A collective open call for scouting residencies for literary translators has been announced by European literary organizations working to promote the Archipelagos Project. The project is designed to uncover the diversity of literary voices in Europe by offering residencies to literary translators working in lesser-used languages.
Led by France’s Atlas-Citl (International College of Literary Translators), the Archipelagos Project has eight main partners from seven countries working in 10 languages. There are four associated partners that support the project, with dedicated activities such as a summer school for booksellers, seminars for librarians, and translation workshops.
The Archipelagos Project will offer residencies over the next three years to more than 100 literary translators throughout Europe. There will also be 10 translation workshops to attract as many as 150 participants.
Julie Duthey, who is responsible for communication at Atlas, said the Archipelagos Project was created to help develop linguistic diversity in Europe’s translated literature marketplace. The key goal is to highlight how literary translators facilitate the discovery of less-translated literature.
“A little-known and often unpaid part of the translator’s work consists of finding new voices,” Duthey said. “By funding residencies dedicated to the translator’s scouting activity, the Archipelagos Project recognizes and supports this research. We support translators from all over Europe in their scouting activity, offering them the opportunity to prepare a portfolio and build trusting relationships with publishers.”
Publishing Perspectives (06/16/25) By Jaroslaw Adamowski