[Updated venue!] Is There Such a Thing as a Bad Translation?
PanelAmanda Ruiqing Flynn, Holly Thompson, Ngo Ha Thu | Moderator: Nur-El-Hudaa Jaffar
4-Day Pass OR 1 & 2-Day Pass
With this panel, we bring together translators working across different languages to discuss their approaches to translation. They will also share insights into what methods they believe are ineffective for their specific translation practices, and discuss if there is such a thing as a “bad translation”.
This session is supported by the National Translation Committee
translation
Amanda Ruiqing Flynn (Singapore)
Amanda Ruiqing Flynn is a multi-disciplinary artist whose creative output spans the realms of visual art, prose, poetry and translation. Her stories, essays and poetry can be found in Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, Eunoia Review, This is Southeast Asia and Alluvium, the journal of Literary Shanghai. She was a judge of the 8th Bai Meigui Translation Competition and co-editor of Singapore in the Eyes of Mother Artists. She has worked on translation projects with institutions such as National Taiwan Museum of Literature and National Taiwan Museum. She graduated with a BA (1st) in Chinese and Development Studies from SOAS, University of London, and a Masters of Fine Art (dist.) in Art and Design from National Donghwa University under the Taiwan Scholarship Programme. Raised in Kent, United Kingdom, she currently resides in her birthplace, Singapore, and on most days, is chief storyteller to her four-year-old son.
Holly Thompson (US)
Holly Thompson is author of three verse novels for young people: Falling into the Dragon's Mouth; The Language Inside; and Orchards — winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and the picture books Listening to Trees: George Nakashima, Woodworker; The Wakame Gatherers, Twilight Chant and One Wave at a Time. A graduate of the NYU Creative Writing Program and Regional Advisor Emeritus of SCBWI Japan, Holly writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction for children, teens and adults; teaches writing at Yokohama City University and UC Berkeley Extension; and visits schools in Japan, the U.S. and places in between. Visit her at www.hatbooks.com
Ngo Ha Thu (Vietnam)
Ngo Ha Thu has been a literary translator since 2012. While her works span a variety of genres Thu is most notably associated with children’s literature. Some of her significant English – Vietnamese translations include Wendelin Van Draanen’s Flipped, Beatrix Potter’s A Very Naughty Rabbit, Benji Davies’s The Storm Whale, Oliver Jeffers’s Here We Are and works by Dr. Seuss. With a Master’s in Cultural Studies (Sydney), she taught translation and interpretation at the University of Languages and International Studies, VNU Hanoi until 2018. She is also an active speaker and trainer, sharing her translation expertise through public events and publications.
Moderator Nur-El-Hudaa Jaffar (Singapore)
Nur-El-Hudaa is an editorial consultant and a published author and translator of children's picture books, short stories and poetry. She has received awards such as the inaugural Mastera Prize for poetry translation and the Golden Point Award for her short stories and translation. In 2023, she was selected by the National Arts Council to join the Virtual Residency programme for poetry translation at the National Centre for Writing in UK. As an editorial consultant, she helps writers and publishers develop books for publication. Nur-El-Hudaa volunteers withe National Library Board as a storyteller.
Programme dates and times are subject to change.