Sunday Submission: Session Proposals for ALTA43, ‘In Between’

The American Literary Translators Association has opened the door to session proposals for ALTA43: In Between, set to be held in Tucson, AZ, USA from November 11-14:

An excerpt from the call for sessions:

Translation is neither here nor there. It exists in a space between languages, cultures, texts, authors, and readers. The ALTA43 theme “In Between” invites participants to consider the ways translation and translators function not as mediators between fixed points—“source text,” “original language,” “target culture”—but rather in a constant state of betweenness. Translation as an in-between practice seeks not to cross borders (whether real or artificial) but to transcend and dissolve them, to show how language, cultures, and texts are never singular and always in process. This theme also resonates with our conference venue of Tucson, Arizona, ALTA’s current home and a territory that reminds us of the continuous shifting and arbitrariness of borders and the power of the nuances of language.

We invite panels, readings, roundtables, and workshops that address the theme “In Between,” broadly conceived, including topics such as: translating from a place of multiple belongings, translating migrant writing, translating code-switching, translating heritage, translating indigenous languages, translating beyond gender binaries, and translating hybrid genres.

We also welcome topics that approach the theme of “In Between” as it relates to the experiences of literary translators: translators who are somewhere between “emerging” and “established”; translators who find themselves midway along the path of an academic or freelance career; translators who acknowledge that, while recognition of translation and the work of translators has come a long way, there is still room for improvement.

The full call is on the ALTA website. They have proposal guidelines, tips for submitting a strong session proposal, and more. the deadline is April 20, 2020, and only ALTA members with current memberships can propose, although you can join or renew online.