bring greatness to source texts.
* Poetry. Original poetry.

Christian Hawkey will judge the translation category.

Christian Hawkey is the author of Petitions for an Alien Relative (a chapbook by hand held editions, 2010), Ventrakl (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2010), Citizen Of (Wave Books, 2007), Hour, Hour, a chapbook which includes drawings by the artist Ryan Mrowzowski (Delirium Press, 2006), and The Book of Funnels (Verse Press, 2004), winner of the 2006 Kate Tufts Discovery Award. In 2006 he was given a Creative Capital Innovative Literature Award and he has also received awards from the Poetry Fund and the Academy of American Poets. He teaches at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.

Poetry judge will be announced soon!

Electronic submissions only. Full guidelines available at www.anomalouspress.org/chapbooks.php

AHRC Funding Opportunity: Doctoral Studentship

Some BNW readers might be interested in applying to do a PhD in translation. If so, here's a scholarship opportunity.

The Translation Group at Imperial College London invites applications for a 3-year doctoral studentship funded by the AHRC to begin in October 2012.

Research in Translation Studies at Imperial College is carried out in a vibrant environment. Members of staff of the Translation Group are highly research active, and the Group is home to many PhD students conducting doctoral research in areas such as translation studies, translation technology, localisation, audiovisual translation and accessibility to the media. The Group nurtures a subject-specific research culture by scheduling research seminars, inviting guest speakers from the UK and abroad, welcoming academic visitors who wish to spend periods of research at Imperial College, and organising seminars, colloquia and conferences at our institution and other venues.

For further information about the Translation Group research, visit: www.imperial.ac.uk/humanities/translationgroup/ourresearch.

Studentship Award

Standard tuition fees and a maintenance grant will be paid by the AHRC for three years. For 2011-12 the maintenance grant for students in London was £15,590. EU candidates are normally eligible for a fees-only award, unless they have been ordinarily resident in the UK for 3 years immediately preceding the date of the award.

Eligibility

In line with research council requirements, applicants must meet UK residency criteria or be ordinarily resident in the EU. Applicants should hold a first or upper second class degree, and hold or be studying for an MSc or MA degree in modern languages, translation, or in another relevant area related to Translation Studies. Applicants should also fulfil Imperial College English language requirements, and be supported by two strong academic references. Further details concerning eligibility are available via the AHRC website at:

www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Documents/GuidetoStudentFunding.pdf

(pages 39-46).

How to apply

Applicants are invited to suggest their own topics of study, within the field of Translation Studies and submit a fully developed proposal. They are advised to contact a prospective supervisor to discuss their interests. For research interests of staff and of recent and current doctoral students, please visit:

www.imperial.ac.uk/humanities/translationgroup/phdstudy.

Applicants should send the following documents to Tom Barbanneau at t.barbanneau@imperial.ac.uk by 19^th March 2012. Please note that all documentation is required in English:

• A research proposal including information about the research background/context, research aims and questions, methodology, any required resources and/or sources, and accompanied by a complete bibliography. The following document provides some advice on how to write a PhD proposal.
• Curriculum Vitae.
• Two academic reference letters.
• A supporting statement of academic interests and reasons for applying for this studentship. This statement should also include details of academic achievements and any relevant research experience.

The deadline for applications is 19^th March 2012. Interviews will be held at Imperial College soon after the deadline. For enquiries, please contact Dr Rocío Baños-Piñero at r.banos-pinero@imperial.ac.uk.

Top 10 Blogs on Translation

’Tis the season for blog and website awards! Brave New Words has been listed as one of the top 10 blogs on translation. See the list here, and ignore the fact that I’ve been referred to as male, even though I’m actually female.

All these nominations and awards are much appreciated. Thanks so much to all my readers for reading, commenting, and nominating this blog!

Best Blog Award

Brave New Words has been nominated for the best blog about the English language by Macmillan dictionary. Please vote for BNW here (on the second page of the list).

