Thanks to the generous support of Creative Scotland, we were able to welcome Clara Ministral and Maria Pelleta, two talented translators, to our Contemporary and Scottish Literature courses this summer. As in previous years, a key component of the Fellowship is for our translators to deliver presentations on their practice as part of our Translation Showcase event, which takes place in August. This year the event took place at the University of Edinburgh, and we’re very pleased to be able to share Clara’s and Maria’s presentations here for those that missed the event. We hope you find their presentations as illuminating and entertaining as we at SUISS did, with our thanks again to Clara and Maria for sharing their enthusiasm and passion for translation in all its forms.

Clara says:

As a professional literary translator, it was incredibly useful to be granted a more
academic insight into the literary world than the one I might be more typically afforded.
In my experience, that domain can prove somewhat inaccessible to translators so it is
always professionally valuable when these kind of infrequent bridging opportunities
emerge.

Meeting other attending translators (including, of course, my ‘fellow Fellow’
María Pelletta) facilitated much rich conversation, and their diverse backgrounds were
often stimuli to reflective discussion which will surely benefit my professional practice in
due course. In fact, it would be remiss of me to limit my observations solely to the
translators who were present, as so many of the other attendees, tutors and lecturers
were fascinating individuals who really helped generate an enriching and intellectually
curious atmosphere.

Although both courses were great, I especially enjoyed the Scottish Literature one, which
was a fantastic way for me to deepen my rather limited knowledge of Scottish writing. I
feel the course has offered me a wonderful springboard for further exploration of Scottish
authors, several of whom were previously unfamiliar to me, and I look forward to reading
more and exploring further in the coming months and years. Furthermore, I now feel far
more confident and informed in terms of tackling future translation projects which are
either rooted in Scotland or that contain a Scottish dimension. Such opportunities to
broaden one’s worldview are always most welcome for translators in particular.

What Do Translators Actually Do?

Maria says:

I have attended several literary translation workshops and courses online, but the opportunity to broaden my knowledge of literary works and share four weeks with other translators, students, authors and literature teachers was something of immense value both on a personal and a professional level.

Over these four weeks, we read the work of, and were able to meet, several established authors. Harry Josephine Giles, Rachelle Atalla, James Robertson, and A.L. Kennedy regaled us with their presence, reading passages of their work and generously answering our eager questions. These evenings were precious, the atmosphere welcoming and relaxed, and everyone felt privileged to have informal chats with these amazing writers. In my case, I was most looking forward to meeting James Robertson, whose work I intend to translate and show to Spanish readers. I am already working on proposals to translate News of the Dead!

I also presented aspects of translation that would appeal to an international audience like SUISS students. There were many translators present who identified with my description of how to translate tricky cultural references, while the non-translators attendees discovered the process that allows them to read literary works in their own language.

To Translate Presentation

Biographies:

Clara Ministral: I have been a professional English-to-Spanish translator of literary and commercial texts for over 15 years. For much of that time I resided in London, where I also held other positions in the arts sector, primarily in publishing and bookselling. Most importantly, my time in the UK allowed me to develop the linguistic and cultural skills that are essential to achieve excellence as a literary translator, and which I believe would have been impossible to acquire had I stayed in my home country. Now, after a few years back in Spain, I have become deeply aware of how important it is to maintain a physical presence in the countries I translate from, which I see as the only way to stay connected with a linguistic and cultural reality that is constantly evolving, and which is hard to access simply through books or screens. As someone with an increasing interest in what goes on in the periphery and a declining desire to engage with what happens in the centre, in recent years I have turned my attention to Ireland, particularly the North, and I am now embarking on a similar process of exploration of and immersion in Scottish culture and literature, something which I am extremely keen to build on through the SUISS courses.

Maria Pelletta: I am a professional literary translator and Qualified Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting. Originally from Argentina I have lived on Skye since 1996. When I first moved to Scotland, I was 35 years old and, after 15 years of teaching in primary education in Argentina,
I decided to embark on a career change. I studied independently for the DipTrans examination of the Chartered Institute of Linguists, obtaining my diploma in 2001. At the same time, my desire to learn more about Scotland led me to undertake a short course in tour guiding for Skye and Lochalsh at the University of Edinburgh, an activity which both complemented my translation work and opened up opportunities to work in heritage and tourism translation. Both professions have allowed me to pursue my passion for Scotland, including its history, its languages, its culture and its literature.

