This March, British Book publishing giant Penguin is offering a free residential workshop to early- and mid-career literary translators who work in both English and Chinese.

From their press release:

Workshop sessions will be led by renowned sinologists and translators Howard Goldblatt and Bonnie McDougall, who will work with students and respected contemporary Chinese authors on a short story or chapter from a longer work. This hands-on experience and tutorial setting will give students valuable training in literary translation best practice and technique.

Up to 20 translators of Chinese to English, and 20 translators of English to Chinese, will be able to participate. Authors Hari Kunzru and Bernardine Evaristo from the UK will work with the English to Chinese students. Chinese workshop leaders and authors are currently being confirmed.

In addition, sessions on publishing best practice and advice on how to navigate the industry will be led by senior publishers from Penguin Group.

If you are interested in this course, details about applying are below.

Sino-British Literary Translation Course

Student Selection Guidelines

Target Participants

The Sino-British Literary Translation Course is targeted at early to mid-career literary translators. A maximum of 20 Chinese-to-English translators and 20 English-to-Chinese translators will be invited.

Participants are expected to be at differing stages in their careers, but will all have a proven enthusiasm for and some background in literary translation. The most experienced participants will already have full-length works of translation published in the target language, but will be looking for skills input and publishing know-how to raise their abilities to the next level. The less experienced students will have a demonstrable interest in literary translation, and a desire to become more professionally active in this field.

Academic qualifications will bolster an application, but will not be the sole criteria upon which decisions are made.

Sources of Students

Penguin will be responsible for recruiting qualified students for the translation of Chinese to English. These will be individuals with English skills at a native speaker level. English to Chinese translators will be native Chinese speakers, and will be selected by the General Administration of Press and Publications.

Participants will be sought from:

* Formal and informal groupings of literary translators (online communities, academic associations and institutes, and others)
* Publishing companies and literary agencies

Application Procedure

Prospective participants will be asked to submit the following by February 18:

* Resume, including professional and academic qualifications
* Cover letter, indicating their area of interest, their current involvement with literary translation, and their reasons for joining the course
* A sample translation of up to 1000 words of a piece of literature (attach both the original text and the translation)

Students will be informed of the decision before February 28, 2008.

Chinese to English translators should apply via info@cn.penguingroup.com.

English to Chinese translators should call Qian Shuren at GAPP on +86-10-6521-2775.