The Artist Begging Bowl: Crafting and Selling Your Translation Project
Course Description
Summary
This course has two objectives: to provide structure for ongoing or new translation projects and to teach you how to apply to artist grants using the PEN/Heim translation grant as a case study.
Supporting your translation projects you will set goals and work to meet deadlines, give and take feedback from peers in a workshop environment, and learn to incorporate revisions. Readings will be tailored to student projects. Students are expected to be working on substantial, if not book-length, projects.
You will also learn how to represent your work clearly and concisely on a grant application, and how to sell your project. Assignments will include completing all materials for the PEN/Heim application, including a one- to two-page statement describing the project and justifying its worthiness for grant support and a polished writing sample. Most years the PEN/Heim is due in June. The course is timed to give you the opportunity to develop your application and prepare for submission by that deadline, should you choose to treat it as more than a dry run.
Translators working from all languages and in all genres are welcome.
Learning Outcomes
- - Give and take productive feedback on translation projects.
- Understand what makes a winning PEN/Heim application, and a winning grant
application, tout court.
- Produce a winning project statement.
Prerequisites
Any translation course in the past 3.5 years (since fall 2023).
Interested students should email mariamrahmani@bennington.edu under the subject line "Application: spring translation 2027" with a 250-word description of your intended translation project, including how much work you have already done and your goals for the start and finish of spring term. That is, taking into account how much work you intend to do over field-work term. List the author name, original title, original language, translated title, and year of publication at the start.
Please contact the faculty member : mariamrahmani@bennington.edu