Oxford Translates

at St Edmund Hall

Online literary translation summer school
Programme, 6-10 July 2026

The programme for 2026 is now available. Download the programme in PDF format.

All times are in BST. All sessions will be on Zoom. Time slots for the ‘Pitch your project’ sessions will be allocated to registered participants who submit a project proposal by a deadline in June to be confirmed.

Contact us: translates@seh.ox.ac.uk.

 

Day 1: Monday
9.30-10.00 Welcome and Introduction: Directors Ros Schwartz and Holly Langstaff will be joined by Wes Williams, Professor of French Literature at the University of Oxford and Fellow in Modern Languages at St Edmund Hall.
10.15-13.15 Literary translation workshop
13.15-14.00 Lunch break and online social
14.00-16.30 Literary translation workshop
17.00-18.00 Keynote by Ann Morgan, introduced by Ros Schwartz and Holly Langstaff: Ann Morgan is an author, speaker and literary activist. Her first book, Reading the World, came out of a 2012 blog project to read a book from every country in a year. Title and abstract to follow.
Day 2: Tuesday
10.00-11.30 Translators panel: A year in the life of a literary translator - Translators at different stages of their careers discuss what a typical working day, week, month and year look like for them, including discussion of the wide range of roles they do alongside literary translation. With Beth Hickling-Moore, Gitanjali Patel, Madeleine Rogers, and Ros Schwartz.
12.00-13.30 Option 1: Poetry workshop - An interactive workshop on translating poetry led by Karen Leeder (University of Oxford). Open to translators from all languages.
12.00-13.30 Option 2: Theatre workshop - Join translator and dramaturg William Gregory in this hands-on theatre translation workshop. Open to translators from all languages.
13.30-14.30 Lunch break and online social
14.30-15.30 Option 1: Publishers panel: what are publishers looking for? - Representatives of three different publishing houses discuss what they are looking for in a translation and offer advice on approaching publishers, pitching projects and building relationships. With James Tookey (Peirene), Noosha Alai-South (Penguin), and others to be confirmed.
14.30-15.30 Option 2: Publishers panel: the future of literary translation - How is the development of A.I. changing the publishing industry and in what ways will this shape the future role of the literary translator? Join Adam Levy (Transit Books), Yana Genova (co-author of the ThinkPub report on Books in Translation) and others to be confirmed.
16.00-17.00 Translators Associations panel - A panel discussion between representatives of three translators associations on the burning issues facing the industry and what they are doing to support translators. With Ian Giles (Translators Association of the Society of Authors) Francesca Novajara (President of CEATL – the European Council of Literary Translators Associations) and Adrian Minckley (Steering Committee of the Translators Division of the National Union of Writers, USA).
18.00-19.00 Pitch your project - A unique opportunity to practise pitching your translation project and to receive invaluable one-to-one feedback from an editor or publisher. Attendees must apply for one of these ten-minute pitching slots. With: François von Hurter (Bitter Lemon Press), Susan Harris (Words Without Borders), Will Dady (Renard Press).
Day 3: Wednesday
10.00-13.00 Literary translation workshop
13.00-13.45 Lunch break and online social
13.45-16.15 Literary translation workshop
16.30-17.30 Meet the tutors - An opportunity to meet the tutors in small, informal groups and ask everything you have always wanted to ask about the world of literary translation.
18.00-19.00 Pitch your project - A unique opportunity to practise pitching your translation project and to receive invaluable one-to-one feedback from an editor or publisher. Attendees must apply for one of these ten-minute pitching slots. With: Elizabeth Briggs (Saqi Books), Aina Marti-Balcells (Héloïse Press), Adam Levy (Transit Books).
Day 4: Thursday
10.00-11.00 Option 1: Translation ethics in practice - This panel will ask what it looks like to put ethics into practice as a translator, with reflections on translating dialect, multilingual translation and feminist translation. The session will be chaired by Karen Leeder (University of Oxford), with Helen Vassalo (University of Exeter), Sheela Mahadevan (University of Liverpool) and Kotryna Garansivli (University of East Anglia).
10.00-11.00 Option 2: Contracts UK and Europe - An informative panel discussion about contracts in the UK and Europe. With Ambre Morvan (joint co-ordinator of the Translators Association Senior Public Policy Manager and Senior Contracts Advisor at the Society of Authors) and Andreas Jendl (CEATL).
11.30-13.00 Option 1: Spot the translation workshop - This interactive workshop led by Katy Derbyshire starts with a game of spot the translation to ask what assumptions we make about writing in English and what we expect from a translation. The texts used will be in English.
11.30-13.00 Option 2: Writing a reader's report workshop - The reader’s report is often suggested as a way of developing relationships with publishers, but what do publishers expect and what should the report include? Elizabeth Briggs (Saqi Books) will explain all in this interactive workshop.
13.00-14.00 Lunch break and online social
14.00-15.30 Option 1: Editing/Self-editing workshop - A hands-on guide to the process of editing and self-editing a translation for publication. Led by Luke Brown, an editor with over 25-years’ experience.
14.00-15.30 Option 2: Graphic novels workshop - An interactive workshop focussed on approaches to translating graphic novels. Led by Edward Gauvin, translator of over 400 graphic novels. Open to translators from all languages.
16.00-17.00 Translation at PEN - Will Forrester (Head of Literature Programmes at English PEN) and Alison Markin Powell and Andrew White (American PEN), presents the work of English PEN and American PEN and their translation-related schemes and funding opportunities.
Competition announcement: Comma Press Emerging Translator Award - Ra Page will join us to launch the Comma Press Emerging Translator Award, which in 2026 is focussed on Urdu. The competition is an exciting opportunity to secure a publication in the Comma Press Reading the City series, open exclusively to participants of Oxford Translates.
18.00-19.00 Pitch your project - A unique opportunity to practise pitching your translation project and to receive invaluable one-to-one feedback from an editor or publisher. Attendees must apply for one of these ten-minute pitching slots. With: Trine Garrett (Foreign Affairs) and Cheryl Robson (Aurora Metro).
Day 5: Friday
10.00-13.00 Literary translation workshop
13.00-13.45 Lunch break and online social
13.45-16.15 Literary translation workshop
16.30-17.00 Feedback and farewell - The Oxford Translates team will be joined by Karen Leeder (Schwarz-Taylor Chair of German Language Literature at the University of Oxford).