Funding and Grants

I’ve noticed that more and more often these days, publishers are contacting translators and asking us to find funding for books they want to publish but don’t want to pay for (or, to be fair, can’t pay for). Getting funding and applying for grants is not something we learn in university programs in translation and it’s not really something that many of us consider part of our jobs (see this article I wrote on getting grants awhile back). But it is something we have to learn more about; at the very least, we have to know how to advise publishers to go about finding and applying for the grants that governments and cultural institutions offer, even if we don’t do the actual applications ourselves. Sometimes we’re even asked to translate grant information (usually for free) and occasionally we’re begged to forgo part or even all of our fee so a book can get published.

Getting grants is not easy. It’s also quite a different skill from translating. Whose responsibility should it be? Personally, I’d like to be left to do what I’m good at (translating, editing, and writing), but I know that in this market, we have to be more willing to go into the business side of things and to help get the grants that will pay for our labor and get our work published. What do others think?

The Joseph Brodsky/Stephen Spender Prize 2011

You still have time to submit an entry to The Joseph Brodsky/Stephen Spender Prize 2011. See this website for details about this contest for the translation of Russian poetry into English.

Vote for Brave New Words

Brave New Words has been nominated as one of the top language blogs. Please vote for BNW.

Thank you!

The Times Stephen Spender Prize

Here is an annual competition that you might want to enter: The Times Stephen Spender Prize.

Positive Progress

I received the following press release not that long ago, and I thought it represented a positive step forward for translation.

Words without Borders announces a $44,000 grant from Amazon.com to fund translator and author costs.

New York City, New York, December 1, 2010—Words without Borders (WWB) announces a generous grant from Amazon.com underwriting the costs of publication for 2011.

Words without Borders is a nonprofit organization and monthly online magazine dedicated to the translation, publication, and promotion of literature in translation. Each month we publish eight to ten new pieces of literature in translation from around the globe. The grant will cover the author and translator fees for all twelve issues of Word without Borders: The Online Magazine of International Literature in 2011, including an upcoming issue on Pashto and Dari literature and works by winners of the Russian Debut Prize. Amazon.com’s grant provides significant and much-needed operating support to the organization and allows Words without Borders to raise its payments to authors and translators.

This marks the fourth grant from Amazon.com to Words without Borders. It is the largest grant they have awarded to any organization to date.

Alane Salierno Mason, WWB’s founder and president, stated, “Amazon.com’s ongoing support has been critical to our financial health. This most recent grant not only provides major support for the organization’s financial foundation, but allows us to do just a bit more for the authors and translators whose work forms the heart of Words without Borders.”

In addition to WWB, Amazon.com has awarded grants to a diverse range of not-for-profit author and publisher groups dedicated to fostering the creation, discussion and publication of new writing and new voices, including the Council for Literary Magazines & Presses, Milkweed Editions, Poets & Writers, WriteGirl, 826 Seattle, The Loft Literary Center, Voice of Witness, Seattle Arts and Lectures, The Moth, The Kenyon Review, Richard Hugo House, Artist Trust, Hedgebrook, Copper Canyon Press, Girls Write Now, Lambda Literary Foundation, the Association of Writers & Writing Programs and the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. A number of the recipients- such as Open Letter, Ledig House, Archipelago Books, the Best Translated Book Award, Pen American Center, and the Center for the Art of Translation- are, like Words Without Borders, committed to supporting the international exchange of literature and the work of translators and foreign authors.

Words without Borders is grateful for the continued partnership with Amazon.com and their ongoing work to support literature in translation.

Founded in 2003, Words without Borders is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that has translated over 1,200 pieces of literature and poetry representing 80 languages by writers from 111 countries. WWB has been featured in the New York Times, the New York Times Book Review, the Boston Globe, the Guardian (UK), Vanity Fair, and the Chronicle of Higher Education, as well as in various foreign-language papers and numerous literary blogs. We were selected as a featured “pick” by Yahoo immediately after our launch issue and voted one of Time magazine’s “Fifty Coolest Websites” in July 2004.

Translation Prize

Here is another translation prize you might want to submit to.

