The role:
The translator will be ‘in residence’ from 14 March 2022 to 13 March 2023; working times will vary from month to month depending on activities planned, but we estimate that the resident will do the equivalent of 25-30 days of work during the 12-month period.
The resident will work with two main partner organisations: New Writing North (NWN) and Durham University.
The residency is intended to encourage an interest in literary translation and translated literature, and the valuing of languages, among communities in and around Durham and the North of England. This might be done through workshops, talks and other public engagement and collaborative participation projects.
While the exact shape of the programme will be developed by the selected translator in partnership with NWN and Durham University, we expect it to include work both within the university community and around County Durham more widely with a range of local partner organisations (some of whom may not have worked with translation before). University work might involve students, faculty and other staff. New Writing North produces Durham Book Festival which takes place each October and would offer the translator opportunities to work with different communities and audiences. Other partners might include other arts organisations, libraries, local heritage language speakers and other audience groups.
The resident will receive a stipend of £5,500. A small expenses budget is also available.
The person:
We are seeking a professional literary translator working from any language into English. Proficiency in one or more community language(s) spoken in Durham is desirable, though not essential.
The selected translator will have some experience of leading workshops and/or other public engagement activities.
This opportunity is open to any translator living and working in the North of England.
New Writing North
New Writing North is the development agency for creative writing and reading in the North of England. We work in partnership with regional, national and international partners to produce a range of literary and performance activities including flagship projects such as The Northern Writers’ Awards, the Gordon Burn Prize and Durham Book Festival.
Durham University
Durham University is home to a world-leading Faculty of Arts & Humanities which celebrates and promotes translation as broadly defined. For colleagues in the Faculty’s School of Modern Languages & Cultures in particular, translation is about more than decoding the words of one language so as to encode them into the words of another. It is a creative art, a cultural crossing, a subtle tool of language learning, research and intercultural exchange. It is, in other words, the bedrock upon which Modern Languages are built. Home to a number of successful literary translators working across multiple languages, the Faculty and School will be delighted to welcome the successful translator-in-residence to a ready-made environment in which to thrive.