After over 20 years as a translator, the Covid pandemic gave me time and space to reflect on the direction of my career. Having previously published a book translation (Return to Patagonia by the Hebridean author Greta Mackenzie), during lockdown I approached the Scottish author James Robertson regarding the translation of his work into Spanish. The result has been a series of translations from his collection 365: Stories. To date, I have translated 50 of the stories and their publication is currently being pursued by his agent. Both these projects have awakened a renewed interest in Scottish literature and literary translation

The English Speaking Union (ESU) has partnered with the University of Edinburgh through the Scottish Universities International Summer Schools program, also known as SUISS, to provide a variety of courses. These are multi-week courses ideally suited for secondary school teachers. Study literature, creative writing, or theater – or all three!

Here is ESU TLab Scholarship recipient, Tiffany Hunter-Wilson’s, account of her time on the SUISS Theatre & Performance course. Enjoy!

The English Speaking Union (ESU) has partnered with the University of Edinburgh through the Scottish Universities International Summer Schools program, also known as SUISS, to provide a variety of courses. These are multi-week courses ideally suited for secondary school teachers. Study literature, creative writing, or theater – or all three!

Here is ESU TLab Scholarship recipient, Elayne Harrington’s, account of her time on the SUISS Creative Writing course, as well as her travels around Scotland. Enjoy!

Thanks to the generous support of Creative Scotland, we were able to welcome Iftach Brill and Aysegul Demir, two talented translators, to our Scottish Literature course this summer. As in previous years, a key component of the Fellowship is for our translators to deliver presentations on their practice as part of our Translation Showcase event. This year the event took place at the University of Edinburgh, and we’re very pleased to be able to share Iftach’s and Aysegul’s presentations here for those that missed the event. We hope you find their presentations as illuminating and entertaining as we at SUISS did, with our thanks again to Iftach and Aysegul for sharing their enthusiasm and passion for Scottish ballads.

Iftach says:

I took part in the Scottish literature course, in this year’s summer school in Edinburgh, thanks to an Edwin Morgan Translation Fellowship granted to me by Creative Scotland. As a translator from Tel Aviv who had had for many years both a professional and a personal interest in Scotland, it was an opportunity to deepen my acquaintance with Scottish culture and to gain a much more nuanced understanding of its complexities. The lectures and classes, the extensive prior reading of novels and plays which began months before the course, the city of Edinburgh itself at its liveliest time, and above all the people I met at SUISS – everything interrelated to create an intensive learning experience and to provoke thought.

More importantly, maybe, the warm welcome at SUISS made me feel less of an outsider to the culture, and more like a collaborator. During my time in Edinburgh I was able to do some research in the National Library for a future project I’d been planning (a Hebrew translation of a work by James Boswell); but the greater contribution of the course in this respect was in giving me encouragement and strengthening my commitment to pursue this task, as way to become a participant of sorts in this culture.

As a recipient of the fellowship, I needed to present a talk related to translation in the context of Scottish literature. Since the other recipient, Aysegul, was working on a Turkish translation of Scottish ballads, I chose to speak of a classic Hebrew translation of the same texts, done more than 70 years ago, and the influence it had on original Israeli poetry. Not being used to lecturing in English abroad, the task was a bit daunting at first, but everybody was very supportive and the challenge proved fruitful. I made real progress during my stay in Edinburgh, and I think I managed to present some genuine insights that were new to me.

Aysegul says:

My name is Aysegul Demir. I’m an academic in the department of English Literature at Munzur University in Turkey. I did my PhD on Scottish Makar Kathleen Jamie in Turkey (in 2017), the first study of its kind. I am currently a postdoctoral research visitor at the University of Edinburgh (since October 2021), translating Scottish ballads into Turkish. Next semester, I’ll be teaching a Scottish literature course at Munzur University, one of the few courses given in Turkey. All of my studies in the field of Scottish literature have given me the impression that I am a pioneer of Scottish literature and culture in Turkey. You might be wondering how someone from Turkey developed such a passion for Scottish literature and culture. Everything starts with SUISS. In 2018, I found a chance to advance in Scottish literature and to experience the Scottish culture that I first discovered with contemporary Scottish poet Kathleen Jamie through the Scottish Literature Module at Scottish Universities International Summer School (SUISS).

