What is the translator’s place within a body of literature, and how do we, as translators, navigate our place? How do translators share space with authors, editors, and audiences? Place is not only static, but dynamic: just as languages do not remain fixed in place, the place of translation is also constantly shifting and evolving. How does translation sit within and move across visible boundaries and invisible barriers? In what ways are we as translators grounded and supported, and in what ways are we trying to break free from what is deemed to be our place?

The ALTA46 theme “The Place of Translation” provides an opportunity to explore questions of placement, replacement, displacement, positioning, transnationalism, in-betweenness, out-of-placeness, and representation, as well as the place and irreplaceability of translation and translators in the literary world and culture at large.

We welcome panels, readings, and roundtables that approach the theme “The Place of Translation,” broadly defined. Proposals might address anything from translating place to how translators find our place in the process of getting our work published, to how we place our work and emphasize its importance to those unfamiliar with the culture. Proposals might consider how the world of literary translation, and the literary world as a whole, can become a more inclusive space, or how to break the existing constraints of space or observe translation’s place from outside of the translation world.

Some possible areas to explore include:

• Translating the specificities of place;
• The intersections between language and place;
• Translating marginalized literature;
• Translating from a place of multiple belongings;
• The place of translation and translators in the world;
• Places prioritized and underrepresented in translation;
• The placement, displacement, replacement, and misplacement of texts, languages, translation, and translators;
• Navigating and negotiating the role of translators, the landscape and place of translation, and ways to place or acknowledge our work in the publishing world;
• The place of organizations, collectives, and other support communities for translators;
• Breaking the constrained space imposed on translators and works in translation;
• Creating a more inclusive space for the production and reception of translation.

Proposal deadline: June 20, 2023

More info about proposal and submission guidelines: Proposal Guidelines | The American Literary Translators Association