Interview with Bulgarian-English self-translator Michael Penkov

The Rumpus published a very interesting interview with the Bulgarian-English self-translator Michael Penkov, who has self-translated his short story collection, East of the West as well as recently his new novel Stork Mountain into Bulgarian.

Penkov talks with Christine Pivovar about why he started self-translating, about the textual genesis of his works and about the use of languages during the creation process. As many other writers, Penkov refuses to label his bilingual writing "translation":

"I wouldn’t call it a translation because that would be disrespectful to literary translators throughout the world who try to stay true to the author’s work. I took great liberties with my sentences."

"The two versions are true to each other, meaning you wouldn’t think it’s a completely different book, but there was definitely a moment of rebirth."

To read the complete interview, please click here.

Society for Caribbean Studies 40th Annual Conference University of Newcastle 6-8 July, 2016

Self-translation will be a topic at the Society for Caribbean Studies 40th Annual Conference University of Newcastle 6-8 July, 2016.

Friday 8th July, 9.30-11.30
Laetitia Saint-Loubert: ‘(Self-)translation: a pan-Caribbean condition?’

For more information on the conference please click here.

Second International Conference on Translation Studies ICTS

Self-translation will be a topic at the Second International Conference on Translation Studies ICTS taking place from 21-22 June 2016 at the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, Bangkok, Thailand.

11:00-11:30
Mingxing Wang
Translation as renewal and growth - Gao Xingjian's Self-translation at the intersection of languages and cultures

For more information on the conference, please click here.

cfp Narrating the Self in Self-translation

TICONTRE. TEORIA TESTO TRADUZIONE n° 7 - May 2017

Narrating the Self in Self-translation
edited by Giorgia Falceri, Eva Gentes, and Elizabete Manterola

[...]

This issue aims at investigating how self-translation shapes the writing of multilingual authors in their self-narrations.

We will accept original contributions exploring single case studies, as well as more ample questions related to - but not limited to - for example:

• transcultural / transnational memory in migrant, self-translating writers;
• forms of autobiographical works/language memoirs/autofictions where linguistic and cultural identity are shaped by the passage from native language to acquired language;
• language choice (native vs. acquired; vernacular vs. codified variety) and directionality of the translation process;
• (self-)translation as a thematic device and as a call to literary creation;
• re-self-translation; • reinvention of the self through translation and rewriting;
• (self-)censorship made visible through self-translation.

Contributions on ‘interior’ or ‘mental’ self-translation will not be taken into consideration for this monographic section.

We will accept contributions in Italian, English, French and Spanish.
All potential authors are requested to send a 300-word abstract and a bio-bibliographical note (150 words) to: selftranslation@ticontre.org by July 10th, 2016.
Contributors will receive abstract acceptance by July 30th.
Accepted contributions must be submitted by October 30th, 2016 and will undergo peer review before publication (publication of the issue: May, 2017)

To read the full cfp in Italian (page 1-2) and in English (page 3-4) please click here
The French call for papers has also been published on Fabula.