2024 in review

Bristol Translates took place from 1 to 5 July 2024. It featured 19 language workshops led by 21 tutors working from 10 different languages – plus a multi-language workshop – into English. For the first time in 2024, there were language workshops running out of English into French, German, Italian and Spanish.

A full programme of additional events involved workshops, panels and pitching sessions led by 32 speakers: from hands-on sessions on translating theatre, poetry, kids lit, graphic novels to panels on a diverse range of topics including ‘Making a Living as a Literary Translator’ and ‘Translation and Artificial Intelligence’. Participants were also offered 40 exclusive slots to practise pitching their translation projects to professional editors.

The keynote event in 2024 was a conversation between Maboula Soumahoro and Ros Schwartz entitled ‘Translation Is My Country’. The event was open to public and attended by 230 people.

In all, the summer school involved over 50 tutors and speakers and was attended by 195 people from across the world: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, UK, USA, Uzbekistan.

Asked about their experience of Bristol Translates, participants almost unanimously said they left with new plans, new ideas, and a renewed sense of confidence in both themselves and the value of translation as a profession.

The language workshops in 2024 were generously supported by: Instituto Cervantes, Charles Wallace India Trust, Institut Français Royaume-Uni, Goethe Institut, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, the government of Québec, Institut Ramon Llull, and the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation. We are very grateful to all of the workshop sponsors as well as the Austrian Cultural Forum and Stinging Fly Magazine for sponsoring bursaries in 2024.

Ros Schwartz and Holly Langstaff are directors of the event, which is supported by Sam Strong as academic lead at the University of Bristol.

The workshops were incredibly helpful and one of the best teaching experiences I've ever had.

The entire week was so successful because the programme found a balance between translation practice / supervision and advice / practical info on career / group work. This is a really hard balance to get right but you pulled it off beautiful. I really think everyone feels the same – all participants that I spoke to loved it

I feel very lucky to have been able to participate in Bristol Translates. It exemplifies the friendliness of the literary translation community and its generosity in sharing advice. I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from like-minded translation enthusiasts. The week has increased my confidence in my own abilities and I have come away enthused and encouraged about the prospect of a career in literary translation. I know what my next steps are and I feel optimistic. Thank you!