In June 2015, the first annual Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference will be held at Middlebury’s Bread Loaf campus in Ripton, Vermont. The weeklong summit, modeled after the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, is intended to offer training and community to translators of all abilities while improving accessibility to high quality literary translations.
Poet, literary translator, and Director for the Master of Arts in Literary Translation at the University of Rochester Jennifer Grotz is the director of the “BLT,” as she calls it. “It would be hard to overstate the importance of the literary translator in our culture,” Grotz said, touching upon the often-overlooked yet complex role of the translator.
Grotz said, “First, it has to do with importing into our culture and language something that isn’t already there, something that will breathe new life into our current conceptions and ideas. Secondly, it has to do with making a substantial work of literary art in the target language. This is where the Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference comes in. Our goal is to help train translators as literary writers.”
Bill Johnston, Professor of Comparative Literature at Indiana University and faculty member at the inaugural Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference, echoed Grotz’s statements regarding the importance of the under-appreciated translator.
“The translator is pretty much essential in ensuring a flow of literature around the world,” Johnston said. “In the case of a language like mine, like Polish, where there aren’t that many translators or alternative translations available, you’re frequently responsible for singlehandedly creating the tone of a particular work or even author in the English language.”
Grotz, with Director of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Michael Collier, designed the program and described it as a “culmination of at least five years of thought and work.” During this time, their plans and ideas have evolved. Grotz originally intended for the conference’s workshops to be language-centered.
Grotz said, “I came to decide that the more innovative and, ideally, productive approach would be to keep the workshops genre-based…the BLT is not a workshop that helps with the acquiring of foreign languages but instead with acquiring the skills of successful literary translators.”
Another element that evolved over time, Grotz revealed, “was the idea of having one workshop specifically for those interested in learning more about and practicing translation even if they didn’t have a foreign language sufficiently acquired or if they didn’t have a project they were already working on.” Grotz expressed her excitement for this introductory workshop alongside the others.
Grotz was also involved in selecting the faculty members for next summer’s conference. They include Susan Bernofsky, Maureen Freeley, Jennifer Grotz, Bill Johnston, and Don Share. Grotz described all of them as tremendously accomplished.
My criteria for the faculty,” she revealed, “are that they be successful literary translators who are also accomplished and published creative writers. Additionally, all faculty members have substantial teaching experience and are known to be gifted and dynamic teachers.”
In terms of the future of the conference, Grotz and Johnston expressed their excitement and hope for success. “I hope that it will become a regular thing,” Johnston explained. “I think it’s an important indication and component of the fact that more and more people are becoming aware of translation, taking an interest in it, appreciating it. It’s important in the world of writing and the flow of literature across national borders.”
Grotz reiterated Johnston’s sentiments, stating, “My hope is that the establishment of this conference will provide new and helpful ways of training the current and upcoming generations of literary translators, and also that it will increase their exposure in the larger literary and publishing world.”
In a moment that conveyed his dedication for literary translation, Johnston explained that he was most looking forward to working with texts during the conference. He said, “There’s a tremendous excitement when you get to work with texts that have never previously seen the light of day in English.”
