To coincide with International Translation Day, this edition of the Writing Society and Research Centre seminars will be an in-depth conversation with the eminent translators Tiffany Tsao and Chris Andrews.

A discussion about translation is also a discussion about language, relevant to the Western Sydney community where the majority of residents have access to more than one language world. What does it mean to experience the world and then articulate that experience in more than one language? And what choices govern the translation of specific literary works such as People from Bloomington by Budi Darma (translated by Tsao) and A Bookshop in Algiers by Kaouther Adimi (translated by Andrews)? This conversation will explore the processes of Tsao and Andrews in connection with their most recent works as well as the importance of translation within the broader literary ecosystem. It will be facilitated by Yumna Kassab.

CHRIS ANDREWS translates books of prose fiction and writes poems. Among the books that he has translated from Spanish and French are Ágota Kristóf’s I Don’t Care (New Directions, 2024), Liliana Colanzi’s You Glow in the Dark (New Directions, 2024), Kaouther Adimi’s A Bookshop in Algiers (Serpent’s Tail, 2021), César Aira’s The Lime Tree (And Other Stories, 2017) and Roberto Bolaño’s Last Evenings on Earth (Harvill, 2006). His study of the Oulipo, How to Do Things with Forms, was published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in 2022, and his third collection of poems, The Oblong Plot, is just out from Puncher & Wattmann.

TIFFANY TSAO is a novelist and a translator of Indonesian fiction and poetry into English. In 2023, her translation of Budi Darma’s People from Bloomington (Penguin Classics) was awarded the NSW Premier’s Translation Prize and the PEN Translation Prize. Her translation of Norman Erikson Pasaribu’s Happy Stories, Mostly (Giramondo Publishing) won the 2022 Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses and was listed for numerous awards, including the International Booker Prize, the ALTA National Translation Award, and the Cercador Prize. She is the first Australian translator whose work has been listed for the International Booker Prize. Tiffany has written three novels, the most recent of which, Under Your Wings (Viking, 2018) was longlisted for the Ned Kelly Award and released in the US and UK as The Majesties. Last year, she received a Create Grant from the Copyright Agency to work on her next novel. She holds a PhD in English from UC-Berkeley.

YUMNA KASSAB is a writer from Western Sydney. She is the author of The House of Youssef, Australiana and The Lovers. Her latest book, Politica, is available from Ultimo Press. It is an imagined history of the Arab world or else a feminine telling of politics. Her books have been listed for The Stella, Miles Franklin Award, Prime Minister’s Literary Awards, QLD Literary Awards, Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and NSW Premier’s Award. She is the inaugural Parramatta Laureate in Literature. A complete list of her writings can be found here.