Resources

BRAND NEW RESOURCE PACK!

I have compiled an extensive online literary translation resource kit for those studying and working on translation with a Francophone and Anglophone African focus (links to download below). It is the most detailed resource of its kind.

The kit, compiled in collaboration with colleagues at Bristol University and Bakwa Books in Yaounde, was developed as result of ongoing literary translation research and impact activities in Francophone West and Central Africa, in particular, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon.

While there is a definite Africa focus, these resources will also be useful to other Anglophone and Francophone speakers. The kit features links to useful online articles, interviews, blogs, websites, video and audio, as well as workshop lesson plans and handouts I prepared when teaching literary translation workshops Africa and elsewhere. I have also expanded my extensive print bibliography for this purpose.

The resource pack can be downloaded in English and French. The French translation was provided by Edwige Dro and Mariette Tchamda.

Going forward, the plan is to expand this resource pack as a wiki, meaning anyone can add resources and we can start to provide materials in other languages used across the African continent.

LITERARY TRANSLATION: RESOURCES

TRADUCTION LITTÉRAIRE : RESSOURCES

QUICK LINKS

Select articles, books and journals

Boubacar Boris Diop : « Au Sénégal, le français a perdu de son pouvoir de séduction » (Le Monde Afrique)

Carrying a Single Life: On Literature and Translation (The New Yorker) by Teju Cole

Entretien avec la traductrice, Hélène Fournier

Esquisse d’une histoire de la traduction en Afrique de Paul Bandia

Extreme Adaptation by Georgina Collins

Five translators on the joys and challenges of translating children’s books

Glossing Africa by Namwali Serpell (The New York Review of Books)

How do you want to be wrong? Interview with Madhu H. Kaza about the political act of translation

How Was It for You? On cooperative translation by Ros Schwartz

Interview with Edwige-Renée Dro on Literary Activism and Translation (The Johannesburg Review of Books)

Living in Translation (African Arguments): series of articles edited by Nanjala Nyabola

Sharing Children’s Books in Translation by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o translated into over 30 languages in one publication (The Guardian)

Réflexions sur la littérature africaine et sa traduction de Iheanacho A. Akakuru et Dominic C. Chima

Representing Africa by Georgina Collins

The Role of Translation in the Implementation of Language Policy in Cameroon by Dr. Suh Joseph Che

Translation in Practice: A Symposium, edited by Paul Gill

Translation and Literature: Edinburgh University Press biannual review

Translators in Conversation by Ros Schwartz

Une fidélité impossible : traduire une œuvre africaine anglophone de Jean Sévry

What makes a translation great by Katy Derbyshire

Blogs

Afrolivresque

A Translator’s Diary: A Year in the Life of Emma Ramadan

Eric Moreau, Traducteur Littéraire anglais-français

Intralingo by Lisa Carter

Laure Hinckel, auteur de traductions littéraires

Le blog d’Eric Boury, traducteur littéraire

Three Percent by Chad Post, publisher at Open Letter Books

Tim Gutteridge’s blog including Translate Meanings not Words

Translate4Africa

Translators without Borders

Translation Diary by Daniel Hahn about the process of translating a novel

Translationista by Susan Bernofsky

Websites, groups and networks

Association of Professional Translators and Interpreter of Cameroon (APTIC)

Association pour la Promotion de la Traduction Littéraire

Children’s Literature Facebook Group

Emerging Translators Network

Literary Translation Facebook Group

London Book Fair

Modern Poetry in Translation

Poetry translation centre

TED Talks Open Translation Project

Theatre in Translation Facebook Group

Videos and audio

Africa Writes: Africa in Translation, Royal African society

Bakwa Media Literary Translation Videos

Littérature et développement de Edwige-Renée Dro (Tedx Abidjan)

London Book Fair: Literary Translation Centre panel discussions

Ros Schwartz and Franky Wynne in translation slam

Journals seeking work in translation

Bakwa Magazine (submissions open once a year)

Cardinal Points: a literary journal co-edited by Robert Chandler

PEN Guide

SAND journal: a Berlin-based literary magazine

Words Without Borders

Online dictionaries and other useful resources

Acronym finder

British National Corpus

Centre National de Ressources Textuelles et Lexicales

Dictionnaire de francais “Littre”

Equivalent expressions in French, English and Spanish

Getty Thesaurus of Geographical Names

Google Books Ngram Viewer: comparative frequency of different terms over time

Linguee – putting words and phrases in context

Online Etymology Dictionary

Reverso dictionary

Trésor de la langue française

Word Reference including forum discussions

It features useful online articles, interviews, blogs, websites, video and audio as well as workshop resources I prepared when teaching literary translation workshops. It features useful online articles, interviews, blogs, websites, video and audio as well as workshop resources I prepared when teaching literary translation workshops.

This resource, compiled in collaboration with Bristol University and Bakwa Books in Yaounde, has also been translated into French by Edwige Dro and Mariette Tchamda.

I have also expanded my extensive print bibliography.

These resources have an Africa focus, but are definitely

Below are a number of useful online resources for literary translators working between French and English (in both directions), including resources that focus on translation in an African context.

Participants in the Bakwa Literary Translation Workshop are recommended to explore the resources below and Print Bibliography. Set texts can be accessed on the Literary Translation Workshop page.