The Penguin Book of Polish Short Stories
Thursday, 26 March 2026
The Penguin Book of Polish Short Stories is a landmark anthology of 39 stories, exploring over a century of Polish literature. Editor and acclaimed translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones, and some of the authors and translators whose work features in the book, namely Maciej Miłkowski, Anna Zaranko and Tul'si Bhambry, were at the Centre to discuss their work on this important collection. This event was brought to us with the generous support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute Poland. The Adam Mickiewicz Institute's mission is to showcase Polish culture around the world. |
Problematising Cultural Purity:
an interview with Laura Francis
Tuesday, 24 March 2026
Laura Francis completed her MPhil in Literary Translation at Trinity College Dublin in 2019, while she was in the process of completing a PhD. Since then, she has gone on to develop her research trajectory in a way that combines elements from historical studies with translation studies. In recent years, she has been in Ireland doing postdoctoral work at Maynooth University. As Laura prepares to take up a post at the University of Michigan, we took the opportunity to talk to her about her life so far, her research, and her future plans. |
Languages 250 at Trinity: Trinity Tongues
Postgraduate and ECR Conference
Saturday, 21 March 2026,
10am-6pm
To mark the 250th anniversary of modern languages at Trinity College Dublin, the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies held a postgraduate and early-career researcher conference at Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation. The theme of this conference was the history of modern languages, including Irish, at Trinity College Dublin and the broader cultural and intellectual contributions made by Trinity graduates and scholars of our discipline. |
World Fiction Book Club
10 March 2026
We met to discuss The Deserters by Mathias Énard, a novel translated from the French by Charlotte Mandell. |
Masterclass: Translating Children's Literature
with Goedele De Sterck
26 February 2026
We were delighted to welcome leading literary translator and academic, Dr Goedele De Sterck from the University of Salamanca, to the Centre. Goedele led a workshop on translating children's literature for emerging and established translators. |
Iberian fiction: Mara Faye Lethem in Conversation
25 February 2026
Mara Faye Lethem is an award-winning Catalan and Spanish translator, and also a writer and researcher. Mara was in conversation about her work as a literary translator with Professor Helena Buffery of University College Cork. The evening included readings from Mara's recent translations of works by Pol Guasch and Irene Solà. |
World Fiction Book Club
10 February 2026
Our first book club of 2026 met to discuss Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, a collection of stories translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi. This book won the 2025 International Booker Prize. |
Celebrity Translators and Beyond:
an interview with Motoko Akashi
20 January 2026
Dr Motoko Akashi has been a key member of the research team at Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation for the past three years. During this time, she has divided her time betwen Trinity College Dublin and Waseda University in Tokyo, where she spent months collecting and digitising translations published in the early twentieth century. Much of Motoko's research to date has focused on the curious phenomenon of celebrity literary translators, including writers such as Haruki Murakami. Motoko's career to date has been anything but conventional. As Motoko prepares to take up a prestigious new post at Kansai University, Osaka, we took the opportunity to talk to her about her life so far and her research. |
2025 Taiwan-Ireland Poetry Translation Competition Winners in Conversation
10 December 2025
This annual competition explores the range of languages and traditions found in Taiwan, and examines how these can be linked to the poetry tradition of Ireland. This year's poem was 詩歌朗讀: 如歌——致107歲mumu遠行｜Poetry Reading: Like a Song — For Mumu, Departed at 107, written by Dong Shu-Ming (董恕明), a writer of Puyuma and Han heritage, based in Taitung, Taiwan.
Applicants from all over the world submitted translations and we hosted a conversation with the winning entrants, to discuss their experiences of translating the poem, and the challenges they faced along the way. |
World Fiction Book Club
11 November 2025
Our final book club meeting of 2025 met to discuss
The Rainbow by Yasunari Kawabata, translated from the Japanese by Hadyn Trowell. |
International Conference: 22-24 October 2025
Human Translators in Focus: Exploring the Human Aspects of Japanese Literary Translation through a Sociological Lens
This conference was kindly supported by the Japan Foundation, the Japanese Embassy in Ireland, the European Union, and the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Trinity College Dublin. It was held at Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation and online. Guest speakers included:
- Jeffrey Angles, Western Michigan University
- David Karashima, Waseda University
- Eriko Tomizawa-Kay, University of East Anglia
- Morgan Giles, translator. Morgan, translator of Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri, also led a Japanese Translation Masterclass.   |
Open House Dublin, Festival of Architecture
18 October 2025
 Our beautifully restored Georgian building, built ca. 1790, was open to the public for tours as part of Dublin's 'Open House' festival of architecture. |
Writing, Translation and the Changing World
15 October 2025
Chinese writer Yang Hao, whose novel Diablo’s Boys was recently published in English, was in conversation with her translators Nicky Harman and Michael Day, Irish writer Mark O’Connell, and Professor Peter Arnds of Trinity College. |
World Fiction Book Club
Tuesday,
14 October 2025
There's a Monster Behind the Door by Gaëlle Bélem,
translated from the French (La Réunion)
by Karen Fleetwood and Laëtitia Saint Loubert. |
Success in Literary Translation
13 October 2025
Jeffrey K. Butt and Gaia Baldassarri, both practicing literary translators and graduates of our MPhil in Literary Translation, talked about their experience of breaking into the literary translation world. |
Breaking Cultural and Gender Barriers: on translating The Awakening by Kate Chopin
9 October 2025
Eulalia Piñero Gil, Professor of American Literature and Gender Studies at the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, Spain, gave a talk about the process involved in translating The Awakening by American writer, Kate Chopin. |
Great Irish Writers in Translation: Paul Lynch
1 October 2025
We were honoured to welcome Booker prize-winning author Paul Lynch and his Bulgarian, French, Polish and Romanian translators - Iglika Vassileva, Marina Boraso, Kaja Gucio and Iulia Gorzo - to Trinity for a fascinating discusstion about Paul's work in translation, hosted by Professor Michael Cronin. This special event was held to mark European Day of Languages and International Translation Day and was kindly supported by EUNIC Ireland (EU National Institutes of Culture), along with the embassies of Bulgaria, France, Poland and Romania.
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World Fiction Book Club
9 September 2025
Our first book club choice this term was There's No Turning Back by Alba de Céspedes, translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein. |
