Supported by the National Centre for Writing, Arts Council England and the Jan Michalski Foundation as part of Visible Communities, a National Centre for Writing project.

Frantz Fanon wrote in 1961 that 'Decolonisation is always a violent phenomenon,' meaning that the violence of colonialism can only be counteracted in kind. As colonial legacies linger today, what are the ways in which we can disentangle literary translation from its roots in imperial violence? Twenty-four writers and translators from across the world share their ideas and practices for disrupting and decolonising translation. 

“For the past few years, I’ve written and rewritten this line in journals and proposals: literary translation is a tool to make more vivid the relationships between Afro-descendent people in the Americas and around the world.” - Layla Benitez-James

Author’s details

Contributor includes: Gitanjali Patel, Nariman Youssef, Kaiama L. Glover, Aaron Robertson, Khairani Barokka, Anton Hur, Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi, Eluned Gramich, Sofia Rehman, Layla Benitez-James, Mona Kareem, Lúcia Collischonn, Sawad Hussain, Yogesh Maitreya, Sandra Tamele, Hamid Roslan, Onaiza Drabu, Shushan Avagyan, Monchoachi (tr. Eric Fishman), Elisa Taber, M. NourbeSe Philip, Barbara Ofosu-Somuah and Madhu Kaza.

PRAISE

“These essays, deftly blending the political and the personal, offer fresh, galvanizing, and passionate perspectives on literary translation.” — Jhumpa Lahiri

“Formally inventive and thought-provoking, Violent Phenomena is timely and impressive.” — Declan Fry, ABC News

“Provocative, powerful prescriptions for the essential act of shifting the locus of literary translation from dominant forces. These essays are bound to change your thoughts about translation.” — Arunava Sinha

“Violent Phenomena: 21 Essays on Translation, edited and introduced by Kavita Bhanot and Jeremy Tiang, represents a needed new intervention in translation theory, and a crucial text for decolonizing the field and practice. Ranging across languages and approaches, this collection blazes a compelling new path for understanding the politics of translation (including untranslation) and ways of recognizing and incorporating resistance in translation practice.” — John Keene

“These brilliantly curated essays delve deep into crucial, timely questions of authority and community, investigating colonialism’s linguistic (and literary) legacies, and exploring translation and its refusal as spaces of resistance. Essential reading for everyone who cares about translation and literature.” — Susan Bernofsky, Director of Literary Translation at Columbia University

“This exploration of the power dynamics and colonial legacies of literary translation is a call to action, a call to accountability, a shattering indictment of white European privilege, and an absolute must-read for anyone interested in new ways of considering translation.” — Helen Vassallo, Translating Women blog

“Ingrained in every postcolony is the prestige that proficiency in the coloniser’s language (English, in our case) brings. The essays confirmed my lived experience as a non-Westerner translator of colour from a non-privileged background, educationally and geolinguistically. The essays confirmed I am not alone.” — Alton Melvar M Dapanas, The Shanghai Literary Review

MORE INFORMATION

• Publication date: 28 July 2022

• Format: Demy paperback (216mm × 135mm)

• Extent: 336pp

• Rights held: WEL excluding North America

• ISBNs: 978-1-911284-78-9 (paperback) / 978-1-911284-77-2 (ebook)