Next We Take New York

I'm back! Did you miss me? I've been doing some much-needed r e l a x i n g – including the always delightful BCLT Summer School – and am pretty much back up to speed now. Note that I have recovered my natural cheer, despite it being hot as hell here right now.

And something quite exciting is coming up next month, for me at least. I'm going to the USA! My first time as an adult! I went to Philadelphia when I was seven but I don't remember it all that well apart from visiting my first ever shopping mall, where someone had kindly gobbed on the escalator handrail, thus putting me off malls for life. Worse things have happened.

Apart from just standing around with my mouth open in amazement, I shall be doing two official things in New York. Or am I supposed to call it New York City? The first is open to the public (you lucky, lucky public) and is a panel discussion at the Goethe Institut, Net Lit Unlimited. You can blame me for that title.

And the second thing is by invitation only, but if you tell them I sent you they might let you join in anyway. You probably have to have either a modicum of translation experience or a burning passion for literary translation, and you definitely have to speak German. It's a chance to bask in my infinite translatorly wisdom, an opportunity rarely available outside of Europe.

TransLab –

Workshop for up-and-coming literary translators from German to English led by Katy Derbyshire.

Date: Tuesday, September 22, 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm (subject to change)
Place: Goethe-Institut, New York
            30 Irving Place, 4th Floor
            New York, NY 10003

Agenda:
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm: Warm-up exercise:  What makes a good translation?
1pm – 1:30 pm: Translators will be assigned to small groups. They will translate up to three short passages.
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm: Group exercise: Editing the translations
This segment will focus on choices involving the narrative voice, and how to write a coherent text.

(Katy Derbyshire is originally from London and has lived in Berlin for many years. She translates contemporary German writers including Inka Parei, Clemens Meyer, Helene Hegemann, and Dorothee Elmiger. Katy blogs at love german books and co-hosts a monthly translation lab and the bimonthly Dead Ladies Show.)

By Invitation only. For more information, please email Riky Stock: stock at newyork.gbo.org

A collaboration between the German Book Office and the Goethe-Institut, New York.

See you there, lovely New Yorkers! And it better not be too hot by then.

Hone Your Translation Craft in Berlin

The nice people at The Reader Berlin are again running a translation-related course. This time it's a workshop led by EJ Van Lanen. Here's what they say about it:

Are you interested in becoming a translator, or already translating but missing a collaborative, supportive environment to discuss and improve your work? EJ Van Lanen, publisher of literary translation imprint Frisch & Co. and editor of more than fifty translations, will be running a 7-week course for translators who would like to hone their craft. Designed for both beginning and more established translators, this series of workshops and discussions will provide you with detailed feedback on your sample translation, touch on theories of translation (and how they might apply to your process), and explore ways to reach out to publishers and jump-start your translation career.

It costs €130 for seven Thursday-night sessions.

You could also do worse than coming along to our no man's land translation lab, every first Tuesday of the month at 8 p.m., upstairs and to the right in the Max & Moritz restaurant. 

Young Translators: Flock to Berlin

You may recall that the SAND journal staged a translation competition for under-thirties, with the winners being flown in to Berlin for a weekend workshop in April. And now you too, other translators into English under the age of thirty, can sign up but pay your own way. The events themselves are free, however. To download the rather colourful programme and application details, go here. Presumably the snow will have melted by the time you get here.