Institut Ramon LLull

2022 ALTA Emerging Translator Mentorship Program Open for Submissions

Literature.  USA, 15/09/2021

The ALTA Emerging Translator Mentorship Program is designed to establish and facilitate a close working relationship between an experienced translator and an emerging translator on a project selected by the emerging translator. The mentorship duration is nine months. The emerging translator is expected to choose a project that can be completed in that time, and they will only be advised on that particular project. ALTA’s Emerging Translator Mentorship Program was founded by former ALTA board member Allison M. Charette.




All mentors and mentees meet via video conference at the beginning of their mentorship in February, and continue their work through individual meetings during the rest of the mentorship either in person, over Skype, or by phone. A minimum of six meetings is expected during the course of the mentorship. The mentorship will conclude with a presentation of the mentee’s work in a reading at the annual ALTA conference in the fall.

For more information, please see the ALTA website for details, as well as introductions to former mentees and their accomplishments.

The following 13 mentorships are available in 2022, offered by ALTA in partnership with Amazon Crossing, anonymous individual donors, the Institut Ramon Llull, the Literature Translation Institute of Korea, the National Arts Council Singapore, the Polish Cultural Institute New York, the Russian Federation Institute for Literary Translation, the Swedish Arts Council, Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture and Taiwan Academy of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles (TECO-LA), the Québec Government Office in New York, and the Yanai Initiative:

Catalan, with mentor Mara Faye Lethem: Mara Faye Lethem's work as a translator has been recognized with two English PEN Awards, a National Translation Award nomination, a Warwick Prize for Women in Translation nomination, three Dublin Literary Award nominations, and a residency at Art Omi’s Translation Lab. Her recent translations include novels by Patricio Pron, Max Besora, Javier Calvo, Marta Orriols, Toni Sala, and Irene Solà. She is currently translating the complete short stories of Pere Calders.

Japanese, with mentor David Boyd
Korean poetry, with mentor Jack Jung
Korean prose, with mentor Janet Hong
Non-language-specific BIPOC mentorship, with mentor Katrina Dodson (open to translators who identify as Black, Indigenous and/or a Person of Color)
Non-language-specific, non-genre-specific, with mentor Kareem James Abu-Zeid
Polish, with mentor Bill Johnston
Prose from Québec, with mentor Linda Gaboriau
Russian prose, with mentor Marian Schwartz
Singaporean literature (translated from Malay, Mandarin Chinese, or Tamil), with mentor Khairani Barokka
Singaporean literature (translated from Malay, Mandarin Chinese, or Tamil), with mentor Julia Sanches (open to Singaporean nationals)
Swedish, with mentor Kira Josefsson
Literature from Taiwan, with mentor Steve Bradbury

Applications must be submitted online through the ALTA submission platform.

Please contact ALTA's Program Manager Kelsi Vanada with any questions: kelsi@literarytranslators.org.

The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) is delighted to announce that the 2022 Emerging Translator Mentorship Program submission portals are open!

Catalan mentorship, with mentor Mara Faye Lethem, is available in 2022, offered by ALTA in partnership with the Institut Ramon Llull.

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