Spain – CEATL

Publication of the ‘Report on the economic value of book translation’ in Spain

ACE Traductores (http://ace-traductores NULL.org/) (Spain) has presented a Report on the economic value of book translation, prepared by the consulting agency AFI and financed by the Ministry of Culture and CEDRO, the main Spanish Reproduction Rights Centre.

Its main objective was to “check, get to know and quantify the economic value of book translation in Spain, taking into account not only the publishing figures but also the total amount of sales, whose impact, in the absence of statistics, is presumably higher”. →

Literary Translators into Spanish: Joining objectives on both sides of the Atlantic

Over recent months several national associations of literary translators into Spanish —from Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Spain— have combined efforts to improve the working conditions of their Latin American members, as well as to contribute to the prestige of the profession and the development of culture by means of the exchange of information, experience and knowledge, and also to promote common training programmes. →

Call for papers: International Conference on Samuel Beckett – Literature and Translation (Cáceres, Spain; 12-13 April 2018)

On 12-13 April 2018 the Department of English of the University of Extremadura in Cáceres (Spain) will organise an international conference on Beckett’s presence in Spanish cultural life over the last sixty years, with special attention to the Spanish renditions of his works.

Samuel Beckett

Although almost all of Beckett’s novels, dramatic works, prose and poetic texts have been translated into Spanish, the quality of these versions varies greatly. →

White paper on literary translation in digital format in Spain

The Spanish association ACE Traductores (http://www NULL.ace-traductores NULL.org/) has recently published a ‘white paper’ on book translators’ rights as authors in the digital sector.

Part of the project was already presented in 2010, and now ACE Traductores has published an addendum regarding digital publishing. It compiles the results of a survey completed by translators, with a sociological interpretation and a legal analysis. →

Babel Bookshops, new Spanish campaign for the visibility of translators

On 29, 30 September and 1 October 2016, at several bookshops in different Spanish cities, ACE Traductores (http://www NULL.ace-traductores NULL.org/) celebrated the first gatherings of a new campaign to promote the collaboration of booksellers and translators: Librerías de Babel (http://www NULL.ace-traductores NULL.org/node/790). The aim of the campaign is to improve the visibility of translators among the readership. →

Public interview on literary translation between Catalan and English (3 June 2016, Barcelona)

During the next CEATL AGM, which will take place from 2-4 June in Barcelona, the Spanish and Catalan translators’ associations AELC (http://www NULL.escriptors NULL.cat/), ACEC (http://www NULL.acec-web NULL.org/cat/default NULL.asp) and ACE Traductores (http://www NULL.ace-traductores NULL.org/) will organise a public event.

On 3 June, literary expert Laura Borràs will interview translators Martha Tennent and Francesc Parcerisas. →

EsAsi prize for young translators awarded to Sara Marina Virk (Slovenia)

The fourth biennial EsAsi award (http://es NULL.espanacultura NULL.si/dogodki/cuarta-edicion-del-premio-esasi-para-jovenes-traductores) for the best translation from Spanish into Slovene by a translator under the age of 30 goes to Sara Marina Virk, whose translation of Felisberto Hernandez’s short story ‘Mur’ (1948) was selected as the best of the 38 entries.

The prize of €1000 was presented by the Spanish ambassador to Slovenia, His Excellency José Luis de la Peña Vela, on 24 February 2016 at a ceremony in the Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana. →

Spanish Literary Translators Association awards the tenth Esther Benítez Prize to Celia Filipetto

On December 11, in Museo ABC in Madrid, Celia Filipetto was awarded the tenth Esther Benítez Prize in the presence of Manuel Rico, President of ACE (Spanish Authors Association), and Carlos Fortea, President of ACE Traductores (Spanish Literary Translators Association). She was given the award for Las deudas del cuerpo (Lumen), her outstanding translation into Spanish of Storie di chi fugge e di chi resta by Elena Ferrante (Edizioni E/O). →

Arabic – Spanish translator Malika Embarek has been awarded one of the Gerardo de Cremona Prizes

In November, the Gerardo de Cremona Prizes (http://www NULL.ceatl NULL.eu/first-gerardo-de-cremona-prizes-for-the-promotion-of-translation-in-the-mediterranean-have-been-awarded) for the promotion of translation in the Mediterranean were awarded for the first time. One of the award-winning translators is Malika Embarek, member of the Spanish association of translators ACE Traductores, which is represented in CEATL.

