Forty-one students, five workshops, panelists galore: SummerSALT was a tremendous success. Students were busy 12 hours a day. They practiced translation in community, being both coached and challenged; they argued and laughed over meals; they learned how to think like a publisher; they saw and heard what prizewinning novels and prizewinning translations look like; and they focused on Sri Lanka as a unique microcosm of universal tensions in language politics, literary practice, and the book business.
“[The] SALT community was incredibly generous about making space for new/emerging translators and taking the work we want to do seriously,” wrote one participant. “I was less hesitant about making interventions in a text by the end of the workshop week, and ended up having greater conviction in my translation choices.”
Participants also highlighted:
- The joy and support of community
- The permission – actually the assignment – to strive to convey the sense and feeling of the source text, rather than working word by word
- Collapsing, re-considering, and honoring differences.
Several participants have published essays about their experiences. Read “Layered & complex world of translation,” by Supriya Kaur Dhaliwal; “First person: Discovered in translation,” by Ayesha Latif; and “Found in Translation,” by Raza Naeem.
We’re grateful to our project partners for helping to make this historic gathering possible. Thanks to the American Institute for Lankan Studies, the British Council Sri Lanka, and the Neubauer Collegium.
SummerSALT is still bringing gifts. A special team has undertaken a robust evaluation process; team members have reviewed questionnaires and reflections gathered by rapporteurs and are currently conducting exit interviews.