ALTA Awards Arabic ‘Emerging Translator Mentorship’ to Madeline Edwards
The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) has announced the seven mentees who will join the fifth year of their Emerging Mentorship Program:
The Arabic-mentorship winner is freelancer Madeline Edwards, who will be mentored by acclaimed translator Kareem James Abu-Zeid.
As part of her mentorship, she’ll be translating Jan Dost’s A Green Bus Leaves Aleppo, an excerpt of which will appear in the next issue of ArabLit Quarterly in Edwards’ translation.
The novel, in the words of the ALTA news release, “speaks through extended flashbacks to tell the story of one elderly Syrian man preparing to leave his home city during the 2016 siege and evacuation of Aleppo. The title of the novel alludes to the now ubiquitous green buses of Syria, sent in by the government to remove remaining civilians and fighters from recaptured rebel-held territories after the dust of siege and bombardment settles.”
Thrilled to share that I'll be spending the next nine months translating the Syrian novel 'A Green Bus Leaves Aleppo' by Jan Dost through the @LitTranslate mentorship program (while still journalisting)! Excited to work with mentor Kareem James Abu-Zeid 🌻 https://t.co/ztHcgrqeMQ
— Madeline Edwards (@MEdwardsJO) February 4, 2020
The mentorship is being offered by ALTA in partnership with the A. M. Qattan Foundation. More details about the program and the 2020 mentors are available at www.literarytranslators.org/awards/mentorships.