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Feminism is enjoying a global resurgence. In the English-speaking world, there is considerable interest in literature by women from other countries, supported by initiatives such as the #womenintranslation project (established 2013) and the Warwick Prize for Women in Translation (established 2017), and apparent in the emergence of new publishing houses focusing on women's literature in translation such as 3TimesRebel and Héloïse Press (both founded 2022). But does all literature by women merit a feminist approach to translation? What do writers and readers think about feminist translation? How would they react if they knew that the translator had set out to do a 'feminist' translation? The perspectives of writers, readers and publishers are rarely taken into account in academic theories of feminist translation. At the same time, emerging or practising translators who identify as feminists have little practical guidance or opportunities to share thoughts on what it might mean to undertake feminist translation in the twenty-first century. The 'Feminist Translation Network' brings together academics and stakeholders from outside academia to discuss feminist approaches to contemporary literary translation in English. Feminist translation has been a much-debated concept within the discipline of Translation Studies but recent developments in gender and queer theory have made it difficult for scholars to articulate what feminist approaches might look like in the age of fourth-wave feminism. This project will move debates about feminist translation beyond Translation Studies by bringing together academics from different disciplines (English Literature, Creative Writing, Modern Languages, Classics, Linguistics, Sociology, Women's and Gender Studies), writers, readers, translators, educators, and practitioners from theatre and publishing. We will explore the ways in which the feminist sensibility of a translator might leave tangible marks on a piece of literature or whether translating as a feminist is more a matter of identity. We will think about whether and how we might teach feminist translation, whether in schools, universities, or through CPD for professional translators. And we will ask what feminist translation is trying to achieve and whom it is for. The network will address these themes through a series of three events held in Birmingham, Oxford and Norwich in 2024 and 2025. Central to each event will be a public translation 'slam', at which a pair of professional literary translators will present and discuss new versions of the same source text: Marilyn Booth and Nariman Youssef translating Arabic women's writing at the Birmingham Literature Festival (October 2024), Michelle Geoffrion-Vinci and Lawrence Schimel translating Spanish YA fiction at The Queen's College, Oxford (February 2025), and Josephine Balmer and Henry Stead translating Latin poetry at Dragon Hall, Norwich (July 2025). Each slam will be followed by a linked symposium, ensuring that translation practice is at the heart of the network's research. The project seeks to provide clarity about what feminist literary translation in the twenty-first century might actually look like in practice and what place it has in the contemporary literary landscape; the resources generated by the project will be of considerable value to a range of stakeholders, such as those looking for inspiration or guidance in their own translation practice or those involved in teaching translation in different settings. The network's outputs will be widely disseminated through the project website and linked social media, a podcast series of interviews with professional literary translators, a report published on the project website entitled 'Feminist Literary Translation: Key Insights', two sets of classroom resources, and a special issue of an academic journal.
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