A Round-Up of Articles

It’s been so long since I’ve done a round-up of articles and links that I have a lot of them to share with you now.

At the university where I teach, there is a regular literary festival, and local readers might be interested in the program.

Speaking of programs, this sounds like a great new MFA.

I saw this article about translator and writer Lydia Davis first mentioned on my friend Erika Dreifus’ excellent blog.

Here is a melodramatic but hopefully tongue-in-cheek piece on the death of English.

This article discusses how publishers choose translators.

Next up is a piece about how languages influences our thinking.

Another New York Times article looks at learning languages online.

If you’re looking for a short story to read (or listen to!), you can try this one by yours truly.

If you can read Swedish, you might find this article interesting.

Here are some facts about English.

This article is on the best languages to learn.

And the Winner is…

This year's Nobel Prize in Literature was given to Mario Vargas Llosa.

What do you think? Was it the right choice?

2010 Nobel Prize in Literature

This year's Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced on Thursday. Who do you think will win?

People regularly suggest authors such as Joyce Carol Oates, Adonis, and Amos Oz. I don't think it's likely an English-language author will win this year. And given the way the Nobel tends to be linked somewhat to politics, I doubt an Israeli will get it, no matter how deserving his oeuvre might be.

What do you think?

Vote for Brave New Words

Brave New Words has been nominated as one of the Top 100 Language Blogs 2010 by Lexiophiles.

Please vote for Brave New Words!

SUISS Edwin Morgan Translation Fellowship

I was sent the following information on a fellowship:

The Scottish Arts Council offers again this year the Edwin Morgan
Translation Fellowship for a professional literary translator of
British literature (preferably Scottish) into their native language.
The fellowship is worth £3525 as it covers the course and
accommodation fee to attend the course "Text and Context: British and
Irish Literature from 1900 to the Present' at the Scottish
Universities' International Summer School at Edinburgh University.
Attached further information.

We would appreciate it if you could make your members aware of this
opportunity by advertising it on your website and maybe forwarding
the information to relevant members. The closing date for the
Fellowship is 12th April and the Text and Context application form
can be downloaded from our website.

Your help is much appreciated.

Scottish Universities' International Summer School
Text and Context:
British and Irish Literature from 1900 to the Present

SUISS Edwin Morgan Translation Fellowship
(supported by the Scottish Arts Council)

During his long and prestigious career, Edwin Morgan has revolutionized contemporary Scottish literature, not least with his six decades of work in translation. Perhaps most celebrated is his translation of the poetry of Mayakovsky into Scots, but he has also worked extensively from, amongst others, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Hungarian poems and plays. Edwin Morgan has been a friend of SUISS for many years, giving readings and meeting students, and his work forms an important and popular part of our literature course.

Thanks to a generous donation from the Scottish Arts Council, SUISS is able to offer a free place on the 2010 six-week ‘Text and Context: British and Irish Literature from 1900 to the Present’ course. The Fellowship will be payable in Edinburgh and will cover the costs of all tuition, accommodation, most meals, the social and cultural programme, and includes full use of the facilities of the library of Edinburgh University and the National Library of Scotland. Please note that the Fellowship does not include travel expenses or spending money.

Applications for this Fellowship are invited from professional translators with an interest in twentieth-century and contemporary Scottish writing. The closing date for the award is 12th April 2010. Applicants should indicate on the application form that they would like to be considered for the Edwin Morgan Translation Fellowship, and include a letter explaining their reasons for applying, together with any details of past and/or prospective publications. We also require one of your referees to support the fellowship application, which is normally from the candidate’s publisher.

Further information can be found on the SUISS website, which also contains the facility to download an application form. A brochure, application form and credit information can also be obtained from:

The Administrator
Scottish Universities’ Telephone: 0044 131-650 4369
International Summer School Fax: 0044 131-662 0275
21 Buccleuch Place E-mail: SUISS@ed.ac.uk
EDINBURGH
EH8 9LN
Scotland (UK) http://www.summer-school.hss.ed.ac.uk/suiss