TRANSLATION: A CREATIVE PRACTICE in Summer 2019 (CL3091-3WK2)

A translator transforms into a new self, speaking differently. Where do you fit in? As writers, translators, international business professionals, or anybody working ‘in-between’ places and cultures – what does it mean to transform, translate, transport ourselves? In this course, we will read deeply and study the pioneering craft of writers and translators to understand the molecular power of language through translation. We’ll look at translation strategies and the creative potential beyond the creation of translated text. Exercises will lead you into new drafts of original and translated work (literature, spoken word, video, speech) in this new 2-credit course. This is a way to read beyond your usual reach, access new literatures, and to explore your own flexibility with language. This is a unique course for anybody who needs to imagine difference and work across borders as part of their professional lives. Second language not required.

Siân Melangell Dafydd is an author, poet and translator. Her first published novel, Y Trydydd Peth (The Third Thing; Gomer, 2009) won her the coveted 2009 National Eisteddfod Literature Medal. She writes in both Welsh and English and often collaborates with artists of other disciplines (dancer Sioned Huws’ Aomori Project; the book Ancestral Houses: the Lost Mansions of Wales/Tai Mawr a Mieri: Plastai Coll Cymru with poet Damian Walford Davies and artist Paul White [Gomer 2012]). She is the co-editor of the literary review Taliesin and Y Neuadd online literary magazine which nurtures new voices. Her second Welsh language novel is to be published by Gomer in 2014. Her story “Hospital Field” was published in The Best British Short Stories 2014, and her poem “Big Cats” appeared in The Best British Poetry 2015.

This class is a 2 week class starting on 3 July 2016, bears a 15€ course fee.

The course is complemented by 2 evening readings by major writers, where students will have the chance to discuss writing in an intense and in