Uploaded September 2021 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
Fidelity has been hailed as the mark of a good translation. Yet, some of the most popular translations are marked by departures from the original source text – a case in point being Antoine Galland’s French version of the Arabian Nights, which added Aladdin and Ali Baba to the compendium.
Moderated by poet and translator George Szirtes, this session will explore translation as a creative act with panellists Shash Trevett, Sawad Hussain and Nazry Bahrawi. They will share their struggles with taking liberties to make creative changes to an original text, sharing concrete examples of how they had done so and why. They will also discuss the implications of recognising the translator’s right to exercise creative license to the literary arts as craft and industry.
Fidelity has been hailed as the mark of a good translation. Yet, some of the most popular translations are marked by departures from the original source text – a case in point being Antoine Galland’s French version of the Arabian Nights, which added Aladdin and Ali Baba to the compendium.
Moderated by poet and translator George Szirtes, this session will explore translation as a creative act with panellists Shash Trevett, Sawad Hussain and Nazry Bahrawi. They will share their struggles with taking liberties to make creative changes to an original text, sharing concrete examples of how they had done so and why. They will also discuss the implications of recognising the translator’s right to exercise creative license to the literary arts as craft and industry.
