Online | Translation | Intensive

2-Day Online Translation Intensive: Pitching Translations

The publishing world can be intimidating, especially in translation. How do editors evaluate the quality of a literary translation? How can a translator best present their work to a reader who might not know the source language and culture? How does a translator get permission to work on a writer’s original text?

In this publishing intensive for translators of all levels, you will plan a translation submission strategy and work on a translation pitch letter with an eye towards publication. Learn how to get the rights to publish a work and about translation rates and publishing contracts, how to find the right presses and journals for a translation project, and get the tools to pitch and publish your work.

One full-ride scholarship will be awarded for this class to a BIPOC writer. To apply, please send [email protected] your bio and a brief (100-word) statement on why taking this class is important to you by August 15th, with the subject line "Bruna Dantas Lobato Translation Class Scholarship."

*If you’re enrolling in two or more Don’t Translate Alone classes, email us at [email protected] and we’ll send you a coupon for 15% off each DTA class!

Class meetings will be held over video chat, using Zoom accessed from your private class page. While you can use Zoom from your browser, we recommend downloading the Zoom desktop client so you have access to all platform features.

COURSE TAKEAWAYS:

- Familiarity with the publishing landscape and its inner workings, including foreign rights and publishing contracts

- Constructive, personalized feedback from peers and instructor on a cover letter and pitch letter

- Solid journal and book submissions template

- The tools become a published translator!

- 10% discount on all future Catapult classes

COURSE EXPECTATIONS:

Students should expect to offer and receive verbal feedback on one cover letter and one pitch letter for a book-length translation into English from any language or for the beginnings of a book-length project. Students should also be prepared to read 10-15 pages ahead of each day. Fluency in another language and previous publishing or translation experience are NOT required in this class.

COURSE SKELETON:

Day 1:

Introductions, learning about the publishing landscape and translation market, how to get the rights to translate, what makes a successful pitch or cover letter, and building a publication strategy.

Day 2:

Discussing pitches and offering each other feedback, tips for finding the right publisher for your project, negotiating a contract, discussing next steps and goals as a translator.

Bruna Dantas Lobato

Bruna Dantas Lobato is a writer and literary translator based in St. Louis. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, A Public Space, The Common, and elsewhere, and has been recognized with fellowships from Yaddo, A Public Space, NYU, and Disquiet International. Her literary translations include Caio Fernando Abreu's Moldy Strawberries (Archipelago Books), Stênio Gardel’s The Words that Remain (New Vessel Press), and Giovana Madalosso's Tokyo Suite (Europa Editions).

Testimonials

"In Bruna Dantas Lobato’s translation, Caio Fernando Abreu’s MOLDY STRAWBERRIES passes the microphone to the people on the other side of power: the junkies, failed revolutionaries, beggars, and drag queens who, at times like these, have the most to lose. Told by one of Brazil’s greatest gay writers, this book unfurls in long, elegant sentences, evoking the inner lives of people this society—like so many others—too often prefers to forget."

PEN America

"As a writer, Bruna Dantas Lobato fits whole worlds into careful, spare sentences. As a translator and reader, she can reverse engineer: finding the heart of a piece through her careful attention to detail and intent. Her work places her among the rare and multi-talented who approach reading and writing with insight, courage, and a healthy sense of fun."

Brigid Hughes editor of A PUBLIC SPACE

"Bruna is a fantastic writer and editor with a sharp eye for detail and subtext. She has been a great editor of my work, always generous, kind, and attentive to what could best serve my prose."

former student

"Bruna’s edits are excellent and I am so appreciative of her talent. I've learned the hard way that editing in itself is an art form and much time can be wasted engaging with those who can't edit. She has a gift for recognizing the strengths of a piece, and I feel like a better writer every time I engage with her."

former student