Manchester in Translation 2024: Working with a Writer Panel
This panel discussion will look at the practicalities of working with a writer as a translator, answering questions such as how much communication do translators have with a writer, what is it like to work with an author on mutiple projects, and when it comes to disagreements, who has the last word? We will be joined by translators Daniel Hahn, Adam Talib and Mui Poopoksakul.
Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor and translator, whose recent books include Catching Fire: A Translation Diary, and translations of books (fiction and non-fiction) from Angola, Argentina, Portugal and Venezuela. He is currently translating a Peruvian novel, editing a collection of Brazilian short stories and writing a book about Shakespeare and translation.
Adam Talib teaches at the American University in Cairo and is a co-editor of the journal Middle Eastern Literatures. He is an award-winning literary translator of Arabic into English – his co-translation with Katharine Halls of Raja Alem’s The Dove’s Necklace (published by Overlook Press, US, and Duckworth, UK, in 2016) was joint winner of the 2017 Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation. The original Arabic edition Tawq al-Hamam was joint winner of the 2011 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Other translations include Cairo Swan Song by Mekkawi Said, shortlisted for the first International Prize for Arabic Fiction in 2008, and The Hashish Waiter by Khairy Shalaby, both Hoopoe Fiction/AUC Press).
Mui Poopoksakul is a lawyer-turned-translator with a special interest in contemporary Thai literature. Her latest translations, Venom and The Understory by Saneh Sangsuk, were published in the UK last year by Peirene Press and are soon forthcoming in the US from Deep Vellum. She has also translated a pair of books each by Prabda Yoon and Duanwad Pimwana. A native of Bangkok, Thailand, Mui now lives in Berlin, Germany.