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Translation Committee

Translation Committee

Intensive trainings, community, and resources to guide aspiring writers and activists.

The Translation Committee

The PEN America Translation Committee advocates on behalf of literary translators, working to foster a wider understanding of their art and offering professional resources for translators, publishers, critics, bloggers, and others with an interest in international literature. The committee is grateful to outgoing co-chair Annelise Finegan for her two years of leadership. The committee is currently co-chaired by Frieda Afary and incoming co-chair D. P. Snyder, who recently participated in the Translation Slam at PEN America’s 2023 World Voices Festival. Allison Markin Powell is the Translation Committee Board Representative. Contact us at [email protected].

“Translators are faced with a choice. Either they can continue to do nothing to improve their lot or they can join together to ensure that at long last they will receive their due. The choice between apathy and active engagement in a struggle for recognition between silence and the living voice. The world of translation is still largely undiscovered and unexplored.” – from the Manifesto of the 1970 World in Translation conference.

Today the PEN America Translation Committee brings together translators throughout the country via virtual platforms to share resources and organize events, including the groundbreaking “Translating the Future” conference that commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first translation conference held in the United States, sponsored by PEN in 1970.

The Manifesto

The committee is proud to present the 2023 Manifesto on Literary Translation to the literary translation community and to readers at large. The earliest version of a translation manifesto was penned in 1963 and signed by Robert Payne, who would later serve as chair of the translation committee. In preparation for the 1970 World of Translation conference, a group of translators from the committee began drafting an update to the eight-page pamphlet, Manifesto on Translation, published in 1969. We hope that the updated 2023 Manifesto on Translation will galvanize and inspire the translation community to deliberate and work together toward the goals enumerated within.

Read the manifesto

Get Involved

Bimonthly Meetings

The committee convenes every two months and invite participants to take part in their many initiatives as well as to promote and receive support for their own work. If you are a PEN America Member who is interested in attending a meeting, please email the committee chairs at [email protected].

World Literature Speakers’ Bureau

In order to promote an appreciation of world literature and cultivate global solidarity within the general public in the U.S., members of PEN America’s Translation Committee are offering to speak at public libraries. Our members offer presentations on various topics related to the books which they have translated or the cultures/nations in which they specialize. These presentations can be made via Zoom or in person. While donations/honoraria for speakers will be appreciated, they are not mandatory. Learn more here.

News and Updates

2022 Women in Translation

2022 Translator Meet & Greet

2020 National Poetry Month

Pandemic Reading List

2020 Translating the Future

Translator Database

Open to any translator who is a member of PEN America, the PEN Translator Database is a resource for publishers, editors, and professionals seeking translators for their literary and professional projects, as well as translators who are looking to connect with others in their field or region. The database can be easily sorted, searched, and filtered to find the translator(s) you’re looking for.

If you’d like to consider joining PEN America, you can find more information here.

Records in the Translator Database are maintained by the co-chairs of the PEN Translation Committee. If you are a translator who would like to be included in the Translator Database, just fill out this form and your information will be immediately included.

**Please note that any updates/corrections to your entry must be entered manually; resubmitting the form will only result in duplicate entries. Email your updates to us at [email protected] and we will do our best to make the necessary changes as soon as possible. Updates are made every two months at minimum, following our bimonthly meetings, but we will make every attempt to implement necessary changes as requested.

Below is a preview of the database. View the entire database here.

Other Translation Resources

World Literature Speakers’ Bureau for Public Libraries
In order to promote an appreciation of world literature and cultivate global solidarity within the general public in the U.S., members of PEN America’s Translation Committee are offering to speak at public libraries. Our members offer presentations on various topics related to the books which they have translated or the cultures/nations in which they specialize.

The Authors Guild Literary Translation Model Contract and Commentary
The Authors Guild Literary Translation Model Contract and Commentary (or “Translation Model Contract”) is intended specifically as an aid to translators in negotiating changes to publishers’ standard contracts. If your negotiations commence before the publisher offers you a contract, this document will also guide you in identifying the key points (scope of rights, payment terms, etc.) that you need to negotiate up front. (Published April 2021)

Negotiating Contracts: A Translator’s Checklist
You want to translate a book. A press is ready to publish it. They send you a contract. What should you be looking for? Fee, copyright, name on the cover, royalties, final say on the text? Due date? Publication date? With so many details to keep track of, it’s easy to overlook something. Translators from the PEN America Translation Committee, the Translators Association (UK), and the Literary Translators’ Association of Canada present a checklist to help you use their model contracts to get the best terms you can get.

PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants and the PEN Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature support the translation of book-length works of fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, or drama.

PEN Translation Prize
Awarded each year to honor a book-length translation from any language into English.

PEN Award for Poetry in Translation
Presented each year to recognize a book-length translation of poetry from any language into English.

PEN/Ralph Manheim Award for Translation
Awarded every third year to a translator whose career has demonstrated a commitment to excellence through the body of his or her work.

Journals
A selection of literary journals seeking works in translation.

Publishers
A list of presses, large and small, that publish works in translation.

How to Review Translations
A series of posts by critics and translators at Words Without Borders.

Recommended Readings on Translation
An annotated list by PEN member Sandra Smith, translator of Irène Némirovsky and Albert Camus.

Translation Programs
A list of undergraduate and graduate translation courses, workshops, and programs.

Events
The best source for literary translation events in the NYC area is the “Upcoming Translation Events” page, maintained by Susan Bernofsky on the Columbia University website.

Organizations
The American Literary Translators Association
“The mission of the American Literary Translators Association is to support the work of literary translators, advance the art of literary translation, and serve translators, and the students, teachers, publishers, and readers of literature in translation.” See website for information about awards, mentorships, and the annual conference.

The Authors Guild
2017 Authors Guild Survey of Literary Translators’ Working Conditions

Topics
Women in Translation: a Tumblr by Translation Committee members Margaret Carson and Alta L. Price

The Business of Literary Translation: video of a four-part series co-presented by the PEN America Translation Committee and the Bridge Series, hosted by the Center for Fiction. Part 1: Breaking In | Part 2: Editing | Part 3: Contracts | Part 4: Bookselling

“Translators, Rates, Money, and Unions”: Translation Committee co-chair Alex Zucker, on the Three Percent podcast, talks about the business of literary translation.

In Loving Memory

Obituary for Paul Sohar (1936-2023)

Edith Grossman (1936-2023) in Memoriam, by Jonathan Cohen

John E. Woods (1942-2023) in Memoriam, by Shelley Frisch