It was hardly a surprise to return here for the second time after opening this magical door once. Then, I decided to convey to Turkey the most significant oral literary tradition of Scotland that has not yet been translated into Turkish, the ballads, and started postdoctoral research at the University of Edinburgh. Even after ten months in Scotland and at the University of Edinburgh, I couldn’t replicate what I experienced at SUISS. As a result, I decided to be a part of it once more, and the Edwin Morgan Translation Fellowship made it possible.

In short, this scholarship allowed me to broaden my knowledge of Scottish manners and culture, as well as Scottish literature, to make friends from various universities and countries, and to expand my academic network. Meeting Kathleen Jamie during the SUISS author’s night, visiting the Parliament building and meeting Parliament Member Angus Robertson; and seeing Prudencia Hart, one of the performances I most want to see, are among the SUISS experiences that have left the most traces on me.

Biographies:

Iftach Brill is a translator and journalist from Tel Aviv. Born in a Kibbutz in the south of Israel, he worked in a printing house, studied PPE at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and then Philosophy at Tel Aviv University. He translated about ten books from English to Hebrew, mainly in philosophy, history and literary theory, among which David Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature. He worked as editor in financial newsrooms and was editor of the fact checking column of a daily Israeli newspaper.

Ayşegül Demir is a Turkish academic in the department of English Literature at Munzur University in Turkey. She did her PhD on Scottish Makar Kathleen Jamie and is currently studying to translate Scottish ballads into Turkish at the University of Edinburgh as a postdoctoral research visitor. She is the recipient of the 2018 Saltire Scholarship and the 2022 Edwin Morgan Translation Fellowship for the Scottish Literature Module at Scottish Universities International Summar School (SUISS). Her research interest focuses on Contemporary Scottish Literature, Scottish Poetry, and Turkish–Scottish Oral Literature.

Written during the first COVID quarantine, “Dried Daisies Sprouting from my Desk” reflects the poet’s battle with her personal demons. It starts by exploring themes of family trauma, depression, and OCD, but it ends by celebrating change within yourself. This confessional coming-of-age book by a promising Greek poet, takes you by the hand and shows you that accepting your darkest moments and growing through them means taking control of your life. It reminds you that even dried daisies, when treated with care, can be beautiful, refreshing, and worthy of admiration.

Sophia-Maria Nicolopoulos is a SUISS alumna and Content and Publishing Editor from Greece. She chooses to see her work as the kind a Greek Ophelia would write had she navigated a world of boundless horror. She writes to make sense of the obscure places where reality meets the surreal. She hates the taste of fresh tomatoes but she loves feta and mozzarella cheese. In her free time, she removes cat hair from her clothes.

Hear Estephany Reyes, an ESU TLab Scholarship recipient, discuss her experience of the 2021 SUISS Creative Writing course. In this presentation she covers quarantine, travel, the academic and social/ cultural programmes, the lasting impacts of the summer school, and what she will take back to her own classroom.

Further information on the ESU Tlab Scholarships can be found on our ESU page and on the TLab website.

Due to the pandemic, the cancellation of the Edinburgh Festivals as a result, and the ongoing government restrictions, it was no great surprise that we followed suit and cancelled the 2020 summer school. It was the first time this had happened in our 74 year history, and as you can imagine, we were all terribly saddened. However, it was the right decision for the school, and all those involved, and we were optimistic that we would once again welcome students back to SUISS in 2021.

Despite all the obstacles, we managed to have a small cohort of students. Though it was by no means a normal year for us, the SUISS spirit prevailed, thanks to our wonderful students and committed staff. There were hikes up Arthur’s Seat, author readings, cinepoem competitions, late-night conversations about literature at our ‘virtual pub’,  and so much more.

We also introduced an online course that ran parallel to the residential course option, which was incredibly successful. So much so, that we have decided to continue offering both online and residential course options for 2022. Not only have we found that the online course appeals to people who would not normally be able to travel to Edinburgh, it also allows us some flexibility in the face of all the uncertainty caused by the pandemic.

