Shelley Fairweather-Vega

Translating In & Out of the Ivory Tower
2024-11-07 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | online via Zoom, Seattle, WA
Translators of fiction and nonfiction often find their professional circles overlapping with the academic universe. We might translate books by noted experts, contend for academic awards, handle criticism from scholars, and ask professors to review our books and teach them in their classes. In this revised and expanded talk, two NOTIS translators will discuss their experience navigating aspects of these overlapping worlds.
Zakiya Hanafi will present an overview of the opportunities offered in the scholarly translation market, some of the professional skills required to succeed, and a roadmap of the publication process, from receiving an offer to seeing a manuscript through production.
Shelley Fairweather-Vega will discuss some of the real and imagined differences between independent translators and translators who hold academic positions, and explore the real benefits freelance translators can gain by working closely with their counterparts at universities.
These two short presentations will be followed by a general discussion with Q&A.

2024 ATA Conference
2024-10-30 - 2024-11-02 | WA
Join me and Kate Deimling as we present Making Sense of the Senses: Translating Images, with examples from our work translating French to English and Turkic languages and Russian to English. And come to cheer for me and all the readers at the After Hours Cafe.

2024 ALTA Conference
2024-10-25 - 2024-10-28 | Milwaukee, WI
This year, I’ll be speaking on a panel about translating computer voices, providing a live demo of one way to use computer-assisted translation software for literary translation, and debuting some translated love poetry from Hamid Ismailov’s next book.

Open mic reading
2024-08-26 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Folio, the Seattle Athenaeum, Seattle, WA
I’ll read poetry in my translation from Hamid Ismailov’s upcoming book, We Computers: A Ghazal Novel.

Translation as Engaged and Activist Scholarship in Slavic and Eastern European Studies
2024-01-06 10:15 - 11:30 (America/New_York) | WA
I will be discussing the specifics of Central Asian literary translation as part of this MLA panel.

ALTA46: The Place of Translation
2023-11-08 08:00 - 2023-11-11 17:00 UTC | Tucson Marriott University Park, Tucson, AZ, United States
Meet me at the American Literary Translators Association conference, where I’ll be reading from my translation of Castigation by Sultan Rayev; discussing the differences between scholarly and literary translation; exploring how war and violence affects translation practices; joining a roundtable on the joys and challenges of translating “more different” languages; and talking about the Central Asian part of the international Persian-language literary world.

ATA64: American Translators Association annual conference
2023-10-25 08:00 - 2023-10-28 17:00 UTC | Hyatt Regency, Miami, FL, United States
At ATA, I’ll be leading a multilingual translation workshop and enjoying the After Hours Café.

NOTIS International Translation Day Conference
2023-09-30 | Museum of Flight, Tukwila, WA, United States
Join NOTIS for a full day of events celebrating the fields of translation and interpreting! I’ll be moderating a panel for the Northwest Literary Translators, exploring the publication stories behind individual translated books, and will be selling copies of my recent translations alongside local colleagues.

ALTA45 Bilingual Reading Series: Translation and Politics
2022-10-25 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | online via Zoom, Seattle, WA
I’ll read Russian and English versions of the poetry of Rena Zhuman at this online event.

American Translators Association 63rd Annual Conference
2022-10-12 - 2022-10-15 | Los Angeles, CA
Join me at the After Hours Café, Book Fair, and my presentation “Translating for Authors: Risks and Rewards.”

Translation as Archipelagic Thinking—Panel Discussion with Kristine Ong Muslim and Shelley Fairweather-Vega
2022-10-06 15:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | online via Zoom, Seattle, WA
I’ll discuss Amanat in this Zoom conversation moderated by Alta L. Price, part of the 5th Singapore Literature Festival.

Crisis & Change: How Our Professions Have Been Affected by Pandemic and War
2022-10-01 08:30 - 17:15 (America/Los_Angeles) | Highline College, Des Moines, WA, United States
Join us at Highline College for an all-day event celebrating International Translation Day. This panel discussion moderated by Shelley Fairweather-Vega, with Howard Chou, Laura McGilvra, Elizabeth Adams, Caitilin Walsh, & Dominique Hoffman, begins at 1:00 PM.

