The Lotsawa Translation Workshop is an opportunity to create a community of practice around the translation of Tibetan Buddhist texts, scheduled for October 5-8th at the University of Colorado Boulder with the generous support of the Tsadra Foundation.

The thematic focus of the workshop is Tibetan songs (mgur) and affect in a Buddhist devotional framework. The three-day workshop will combine lectures, panels, and break-out sessions in the morning with each afternoon dedicated to working on translations-in-progress by participants who apply to attend. We encourage junior translators, graduate students with advanced Tibetan literary skills, post-docs, and early-career faculty to apply.

The Lotsawa Translation Workshop is free of charge, and limited scholarships are available for travel. Applications closed on April 16th and further information is available at the CU Lotsawa workshop website.

Workshop Format

Modeled on the Bread Loaf Translators’ Conference at Middlebury, the format combines lectures, panels, and break-out sessions in the mornings and dedicates the afternoons to working on translations-in-progress in small groups of 6-8. The small groups will include 4 workshop participants who have applied with proposed translations and 2-3 presenters and workshop hosts who will provide feedback. Each participant will have a 1.5 hour session dedicated to their translation-in-progress. Evenings will have optional activities, including a pre-conference lecture, welcome reception, and translation slam.

Translations by participants should be submitted in advance and, after workshopping and revision, will be selected for compilation into an edited volume, to which presenters and workshop hosts are also welcome to contribute. We are open to proposed translations in various styles of verse that relate to the dynamics of devotion and the associated range of emotions. Central to our discussion on the translations-in-progress will be how to convey the literary style, tone, and emotional tenor of Tibetan verse.

Goals

The Lotsawa Translation Workshop is designed to provide an opportunity for translators and scholars at various stages in their careers to work together in a hands-on workshop setting on translations-in-progress. The goals of the Lotsawa Translation Workshop are:

• to connect theory and practice in crafting literary translations of Buddhist literature from Tibetan into English;
• to forge a community of practice around translation through experimentation, dialogue, and feedback;
• to make short Buddhist works of Tibetan literature available to practitioners, undergraduates, and the general public through publishing thematic anthologies of translations.

Keynote Speakers

We are delighted to announce our keynote speakers:

• Janet Gyatso (Harvard University) and Kurtis Schaeffer (University of Virginia) will dialogue about the study of Buddhist poetry and song (Tibetan and Sanskrit) in recent years;
• Lama Jabb (Oxford University), whose research focuses on modern Tibetan literature–and the interplay of orality and textuality–will give a lecture on Translating Tibetan Verse;
• Anne Klein (Rice University) will deliver the Trungpa Lecture in Buddhist Studies at Naropa as a pre-conference event on Thursday, October 4th and participate on the panel on the Dynamics of Devotion.

Visit the workshop website for a complete list of presenters.