To satisfy the desire shared between French publishers and translators to train new generations of professional translators, particularly in the so-called ‘minority’ languages, and following the report commissioned from Pierre Assouline on The Condition of the Translator, the Centre National du Livre (CNL) has embarked on a project for a literary translation school with an international calling.

Based on ideas developed over many years by the Association des traducteurs littéraires de France (ATLF (http://www NULL.atlf NULL.org/)) and the Assises de la traduction littéraire in Arles (ATLAS (http://www NULL.atlas-citl NULL.org/fr/atlas NULL.htm)), as well as experiments carried out by the establishment and its partners, CNL proposes an experimental programme of training for young French translators who have already published at least one translation and wish to acquire a deeper understanding of the practice.

Entrusted to Olivier Mannoni, the chairman of ATLF, this project seeks to develop an innovative educational approach based not on the teaching of a language but on the practice of translation. Based on the transmission of skills, it relies on professional translators who are proven and acknowledged for their excellence.

Unlike traditional courses, this one is arranged around two time-schemes: in the morning, professional training, involving everyone involved in the world of publishing: editors, translators, rights managers, members of the legal team…; in the evening, collective, interlingual work on the translation of texts, bringing together about fifteen translators representing up to ten or so languages. The collective work will be supervised by well-known members of the profession, who will make the participants work on texts in various language (each language being practised by at least two student translators), the purpose being to communicate elements of translation technique, from the handling of dialogue in a detective novel to research and the treatment of sources in a historical book, taking in the techniques of translating poetry, theatre or cinema.

The Centre National will welcome the first CNL/ETL session starting on 7 April 2012, every Saturday, lasting for twelve weeks. Course fees will be paid for by CNL. Any additional expenses are the responsibility of the participants.

Application forms can be downloaded from the site of the Centre National du Livre (http://www NULL.centrenationaldulivre NULL.fr/?Prefiguration-d-une-ecole-de) and should be emailed before 29 February 2012 to the following address: CNL-ETL@centrenationaldulivre.fr (CNL-ETL null@null centrenationaldulivre NULL.fr)

Successful candidates will be informed by post from 15 March.

For further information:
Florabelle Rouyer (florabelle NULL.rouyer null@null centrenationaldulivre NULL.fr), creative writing department
tel: +33 (0) 1 49 54 68 30.