{"id":128239,"date":"2026-03-03T10:19:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T10:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/128239\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T10:19:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T10:19:06","slug":"phillys-literary-translators-want-to-increase-visibility-of-their-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/128239\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly\u2019s literary translators want to increase visibility of their work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. The Billy Penn newsletter keeps you informed about everything Philly, with a quirky vibe of healthy skepticism and persistent optimism. Join us and sign up today.<\/a><\/p>\n

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Marianna Suleymanova\u2019s skills as a translator were put to use translating an anti-war journal called \u201cRoar Review.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201cI thought, \u2018well, I think I can help people here understand a little bit of what\u2019s going on,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought, \u2018well, I think I can help people here understand a little bit of what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, she\u2019s one part of a group of Philly-based translators who turn literature from other languages and cultures into English.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Suleymanova\u2019s skills stem from her time growing up in Tashkent, Uzbekistan when it was still a part of the Soviet Union, where she spoke Russian and English. She moved to the United States at 16 and eventually went to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI translated at NASA, and I translated for other industries,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Suleymanova practices literary translation in addition to her full-time career. Despite this, she says this is her true passion \u2013 allowing her to uplift the voices of Russian-language writers to English speakers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important to have this alliance across languages,\u201d she said. \u201cRussian speakers are not who I do this for. It\u2019s for Americans and English speakers that I do this for, wherever they may be, whether it\u2019s in Australia. People can read my pieces anywhere they\u2019re on the internet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And Suleymanova is not alone. Philly\u2019s literary translating community is vast.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will continue to be important\u201d<\/p>\n

Literary translation is different from literal translation<\/a> \u2013 authors who are literary translators tend to try and preserve the original voice and tone of the text across languages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many popular American books are also translated \u2013 including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (translated from the original Swedish written by Stieg Larsson) and Pinocchio (translated from Carlo Collodi\u2019s original Italian).\u00a0<\/p>\n

And literary translation has been around for a long time, said Emily Hunsburger, a Philly translator who translates from Spanish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWork has been translated in so many languages,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of conduit for us to read each other\u2019s stories and learn from each other and see what\u2019s universal among us and what things challenge our understanding because it\u2019s so different from the culture that we\u2019re used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite this, Hunsburger said there hasn\u2019t been as much visibility and awareness around literary translation in the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI took a world literature course when I was in high school, many years ago, and all the books we read were translated works,\u201d she said. \u201cBut never once did we learn the names of the translators. Never once did we talk about what translation is, or theories or challenges or dissecting what the act of translation is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said this is part of what inspired her to get into the field. Hunsburger owns a multilingual translation company.<\/a> She helps to translate content from Spanish and Portuguese to English or from English to Spanish.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She explained that this piqued her interest in literary translation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI had always thought that I\u2019d love to do literary translation,\u201d she said. \u201cIn my younger years, I did a lot of creative writing, and I took a translation course when I was in undergrad, but I had left it on the back burner. I knew how to translate, but I didn\u2019t really know about the publishing industry or how it worked.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She entered into the field after moving to Philly in 2020. She said she quickly recognized the value it brought to the city\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPhiladelphia has so many eclectic, unique spaces for art,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I feel like I\u2019ve talked to a lot of people in different disciplines of art who feel like Philadelphia is a place where you can practice your art, and so I feel like literary translation is just another one of those disciplines where this is a great place to be based, to be doing your art.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And beyond its artistic impact, literary translation is important to open others up to different worldviews, said Stephanie Schechner, a retired teacher from Widener University who translates from French.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause Americans don\u2019t study languages as much as other parts of the world, translation becomes an essential way for Americans to get access to voices that represent other points of view,\u201d she said. \u201cThat helps open the world to people who cannot read things in the original text.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schechner\u2019s work focuses on a lesbian, working class French author, who goes by Mireille Best.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schechner said she felt like translating works from an author like this would be important, as it can show Americans who are feeling like their voices aren\u2019t heard that there are models for their experiences around the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think knowing that there were people ahead of us in the past who were fighting for their right to be individuals can give young people some hope,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Philly\u2019s literary translation community<\/p>\n

