International Translation Day 2024 English PEN programme
This ITD 2024 evening programme featured a two-part “state of the translation world” conversation, featuring leading translators, editors, agents, booksellers and programmers, followed by a networking reception for in-person attendees and “ask us anything” session for our online audience.
The programme took place in person at Senate House (Malet St, London, WC1E 7HU) and online.
ITD 2024 was held in collaboration with the School of Advanced Study and supported by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS).
Programme
Monday 30 September
5–9pm BST (doors 4.30pm BST)
“State of the translation world” part 1: craft, work, business
5–5.55pm BST (in-person doors open 4.30pm BST)
Editor and publishing director of Wasafiri and 2025 International Booker Prize judge Sana Goyal, chairing the discussion, will be joined by Nichola Smalley, award-winning Swedish and Norwegian literary translator, English PEN Translation Advisory Co-chair, and Translators Association committee member; Ravi Mirchandani, publisher of Summit Books at Simon & Schuster, and formerly publisher of Picador; Safae El-Ouahabi, agent at RCW, representing clients including literary translators; and Jasper Sutcliffe, Head of Business Development at Bookshop.org. They will discuss pressing issues for the sector related to the craft and labour of translation, rights and representation, and movements in the wider industry. With an audience Q&A for in-person and online attendees.
5.55–6.10pm BST – interval
“State of the translation world” part 2: promotion, ethics, politics
6.10–7pm BST
Sana Goyal, Nichola Smalley and Ravi Mirchandani return to the stage, and will be joined by Tamara Zimet, Programme Director (Adults) at Edinburgh International Book Festival, and Nashwa Nasreldin, Arabic-English translator and editor at the Poetry Translation Centre. They will discuss how we promote translated literature, the ethics of how we do so, and the politics of translation. With an audience Q&A for in-person and online attendees.