Above all else, SUISS strives to connect students of all backgrounds and beliefs through literature (and a robust social/ cultural programme!), so the creation of an online course presented a new challenge. Read these powerful accounts from Juliana Del Rosso (Brazil) and Debjani Chakrabarty (India), and what they have to say about their online experience:

Juliana’s Story:

I came from Campo Grande, an almost rural neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. Even
though Rio is a big city, it would take me at least two hours to get to the places where art was being created and shared: museums, theatres and galleries were not only expensive, but far, far away from my place. I am an actress, as I previously said, but I went to the theatre for the first time when I was 13. Then, when I was 15. Then, when I was 18. Only after that I was able to actually take part in what I had been dreaming about for years.

Theatre was, when I was very young, my impossible dream. Life and support brought me where I am, but it has never been easy. I currently live in São Paulo – this time, in a big neighborhood. I am a bachelor of dramatic arts trying to make a living in a country that doesn’t care about art and doesn’t give us enough money, time or attention. I have to work on things that I don’t like in order to keep on working on what I really love – theatre and cinema. All the rest, to be quite honest, is just something I have to deal with.

Since Bolsonaro became our president – a sad, sad situation -, things became harder for all of us. Part of the country is struggling to get something to eat; meanwhile, politicians are giving themselves more money. Theatres are closing their doors. Artists that I know went back to their parents’ houses or gave up on art forever. I can understand that, for I was almost one of them.

A few months ago, I was unsure I should keep on trying. I was having a hard time convincing myself there was something left for me in art. At the same time, I was telling myself I didn’t have what it takes to be a good actress, an interesting person, or a good story-teller.

Then SUISS came along and offered me a scholarship. And I remembered myself, being
13 years old and having the dream of going abroad. Suddenly I was back to the days when I would wake up really early, take a shot of burning coffee and live the experience of being in love with art for hours and hours. I felt alive, breathing and capable of finally giving my heart what it needs: the possibility of expressing itself.

I do not mean to sound silly; I mean to sound honest. I have been letting myself talk of love, of all kinds of love, since Jo Clifford’s play and speech. I cried for hours after meeting her, even though we were an ocean away from each other. This is one of the things I would never be able to do if SUISS had not offered me such an opportunity. For this and much more, I am truly grateful.

After SUISS – and after all the experiences that have been happening in my life since the summer school believed in me -, I feel that I am able to do something great. Time to change the
world, I guess. Finally.

Debjani’s Story:

These past two years have been challenging for everyone the world over, to say the least. In India, especially, things had taken a particularly morbid turn earlier in 2021, when the second wave of the dreaded coronavirus thrashed against our flimsy defences and claimed several hundred lives with singular brutality. Needless to say, it was a difficult time for me personally as well. In the midst of this, I was able to attend the SUISS Creative Writing Course in the University of Edinburgh due to the Charles Wallace India Trust Scholarship. Although it seems slightly frivolous, if not downright insensitive, to highlight school and scholarship in the face of such devastation and tragedy, it is incumbent upon me to assert, in no uncertain terms, how important this experience has been for my strength as well as my growth. Unsurprisingly, this scholarship ensures that aspiring writers from India have access to valuable training in the SUISS CW course who would, perhaps, be unable to access it otherwise. More importantly, however, they are able to form communities of writers from all over the world. Writing is an isolating exercise, painfully and inevitably so. Therefore, when we are able to forge bonds over shared alienation, it makes our alienation that much more bearable. This is particularly true of the last couple of years when each of us had to go through unthinkable and often ruthless separation from our loved ones as well as from the larger human community. Consequently, although I was unable to attend the course in person and bask in the beauty of Edinburgh, connecting with people from the confines of my own home, provided me with comfort and perhaps more importantly, with knowledge and skills. Somewhere, while discussing Rabindranath Tagore with the Grecian girl, while debating Feminist theory with the Chinese scholar and while listening to my American instructor assert the importance of an exciting opening line, I learned the nuances and discipline involved in writing, I learned how to critique a piece of work and accept criticism gracefully and most significantly, I learned that no matter how palpably I feel it, I am never quite alone. Additionally, I also believe that writing constitutes a social responsibility:  to bring to the fore that which should never be forgotten. While I was grappling with the impossibility and relentlessness of the death and destruction around me, I resolved that I would write to ensure nobody forgets that which we have survived and the course has provided me with important tools to undertake this resolution.