Philly\u2019s literary translation community is small, but dedicated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hunsburger explained that Philly has an informal collective of translators called Transversal, which has helped connect Philly-area translators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTransversal does not have any formal or nonprofit status,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a board or anything, everything is just very organic and informal, and anyone who\u2019s part of the collective can organize a gathering or anything they want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Transversal was started by UPenn graduate students Liz Rose, Hilah Kohen and Kate Meng Brassel several years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The group now holds in-person meetups and co-working sessions, allowing for connection between members.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schechner said the group has employed creative strategies to facilitate connection between translators in different languages \u2013 including structured work sessions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do what\u2019s called a Pomodoro,\u201d she said. \u201cYou work for 25 minutes and we set a timer, then we take a five minute break in the middle, and say hello to each other. Then, we work for 25 more minutes, and then chat briefly at the end and then we leave. We\u2019re just creating a space and an accountability where people could sit with each other and be in community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sean Gasper Bye has worked in literary translation for many years, including time as the interim executive director at the American Literary Translator\u2019s Association \u2013 the only national organization in the U.S. dedicated to supporting literary translators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said he initially got into the Philly literary translation community after moving back to the area from New York City.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI had always thought that Philly had the makings of a great translation town, because it has such strong cultural infrastructure,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like people in Philly are very worldly, are very interested in culture and are readers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He said with the creation of Transversal and conversations with other translators, a solid community was formed. He said local collaborators, like bookshops, have also been receptive to events and partnerships.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Suleymanova emphasized that the morale of Philly\u2019s translation community helps to keep her motivated.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo look across the table and see people that are as hell bent as you are about bringing these stories across borders and languages, it could feel like you have a team in this, even if somebody\u2019s working from entirely a different language,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hunsburger said she is excited to see community partnerships and interest around the topic growing, and hopes to continue with the momentum.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to continue, this year, with doing more of that kind of community outreach and bringing in the people interested in translation, or who are already involved in literary translation in Philadelphia who we haven\u2019t managed to meet up with yet, and doing more things with these other organizations that are doing important work in the community,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s quite solitary\u2019<\/p>\n

There are obstacles literary translators have to face.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do is very niche,\u201d Suleymanova said. \u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of spotlight on it. It\u2019s quite solitary. It takes years for this work to see the light of day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Philly\u2019s literary translators try to get together to combat these issues and offer each other support. There are even events different translators will often host.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hunsburger said there have been bigger events the community has put together as well \u2013 including a Literary Translation Workshop she hosted late last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe co-sponsored the practical literary translation workshop that I led at The Head & The Hand Books last November,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was called the \u2018Translingual Remix,\u2019 and it was meant to be small, because if you\u2019re going to have it was a two hour time block, and if you\u2019re going to have translators working on a piece, reading, and sharing, you you can\u2019t have too many people in the room,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it was intended to be a small workshop, but it was really, really cool, because the languages that people were bringing of who signed up was Hungarian, Ukrainian, Bangla, Yiddish, Italian and Spanish.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Schencher said it can also be hard to find time for literary translation, as it often doesn\u2019t pay enough to be a primary career.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany translators are otherwise employed to pay their bills, or they\u2019re in school, and carving out translation time for almost all of us is tricky,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There can also be a lack of recognition for translators and the effort it takes to rewrite books into English, said Mahmud Rahman, a translator who translates from Bengali.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want translators to be more recognized, and some of us feel that the name of the translator should go on the cover of the book,\u201d he said. \u201cSome publishers do that. Many do not, and it\u2019s a constant tug of war, because essentially, when you\u2019re translating a book into a language, you\u2019re essentially recreating it, and it\u2019s more your work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rahman emphasized Philly\u2019s literary community oftentimes does not get recognition compared to other big cities like New York.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bye explained there is also a lot of thought that goes into literary translating \u2013 work he says cannot be replicated by a machine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to think that we\u2019re just kind of walking dictionaries who sort or swap one word in for another, and that it can be done quite mechanically,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s really not the case.<\/p>\n

While artificial intelligence is a concern, Hunsburger said that the machines can\u2019t replicate much of literary translation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe point that machines can\u2019t really get at this point in time when it comes to literature or translation itself, is that what you would get from one translator would be different than what you get from another translator,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause there\u2019s also an artistic component.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunication and connection\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite these challenges, Hunsburger said Philly\u2019s literary translation community is special.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s almost like an infinite well of conversation and connection,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Bye said practicing literary translation also helps to challenge our traditional ways of thinking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething that is really special about translation, is that you have access to these works that came up in a different cultural context, a different historical context, a different literary context, and you can see them breaking our rules or not paying attention to our rules, because those aren\u2019t the rules over there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said that Polish writing, for example, oftentimes focuses less on the genre of story and more on the writing quality \u2013 which he says may not be the same in America.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you are interested in literary translation or joining Philly\u2019s Transversal group, you can send them an email at transversalphl@gmail.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. The Billy Penn newsletter keeps you informed about everything Philly,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4877,8090,227,564,69,71,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-128239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-books","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-featured","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","14":"tag-philadelphia-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}