October 2026 Translation News Roundup

Our monthly roundup of literary translation news and opportunities.

Poetry Northwest is open for submissions for poems in translation. The deadline to submit is October 31. Learn more(opens in a new tab).

The international literary journal tr., published by Black Lawrence Press, is open for submissions. tr. publishes poetry and prose translated from any language. They read and publish work on a rolling basis. See guidelines and submit here(opens in a new tab).

The 2027 ALTA Emerging Translator Mentorship Program submission portal is open for multiple languages, including a new mentorship in Polish literary translation with Bill Johnston! ALTA’s Emerging Translator Mentorship Program is designed to establish and facilitate a close working relationship between an experienced translator and an emerging translator on a project selected by the emerging translator. See details, and apply by November 30(opens in a new tab).

Mending Bodies by Hon Lai Chu, translated from Chinese by Jacqueline Leung, edited by CJ Evans, and published by Two Lines Press, was shortlisted for the ALTA’s First Translation Prize(opens in a new tab).

English PEN’s translation grants, including PEN Translates x SALT, are open for submissions. Applications are open until November 30(opens in a new tab).

The Cercador Prize for Literature in Translation has announced this year’s finalists. The winner will be announced on November 16. See the full list here(opens in a new tab).

The National Book Foundation has announced the finalists for the 2026 National Book Award for Translated Literature. Karl Ove Knausgaard’s The School of Night, translated from the Norwegian by Martin Aitken (Penguin Random House) and Vicente Luis Mora’s Centroeuropa, translated from the Spanish by Rahul Bery (Bellevue Literary Press) are some of the finalists. Check out the full list here(opens in a new tab).

“I’m interested in how our identities and positionalities come to inform our projects. I’m interested in the ruptures, but also in the unexpected continuities.” Jon Cho-Polizzi shares the guiding ideas shaping his approach to the programming of our new Bay Area event series: Translator to Translator. Read the interview in full here(opens in a new tab).

“Because fiction often contains more truth than nonfiction. Because through fiction, we can move toward poetic truth.” Author Elvira Navarro talks about her new collection Blood Is Dripping onto the Courtyard, published by Two Lines Press on September 22. Read the interview here.

“Splendor thus does what poetry can and what explication cannot: it manifests the body; it summons reality to experience, instead of catering experience to befit presuppositions of reality,” Xiao Yue Shan writes in a review in Asymptote Journal(opens in a new tab).

“With a final delightful narrative twist, the author lays bare how truly inconceivable and disoriented reality may have become… Navarro’s vision is fictional, but it’s unsettling how recognizable it all feels,” Cory Oldweiler writes in his review of Blood Is Dripping onto the Courtyard in Los Angles Review of Books(opens in a new tab).

Have Something to Share? 

Are you an organization, venue, funder, publication, educational program, residency, or other group that offers opportunities to literary translators? We are always on the lookout for literary translation news and opportunities to share with our audience. Please reach out to our Engagement Editor, Alana Rodrigues(opens in a new tab), via email or message us on Bluesky(opens in a new tab) or Instagram(opens in a new tab) with the information you’d like us to consider sharing. We love to amplify work that supports the wider literary translation community.