Thanks to the generous support of Creative Scotland, we were privileged at SUISS to welcome Isabel Hurtado de Mendoza and Margaret Rigaud, two fantastically talented and experienced professional translators, to our Text & Context programme this summer. As in previous years, a key component of the Fellowship is for our translators to deliver presentations on their practice as part of our Translation Showcase event. This year the event took place on Zoom, and we’re very pleased to be able to share Isabel and Margaret’s presentations here for those that missed the event. Isabel’s presentation focuses on the thorny issue of translating cultural reference points, while Margaret’s picks up on some of the same ideas in its exploration of the translation of vernaculars. We hope you find their presentations as illuminating and entertaining as we at SUISS did, with our thanks again to Isabel and Margaret for sharing their energy, enthusiasm and expertise.

Isabel says:

I was one of the lucky awardees to have received an Edwin Morgan Translation Fellowship in 2021. This fellowship is addressed to professional translators with an interest in twentieth-century and contemporary Scottish writing, and its goal is the promotion of Scottish literature abroad.

I have been a translator for over 20 years and have recently started translating fiction. I lived in Edinburgh for ten years, so I have a strong bond with Scotland and, seeing how popular it is as a tourist destination and the fascination it holds for Spaniards, I thought that this fellowship would give me the opportunity to link my two passions by helping Scottish works reach a Spanish-speaking audience through translation.

With support from Creative Scotland, SUISS offered me the opportunity to attend the four-week Text and Context course (Contemporary British Literature and Scottish Literature) online. Even though the course was quite demanding in terms of compulsory reading, watching lectures, giving presentations and participating in seminars, I found it of very high quality. I am normally quite difficult to please when it comes to my professional development, but SUISS exceeded my expectations. I also thoroughly enjoyed the programme because SUISS managed to gather a very interesting and diverse group of students. In fact, I am seriously considering attending the school again next summer if the programme is updated. I only wish it can be in person this time!

As regards the main goal of the fellowship, I believe the knowledge I acquired will definitely help me in my career. I plan to keep up to date with news and developments in the publishing industry in Scotland and, who knows, maybe one day I will have the opportunity to translate a Scottish author into Spanish! In the meantime, I am already promoting quite a few of them among editors in Spain, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

Apart from attending the course and promoting Scottish literature in my country, another requirement of the fellowship consisted in giving a presentation about any aspect of translation that would appeal to an international audience like SUISS students, who might not be familiar with my craft. Since I am passionate about intercultural communication, I decided to talk about how to translate culture-specific elements. I touched on what translators actually do and how their output compares to automatic translation. I also described some specific strategies we need to use when dealing with tricky referents, like some that are specific to Scottish culture and that I chose to illustrate this point. Hopefully, after watching my video, you will have a better understanding of the value of human translators 😉

Margaret says:

I wish to thank SUISS and Creative Scotland for awarding me one of two 2021 Translator Fellowships. I relished the opportunity to spend the summer discovering new writing from the British isles. As a reader and a translator, I am always on the lookout for new voices and was especially curious to find out more about contemporary Scottish writing. It was lovely being a student again and, as a translator, SUISS provided me with some interesting leads which I hope to follow in the coming months. Fingers crossed!

Biographies:

Isabel Hurtado de Mendoza is an English into Spanish freelance translator with over twenty years’ experience. A Qualified Member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting and a member of ACE Traductores (the Spanish association of literary translators), Isabel’s translations include Ann Cleeves’ novel Silent Voices, published as Almas silenciosas by Ediciones Maeva, and El invasor, for Matamua Books.

Margaret Rigaud is a freelance literary translator and College Research Associate at Magdalene College, Cambridge. Her translations into French include James Pennebaker and Joshua Smyth’s Écrire pour se soigner, published by Markus Haller, while her translations into English include Filippo Bonini Baraldi’s Roma Music and Emotion, published by Oxford University Press, and Pierre Bordieu’s Manet: A Symbolic Revolution, with Peter Collier, published by Polity.

Photo credit: Gary Walkow/Jules Selmez