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 award-winning writer and translator, Edwige Dro, and translator and publisher, Mariette Tchamda of the publishing house, Nuances.

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

An Activist Library

The 1949 feminist library was founded in 2020 by Edwige Dro, an award-winning writer, activist and literary translator from Côte d’Ivoire. Her innovative new literary space focuses on women’s literature from Africa and the Black world, as well as promoting literacy and language skills for all. Recently, I was fortunate enough to stay at the library, in the city of Abidjan, as part of a literary activism research project led by Professor Madhu Krishnan at the University of Bristol. My article in the ITI Bulletin, A library holding worlds explores Edwige’s work and my experience staying in the library, paving the way for her first resident writers.