How we translate – in conversation with David Colmer and David McKay

Grab a cuppa and get to know translators David Colmer and David McKay. David and David will be in conversation with Jane Davis to discuss their work and career and to offer a glimpse into their creative routines.

#SoAatHome in conversation events – free for all + donation

As of Feb 2025, our #SoAatHome in conversation events are free for all but with a donation option when registering for the event. All donations made go towards the Society of Authors’ Access Fund. The fund is to help provide authors support for travel, subsistence, childcare or access needs for events, residencies, and retreats. If you would like to donate with your booking, please do so when registering for the event below.

Programme

• Welcome and housekeeping from Jane Davis (3 mins)
• Introduction to David Colmer and David McKay, and a glimpse into their creative routines (15-25 mins)
• Q&A with audience (10-15 mins)
• Summary and closing comments (2 mins)

Send us your questions

If you would like to send questions in advance, email amorvan@societyofauthors.org with ‘David Colmer and David McKay – Question’ in the subject header. We will prioritise questions sent in advance and answer as many as we can from the audience on the day.

#SoAatHome Fundraising Bookshop

Browse our virtual Bookshop.org store featuring books by authors and speakers taking part in the #SoAatHome. When you make a purchase using our affiliate links, a percentage will go to the Society of Authors’ Access Fund, giving authors support for travel, subsistence, childcare or access needs for events, residencies, and retreats.

The Line-up

David Colmer

David Colmer is an Australian translator of Dutch literature who works in a range of genres. The translator of more than eighty books, he has won a number of major prizes, including the Dublin Literary Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, both with novelist Gerbrand Bakker. David Van Reybrouck’s REVOLUSI, shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize, was his first co-translation.

David McKay

David McKay lives near The Hague with his partner and his cat and translates numerous books about art, history, and culture for Dutch museums, researchers, and other clients. When he can, he also translates fiction, literary non-fiction, plays, and poetry. He is best known for his translations of War and Turpentine and other novels by Stefan Hertmans. David has also translated several Dutch-language classics, including Max Havelaar (with Ina Rilke) and We Slaves of Suriname by Anton de Kom. His recent UK publications include The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje and Off-White by Astrid Roemer (with Lucy Scott). He enjoys collaborating with fellow translators, authors, and other creative professionals, and is proud to have mentored a number of exceptional emerging translators for the American Literary Translators Association and other organizations. organisations?

Jane Davis

Jane Davis was born on the Isle of Man and now lives in rural Sweden. She studied archaeology and heritage management before – somewhat inevitably – going on to work in the IT industry. For the last fifteen years she has been a translator from the Scandinavian languages and French, as well as a proofreader and editor. In 2022 she published A Manx Daisy Chain, a collection of short stories based on prompts taken from a box of Christmas teas.

LinkedIn: janedavisthehelpfultranslator | Website: www.thehelpfultranslator.com

About the Translators Association

The Translators Association (TA) provides a source of expert advice for individual literary translators and is also a collective voice representing the profession as a whole.  The TA is committed to the need for more openness and opportunities in publishing, more visibility of translators of colour and more proactive intervention to help dismantle the institutional barriers faced by early career translators. 

Need to know

Accessibility

• Attendees will have the option to turn on the live transcript, to watch with subtitles.
• If you require BSL interpretation for this event, please email events@societyofauthors.org

Before the event

• Once registered, you will be sent a confirmation email with the Zoom link
• If the confirmation email doesn’t arrive in your inbox, please check your junk/spam email folder
• Please add events@societyofauthors.org to your Safe Senders list so you receive our confirmation and reminder emails

During the event

• This online event will take place on Zoom Webinar. You will not be on screen.
• This event is 45 minutes

After the event

• Hashtag for this event: #SoAatHome
• Attendees will be able to catch the recording on our Vimeo channel

Booking

Please either use the form titled ‘Register – no donation’ or the option of the different ticket options with a donation amount depending on how much you would like to donate towards the Society of Authors Access Fund.