With over seventy translations, Malika Embarek (b. →

Spanish Association ACE Traductores takes initiative to foster translators’ visibility on literary awards

On 7 July, we awoke to the breaking news (http://www NULL.ceatl NULL.eu/man-booker-international-prize-to-reflect-growing-importance-of-translation) that the UK’s leading international literary awards – the Man Booker International Prize and the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize – are to be merged into a single, annual prize that will reward both authors and translators of foreign-language fiction. →

New award for stimulating translation between the north and the south of the Mediterranean

With the aim of contributing to strengthening translation movement between the countries on the north shore and those on the south shore of the Mediterranean, the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), King Abdulaziz Foundation for Human Sciences and Islamic Studies (Casablanca, Morocco), ‘MED 21 Programme – Network Awards for promotion of Excellence and Cooperation in the Mediterranean’, the School of Translators of Toledo (Spain), and the City Council of Cremona (Italy) have agreed to create a translation award entitled the Gerardo de Cremona Award for the Promotion of Translation in the Mediterranean. →

EsAsi Awards for professional and young literary translators Spanish – Slovene (deadline for submission: 1 October 2015)

In 2008 the embassy of Spain in Slovenia launched the EsAsi award for the best translation into Slovene of literary works originally written in Spanish. This biennial award for professional translators, worth € 3000, aims to recognise the work of the translator and promote a knowledge and appreciation of Spanish literature among Slovene readers. →

Spanish assocation ACE Traductores opposes Penguin Random House pay cuts

One of our members, the association ACE Traductores (http://www NULL.ace-traductores NULL.org/) from Spain, let us know the following.

On 10 February 2015 Penguin Random House publishing group informed translators that the rates paid would be decreased from 16 February 2015, and that such an across-the-board measure was non-negotiable.

ACE Traductores immediately contacted representatives from the publishing group to protest against such measures and argue their own position. →

Translators’ house in Tarazona (Spain) re-opens its doors and offers grants to 12 translators

The translators’ house in Tarazona (Aragón, Spain) recently reopened its doors. Twelve residency grants have been announced for translators who wish to work on their translation project in Tarazona.

Translators from or to any one of Spain’s four official languages (either into or from Spanish, Catalan, Galicean or Basque) can request an application form by sending an email to

info@casadeltraductor.com (info%40casadeltraductor NULL.com)

For more information (in Spanish), please click here (http://www NULL.boa NULL.aragon NULL.es/cgi-bin/EBOA/BRSCGI?CMD=VEROBJ&MLKOB=821733880000). →

ACE Traductores on Granada Book Fair (9-18 May 2014, Granada)

ACE Traductores, the Spanish Association of Literary Translators, will participate in the 33rd Granada Book Fair (9-18 May 2014) with two round table sessions:

Sunday May 11th , 2014
‘Bart Simpson and Meryl Streep speak Spanish: Literary Intricacies of Audiovisual Translation’: Round table with María José Aguirre de Cárcer (ATRAE), Natalia Gascón (ATRAE), Violeta Ruiz Arcas (ACE Traductores) and Alicia Martorell (ASETRAD). →

6th Annual Conference of ACE Traductores: “El ojo de Polisemo VI” (15-17 May 2014, Granada)

From 15–17 May 2014 ACE Traductores, the Spanish Association of Literary Translators, will hold its sixth annual conference, ‘El ojo de Polisemo’. The conference, organised in collaboration with the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting, will take place in Granada and is open to students, teachers and literary translation professionals. This year’s topic will be ‘Ambassadors of the Unknown: Translation of less translated languages’. →

Introductory Course for Literary Translators (March-May 2014, Granada)

Under the title ‘Literary Translation and Resources for Literary Translators’ the Spanish Association of Literary Translators, ACE Traductores, is organising an introductory programme. The course will be held in Granada, and comprises the following workshops and seminars:

Introduction to Literary Translation (16 hours, March 2014) by Carmen Montes Cano
Documentary Research for Translators (6 hours, April 2014) by Alicia Martorell
Computer Resources for Translators (8 hours, May 2014) by Robert Falcó and Carlos Mayor

Location: Centre for Byzantine, Neo-Greek and Cypriot Studies, Gran Vía 9, 18001 Granada

For more information (in Spanish), please click here (http://www NULL.ace-traductores NULL.org/) or here (http://www NULL.centrodeestudiosbnch NULL.com/es/pagina/1). →

Translator Miguel Sáenz elected to the Spanish Academy of Language

During its session on 22 November 2012, the Academy of Language elected, to occupy the place left vacant by the death of Eliseo Álvarez Arenas in September 2011, our colleague Miguel Sáenz, who takes his place in ‘seat B’.

Sáenz is inconstestably an emblematic translator. A translator at the UN before devoting himself to literary translation, in that capacity he was awarded the most important prizes. →

Second ‘white book’ of literary translation in Spain

In September 2010 ACE Traductores (http://ace-traductores NULL.org/) presented the second white book of literary translation in Spain, a project that has enjoyed the collaboration of other Spanish associations (ASETRAD (http://www NULL.asetrad NULL.org/), APTIC (http://www NULL.aptic NULL.cat/), EIZIE (http://www NULL.eizie NULL.org), AGPTI (http://www NULL.agpti NULL.org), ACEC (http://www NULL.acec-web NULL.org) and UNICO (http://www NULL.uniondecorrectores NULL.org)) as well as the support of the collecting society CEDRO (http://www NULL.cedro NULL.org) et de la General Directorate of the Book, a dependant of the Ministry of Culture. →