How to Listen like a Translator with Deepa Bhasthi

Attend four curated online writing workshops tutored by our inaugural International Translator in Residence, the International Booker Prize winning writer-translator, Deepa Bhasthi.

Writing is translating is writing. While the practice of translation is often perceived – by many readers and bafflingly, also by many writers – as a job secondary to the creative practice of writing, translators recognise their labour as as much an act of creative expression as writing something from scratch. It needs to be repeated here that translation is not simply the act of replacing a set of words in one language with a set of words in another language. I would go so far as to argue that the act of typing the text in the target language is the least important part of this practice.

What a good translation does is go beyond the grammar and syntax and rules of a language pair to look at the larger culture that is communicated through language. It considers music, popular culture, history, food, and cultural memory — in other words, what the translator Daisy Rockwell calls ‘invisible forcefields’.

Over the course of four online writing workshops, Deepa will share some how-tos that will help you expand your understanding of what a translator does, what a translator should ideally do beyond just having excellent knowledge of the languages they are working in, and how to cultivate critical thinking around cultural productions that will make you not just a better translator, but also a better reader.

The workshops are best suited for early career translators and those interested in understanding the art of translation. While participants need not translate into English as a practice, it is required that they have a working knowledge of and are comfortable with communicating in English.

Takeaways from each workshop will include a reading list and/or playlist and practical tips that participants can apply to their own translation projects. Each session is designed to be interactive in nature — and participants will be invited to share their experiences and opinions, so please be prepared to do so. The final 20 minutes of each workshop will be open for a Q&A with Deepa, but please note that she cannot respond to individual projects, or share personal contacts.

The first pair of workshops will be held in autumn 2025 and the final two workshops will be held in spring of next year.

In the first workshop, titled ‘How to Listen like a Translator’, we will discuss the reading-adjacent skills a translator can cultivate to become a better practitioner of the art of translating.

When: Saturday, 25 October, 11am - 1pm BST
Where: Online
Tickets: £35 (Concessions available), £60 (Workshop pass to attend both autumn workshops)