The Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles, in collaboration with the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA), announced the "ALTA Emerging Translator Mentorship Program" for the year 2024. Supported by the Ministry of Culture, this program aims to select one aspiring translator who is interested in translating Taiwanese literature into English. Applications are now being accepted until Nov. 30.
Established in 1978, ALTA is a leading organization in the United States committed to the promotion of literary translation, annually hosting the largest literary translation conference in the country. Since 2015, they have been conducting the "Emerging Translator Mentorship Program," and to date, works translated from 18 different languages have been featured at their annual conference.
The Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles has been in collaboration with ALTA since 2022. Emerging translators Sandra Chen (陳珊珊) and Enshia Li (李音希) have translated works such as "Farewell" (目送) by author Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) and "Perhaps, Love Has Nothing to Do with It (或許，與愛無關)" by Yuan Chiung-chiung (袁瓊瓊). By discovering and nurturing emerging translators, efforts have also been made to promote the English translation of Taiwanese literature, thus enhancing the international visibility of publications from Taiwan.
The selected candidate will receive sponsorship and support from the MOC to embark on a nine-month professional translation mentorship program beginning in February 2024; and will also have the opportunity to present their translation work at the ALTA annual conference taking place in the autumn of 2024, thereby fostering connections with local American translators and publishers.
Steve Bradbury, an American translator with extensive experience in teaching literature at Taiwan's National Central University and a background in translating contemporary Chinese-language poetry, will serve as the mentor for the 2024 translation program. In 2021, Bradbury and Taiwanese poet Amang (阿芒) jointly received the Translation Award for their poetry collection "Raised by Wolves: Poems and Conversations" from the ALTA.
For more information and application details, please visit: https://www.literarytranslators.org/mentorships