Has a whole year gone by already? Applications are currently being accepted for the 2009 Chinese-English Literary Translation course, to be held in balmy Suzhou between March 15-21, by the good graces of the Penguin Group, Arts Council England, the General Administration of Press and Publications and the University of Western Sydney. We had a blast last year, you should apply. Details to follow:

Student Selection Guidelines

Target Participants

The Sino-British Literary Translation Course is targeted at early to mid-career literary translators. A maximum of 20 Chinese-to-English translators and 20 English-to-Chinese translators will be invited.

Participants are expected to be at differing stages in their careers, but will all have a proven enthusiasm for and some background in literary translation. The most experienced participants will already have full-length works of translation published in the target language, but will be looking for skills input and publishing know-how to raise their abilities to the next level. The less experienced students will have a demonstrable interest in literary translation, and a desire to become more professionally active in this field.

We welcome back participants of the 2008 pilot scheme, and encourage new applicants.

Academic qualifications will bolster an application, but will not be the sole criteria upon which decisions are made.

Application Procedure

Prospective participants will be asked to submit the following by February 20, 2009:

• Brief Resume, including professional and academic qualifications
• Cover letter, indicating their area of interest, their current involvement with literary translation, and their reasons for joining the course
• A sample translation of up to 800 words of a piece of literature

Students will be informed of the decision before February 28, 2009.

For more information, and to apply, contact info@cn.penguingroup.com.