Through Visible Communities, National Centre for Writing is offering a range of professional development opportunities to UK-based Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse literary translators, and literary translators working from heritage, diaspora and community languages.
Our Visible Communities programme aims to:
- Diversify access routes to literary translation
- Strengthen links between the literary translation community and diaspora communities in the UK
- Contribute to the debate around decolonising literary translation
- Expand the range of literature published in translation
Residencies
The Visible Communities programme encompasses in-person and virtual residencies for UK-based Black, Asian and Ethnically Diverse literary translators. We work with a wide range of partners and funders to support our residencies and exchanges.
In 2022, we hosted Adrija Ghosh, Nadiyah Abdullatif, Dawid Mobolaji and Arthur Reiji Morris in the Dragon Hall cottage. Read more →
We also hosted virtual residents Nadiyah Abdullatif, Lydia Hounat, Vineet Lal, Coco Mbassi and Shagufta Sharmeen Tania. Read more →
Events
Watch a range of events featuring Visible Communities translators, below.
Jaag Festival, a unique celebration of Panjabi and Pahari-Pothwari Language and Literature
We supported Kavita Bhanot to run Jaag Festival, a unique celebration of Panjabi and Pahari-Pothwari Language and Literature, on Saturday 13 May 2023. The festival marks the first-ever of its kind in the world.
In 2024, we will be partnering with the Poetry Translation Centre on a showcase event to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
Commissions & resources
Podcasts with translators in residence
Guides to Norwich UNESCO City of Literature by translators in residence
Articles by translators in residence
Sawad Hussain: Catalogue of a Private Life
Five tips for pitching to publishers
Shash Trevett: Translating Sri Lankan Tamil Poetry
Vineet Lal: Emerging Translator Mentorships ten years on
Decolonising translation: a report by Coco Mbassi
Vanilla Sorbet: a commission by Nadiyah Abdullatif
Bubble Said the (Melting) Pot by Shagufta Sharmeen Tania
Lydia Hounat’s Notes on the Azrar
Publications
Violent Phenomena: 21 Essays on Translation
Published by Tilted Axis Press
Edited by Dr. Kavita Bhanot and Jeremy Tiang
Frantz Fanon wrote in 1961 that ‘Decolonisation is always a violent phenomenon,’ meaning that the violence of colonialism can only be counteracted in kind. As colonial legacies linger today, what are the ways in which we can disentangle literary translation from its roots in imperial violence? 21 writers and translators from across the world share their ideas and practices for disrupting and decolonising translation.
Contributors including Khairani Barokka, Anton Hur, Monchoachi (tr. Eric Fishman), Layla Benitez-James, Eluned Gramich, Hamid Roslan, Lúcia Collischonn, Sawad Hussain, Aaron Robertson, Elisa Taber, Tiffany Tsao, Yogesh Maitreya, Shushan Avagyan, Onaiza Drabu, Sofia Rehman, Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi, and Sandra Tamele.
Supported by the Jan Michalski Foundation as part of Visible Communities.
Watch these Violent Phenomena talks and events in the BCLT Summer School 2022 playlist
Our partners
The Translators Association and the Society of Authors have published a statement on racial equality in literary translation, with recommended reading and a list of initiatives aimed at inclusion and equitable access to literary translation and publishing.
We would like to thank Arts Council England for supporting the Visible Communities programme, the British Centre for Literary Translation for collaboration on the BCLT Summer School, the Stephen Spender Trust for Multilingual Creators, the Francis W Reckitt Arts Trust for supporting residencies at Dragon Hall, and the Jan Michalski Foundation for their support for the Tilted Axis Press anthology and our virtual residencies.
