Kathmandu University to host literary translation workshop
KU and the University of Chicago will select 24 participants for a three-day literary translation workshop in September featuring two International Booker Prize-winning translators.
Kathmandu University (KU), in collaboration with the University of Chicago, will host a literary translation workshop, bringing together internationally acclaimed translators, including two International Booker Prize winners, for a three-day programme in September.
The workshop, jointly organised by the Department of Languages and Mass Communication at KU and South Asian Literature in Translation (SALT), an initiative of the University of Chicago, will take place from September 11 to 13 at KU's Dhulikhel campus.
Applications for the workshop, which is free to attend, are open until August 9. Organisers said in a statement that 24 participants will be selected from among applicants translating poetry or prose from Nepali or other South Asian languages into English. Selected participants must attend all three days of the in-person workshop.
Travel expenses and on-campus accommodation will be provided on a needs basis. Applicants are required to submit a sample translation, a statement explaining their translation choices, and a statement of interest.
The workshop will be led by internationally renowned translators, including International Booker Prize-winning translators Daisy Rockwell and Deepa Bhasthi.
Rockwell received the 2022 International Booker Prize for her English translation of Geetanjali Shree's Tomb of Sand, which also won the 2022 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. Bhasthi won the 2025 International Booker Prize for her translation of Banu Mushtaq's Heart Lamp. She has also been shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Awards and received an English PEN Award.
They will be joined by Jason Grunebaum, co-director of SALT and translator of Uday Prakash's The Girl with the Golden Parasol and The Walls of Delhi, as well as British writer, editor and translator Daniel Hahn OBE, who was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2020 for services to literature and is known for translating works by Pelé and José Saramago.
"This is the largest translation workshop ever organised in Nepal, featuring a lineup of globally acclaimed translators. Having two International Booker Prize winners as mentors offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Nepali and South Asian translators," Dinesh Kafle, assistant professor at Kathmandu University and a member of the organising team, said in the statement.
"It will especially help raise the quality of Nepali translations."
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