SoA in Person | Translation Duel

Stand in solidarity with human translators! Join us at our London offices on Bedford Row for our first-ever Translation Duel organised by the SoA Policy Team in collaboration with the Translators Association (TA) as part of their recent AI campaign.

Daniel Hahn moderates a ‘duel’ between Ros Schwartz and Frank Wynne, award-winning translators from French, as they go head-to-head with their respective translations of the same text. Aimed at industry professionals and non-translators, this event demonstrates the unique creativity and skill of translators and why AI cannot compete with human literary translation. The duel is followed by a 30-minute networking session for attendees to celebrate the art of translators and discuss practical ways to champion translated literature

Places are limited and subject to availability. Exclusive to SoA Members.

Wine and nibbles will be served.

Not a member? sign up here with our special #SoAatHome offer and get 20% off for the first year using the offer code: SOAATHOME20.

Programme

• 17.30 – Doors open: refreshments on arrival
• 17.50 – Welcome and introductions from TA coordinator Ambre Morvan and General Counsel Keith Ashby
• 18.00 – 19.30 – Translation Duel event
• 19.30 – 20.00 – Networking session
• 20.00 – Event closes

The Line up 

Ros Schwartz

Ros Schwartz is an award-winning translator from French. Acclaimed for her new version of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, published in 2010, she has over 100 fiction and non-fiction titles to her name and is one of the team that has retranslated George Simenon’s Maigret novels for Penguin Classics. Her recent translations include Swiss-Cameroonian author Max Lobe’s A Long Way from Douala and Does Snow Turn a Person White Inside (HopeRoad), a new translation of Simone Weil’s The Need for Roots and, in a very different vein, a manga version of Camus’ The Outsider (both for Penguin Classics).

Appointed a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2009, she was awarded the UK Institute of Translation and Interpreting’s John Sykes Memorial Prize for Excellence in 2017.

Frank Wynne

Frank Wynne is a literary translator. Born in Ireland, he moved to France in 1984 where he discovered a passion for language. He worked as a bookseller in Paris and again when he moved to London in 1987, he translated and published comics and graphic novels and from 1996-2001 he worked in online media. He began translating literature in the late 1990s, and in 2001 decided to devote himself to this full time. He has translated works by, among others, Michel Houellebecq, Frédéric Beigbeder, Ahmadou Kourouma, Boualem Sansal, Claude Lanzmann, Tómas Eloy Martínez and Almudena Grandes. His work has earned him a number of awards, including the Scott Moncrieff Prize and the Premio Valle Inclán. His translation of Vernon Subutex was shortlisted for the Man Booker International 2018.

Daniel Hahn

Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor and translator with sixty-something books to his name. His work has won him the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the International Dublin Literary Award and the Blue Peter Award, among others. He is a past chair of the SoA and the Translators Association, and on the board of a number of organisations that work with literature, translation and free speech.

About the Policy Team

The SoA’s policy team promotes the interests of authors through public campaigns, political and industry lobbying, and working with partners. Artificial intelligence is one of the team’s key areas of work.

About the Translators Association (TA)

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. 

Translators automatically become a member of the TA on joining the SoA.

Accessibility

• Our Events space is located on the ground floor of our office and we have a wheelchair ramp at the side entrance of the building. We also have an accessible toilet by the side entrance.
• If you have any other accessibility needs, please email events@societyofauthors.org

Feeling unwell?

We recommend the following:

• Staying home if you’re feeling unwell or have flu-like symptoms
• Washing your hands when coming in from the outdoors and / or before touching your face
• Applying alcohol hand sanitiser (we will have these on site)
• We advise attendees to wear a face mask if they feel comfortable doing so

Booking

Book your place using the booking from below. Places are limited and exclusive to SoA Members.

Please read our event booking Terms and Conditions: https://societyofauthors.org/legal-privacy/event-terms/