Amanat online book launch
2022-07-09 16:00 - 17:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | online via Zoom, Seattle, WA
Help us celebrate the launch of Amanat: Women’s Writing from Kazakhstan!
Featuring Zaure Batayeva and Shelley Fairweather-Vega, editors and translators
Oral Arukenova, Lilya Kalaus, and Asel Omar, contributing authors
Dr. Naomi Caffee, moderator

ABCs of Book Translation: Legal and logistical issues in book translation
2022-02-03 12:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | online via Zoom, Seattle, WA
This is Part 2 of a two-session interactive webinar on the basic notions, terms and guidelines used in the field of translating texts for publishing. This introduction to concepts and their context may guide you on your own search for breaking into literary translation and give you a better grasp of the kind of projects and work that literary and book translators do. Two seasoned translators in the field, Shelley Fairweather-Vega and Mercedes Guhl, will bring up notions and definitions while they discuss topics such as finding texts to translate, dealing with clients in book translation, and logistical issues such as rights and contracts. Today’s session will address:

Author’s and translator’s rights
Reading and negotiating book translation contracts
The translator’s role in the publishing industry

This event is open to ATA Literary Division members only.

ABCs of Book Translation: Getting Into Book Translation
2022-01-22 12:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | online via Zoom, Seattle, WA
This is Part 1 of a two-session interactive webinar on the basic notions, terms and guidelines used in the field of translating texts for publishing. This introduction to concepts and their context may guide you on your own search for breaking into literary translation and give you a better grasp of the kind of projects and work that literary and book translators do. Two seasoned translators in the field, Shelley Fairweather-Vega and Mercedes Guhl, will bring up notions and definitions while they discuss topics such as finding texts to translate, dealing with clients in book translation, and logistical issues such as rights and contracts. Today’s session will address:

Finding material to translate
How/where to get published: from self-publishing to literary journals
Getting hired as a book translator: Who are the clients in literary translation?

This event is open to ATA Literary Division members only.

ALTA44 Bilingual Reading
2021-10-17 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | online via Zoom, Seattle, WA
Get online to hear me read from my translation of Shahzoda Samarqandi’s haunting novella, Mothersland.

ALTA Roundtable: "What are national literatures?"
2021-10-16 10:25 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
I’ll be taking part in this discussion, organized by Jennifer Shyue, Emma Ramadan, and Candice
Whitney, exploring the issue of what we mean by “national literatures.” My goal is to bring writing from Central Asia into the conversation.

Ask the Literary Translators
2021-10-12 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | online via Zoom, Seattle, WA
I’ll be speaking with Mia Spangenberg and Cynthia Steele at this online lunchtime panel aimed at authors and aspiring translators.

High Tech for High Art
2021-10-05 | WA
Spanish translator Mercedes Guhl and I will be talking about the software we use in our literary translation practices. Does technology kill the muse? Join us to find out! This talk is part of the Innovation in Translation Summit. It has been pre-recorded and will be available on demand for 24 hours starting at 🕘 9 AM CET (Geneva) / 3 PM Beijing / 3 AM New York on October 5

Russian Translation Master Class
2021-09-25 13:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | online via Zoom, Seattle, WA
I’m excited to welcome my colleagues Olga Bukhina and Anne O. Fisher to teach this master class in RU<> translation through the Northwest Translators and Interpreters Society. Registration required.

Book talk with author and translator: Hamid Ismailov's Gaia, Queen of Ants
2021-04-03 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | online via Zoom, Seattle, WA

ATA 61st Annual Conference
2020-10-23 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
My online presentation “Getting Edited and Getting Ahead in Literary Translation” will be part of the ATA conference this year, featuring real-life examples from the process of having a translation edited for publication.

ALTA 43rd Annual Conference
2020-10-07 08:00 - 2020-10-18 17:00 UTC | WA
Join me at the Northwest Literary Translators happy hour (October 14, 8pm EST) and the panel on computer assisted translation tools (October 17, 5pm EST)! Full conference schedule

Getting Edited: A Love Affair
2020-09-12 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
I’ll speak on the emotional and practical ups and downs of the translator-editor relationship. Register for the online OSTI conference to attend.

Of Strangers and Bees
2020-08-20 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | WA
Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum kicks off its new Meet the Translator series with an online talk by me about translating this Hamid Ismailov novel. Join us live or watch the recording later.

5 Things Translators Wish Editors Knew About Translation
2020-07-13 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Seattle, WA

OSTI Translation Reading
2020-06-17 19:00 - 20:30 (Atlantic/Azores) | WA
I’ll read from my translations of prose and poetry by Kazakhstani women at this event, hosted on Zoom by the Oregon Society of Translators and Interpreters.

Roundtable: Live and Labors of Professional Translators
2020-01-17 | University of Washington
