Fees and How to Apply
Apply for the full programme of workshops and events
The fee to join a language-specific workshop and to attend the full programme of events running at the summer school is £375.
The fee for University of Bristol students is £275.
Apply here: Bristol Translates 2025 Application Form
If you have any issues or questions regarding your application, please don't hesitate to contact us at: bristol-translates@bristol.ac.uk
Applications for Bristol Translates 2025 close on Thursday 12th of June 23:59 BST.
Register for the professional development sessions on Tuesday and Thursday
New to Bristol Translates 2025, you can register for the professional development sessions on Tuesday 8th and Thursday 10th July. A single ticket gives you access to inspiring talks and panel sessions by expert speakers.
The programme of events included in this offer is available below.
The fee to attend the professional development sessions on Tuesday and Thursday is £90.
A reduced rate of £80 is available to members of the Translators’ Association, ITI, English PEN, and CioL.
Register for professional development programme of events here: Bristol Translates professional development sessions
Bristol Translates Professional Development Programme (Tuesday 8 and Thursday 10 July)
- All times are in BST
- These events will be on Teams. You will be sent a link nearer the time
On the evening of Monday 7 July, you are invited to the keynote by Damion Searls:
Reading Like a Translator
Damion Searls, the translator of Jon Fosse and Patrick Modiano, Ariane Koch and Victoria Kielland, Rilke, Proust, Hesse, Jelinek, and many other modern classics will discuss the approach to translation he has laid out in his new book The Philosophy of Translation (2024), which has been praised as “vast, generous, charming, and profound” —Jennifer Croft; “open, honest, and, most of all, smart... Remarkable” —Percival Everett. Avoiding dead-end theoretical debates and using a range of concrete examples from his own work, he shows how to think of translation as a kind of reading, which yields fresh and convincing insights into what translation really is and what translators actually do. Register Here to attend
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TUESDAY 8 JULY |
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10.00 – 11.00 |
Publishers panel Publishers discuss what they are looking for in a literary translation and current industry trends. With Ellie Steel (Harvill Secker), Stella Sabin (Peirene Press) and Louisa Dunnigan (Profile Books). |
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14.00 – 15.00 |
Feminism and translation, Helen Vassallo, University of Exeter What is “feminist translation”, and why does it matter? This interactive talk will invite participants to consider how (and why) we might take a feminist approach to translation both in the choices we make about which books to pitch and in the choices we make while translating. |
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15.30 – 17.00 |
Translating dialect Kotryna Garanasvili, Vilnius University and University of East Anglia leads a workshop exploring the strategies for translating dialect, with concrete examples. |
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THURSDAY 10 JULY |
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10.00 – 11.00 |
Option 1: Making a living as a literary translator A panel discussion in which translators share ways of making a living while working as a literary translator, including other roles and employment, with contributions from Anam Zafar, Sophie Lewis and Will Firth.
Option 2: AI: Should we be worried? Anna Ganley, CEO of the Society of Authors and Morten Visby, former chair of The Danish Translators’ Association, former president of CEATL (Conseil Européen des Associations de Traducteurs Littéraires) and current chair of The Danish Authors’ Association, discuss the implicatios of AI for literary translators. |
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11.15 – 12.15 |
Translating for the voluntary sector: career opportunities Amélie Trémelo (CLEAR Global / Translators without Borders) and Lauren Finch, director of the Global voices Lingua project and freelance translator, present voluntary sector opportunities for translators. Global Voices stories feature people and experiences rarely seen in mainstream media, and the Lingua project's hundreds of volunteers translate them into dozens of languages. Contributors to Clear Global and to Lingua develop new skills and perspectives, connect with people around the world, and help improve online language diversity. |
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12.30 – 13.30 |
Option 2: Translation event hosted by the Institut Français and the Goethe Institute. “Gender in Translation and the Limitations of AI” with a focus on the German novel Blutbuch by Kim de l’Horizon. A discussion with the novel’s English and French translators, Jamie Lee Searle and Rose Labourie, on the challenges of translating a novel that eschews genre categories and gender polarities, and the pitfalls of AI when it comes to translating non-binary identities. Chaired by Rebecca DeWald. |
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14.30 – 16.00 |
Negotiating case studies A panel of speakers give advice on how to negotiate contract terms and present case studies of their own experiences. With Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Sandra Smith and David Colmer. |
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16.30 – 17.00 |
Translation at English PEN Will Forrester, Head of Literature Programmes at English PEN, presents the work of English PEN and their translation-related schemes and funding opportunities. |
Download Link:
Bristol Translates 2025 Provisional Tues & Thurs WEB Programme (PDF, 322kB)
The quality of the teaching was superb - workshop leaders were brilliant at what they did and also friendly and encouraging. Lots of collaboration, laughter and finding joy in what we do, as well as exploring new and challenging types of translation.