Olivia Hellewell
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Arts
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Biography
I gained my BA in Hispanic Studies and Russian with East European Studies from the University of Nottingham, before specialising in Slovene language when I was awarded AHRC funding for a Postgraduate Diploma in Slovene. I hold an MA and a PhD in Translation Studies also from the University of Nottingham.
I currently hold an ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in the School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies, where I am developing my doctoral research project into 'supply-driven' translation, less translated languages and power and agency in literary translation.
From October 2020 to January 2021 I was Translator in Residence at the British Centre for Literary Translation, at the University of East Anglia. I translate contemporary Slovene fiction, and my recent translation publications include The Fig Tree by Goran Vojnović (Istros Books, 2020; reviews in the TLS, Irish Times and Arts Desk) and the children's book Felix After The Rain by Dunja Jogan (Tiny Owl, 2020), which was chosen by the Centre for Literary in Primary Education (CLPE) as one of their best books of 2020.
Expertise Summary
I'm interested in the mechanics of literary translation systems: the institutions, agents and discourses that shape the production of literary translations, and how these factors determine the body of literature available to readers in English. I'm especially interested in how literatures that are 'less often the source of translation in the international exchange of linguistic goods' (Branchadell 2005) are translated into English, as well as the initiatives that seek to counteract existing power structures in the anglophone publishing industry.
My particular area of expertise lies in Slovene literature, the translation of contemporary Slovene fiction into English after 1991, and the role of language and literature in narratives of Slovene nation-building, as well as a wealth of expertise in professional literary translation, and leading translation workshops.
Teaching Summary
I am the Spanish seminar tutor for Introduction to Translation and Interpreting Studies (MLAC1089) and Contemporary Translation Studies (MLAC2158); I supervise Spanish translation projects on the… read more
Ana Svetel, selected short stories in Will Firth (ed.), Take Six: Six Balkan Women Writers (Sawtry: Dedalus Books, 2023)
Žiga X Gombač, Adam and his Tuba (New Zork: NorthSouth Books, 2023)
Goran Vojnović, The Fig Tree (London: Istros Books, 2020)
Dunja Jogan, Felix After the Rain (London: Tiny Owl, 2020)
Jela Krečič, None Like Her (London: Peter Owen, 2016)
I am the Spanish seminar tutor for Introduction to Translation and Interpreting Studies (MLAC1089) and Contemporary Translation Studies (MLAC2158); I supervise Spanish translation projects on the Translation Project module (MLAC3152). I also teach first and second year Spanish language (MLAC2085; MLAC1060; MLAC2059).
In previous academic years, I have also taught on the translation aspect of the fourth year core Spanish 3 module, assisting students in the development of their language skills through the translation of complex journalistic and literary texts into English, with a particular focus on analysing grammatical structures.
I have supervised projects on the MA Translation Studies degree, including a dissertation on the translation of sociolects from Slovene-English.
In July 2019, I taught at the British Centre for Literary Translation's Summer School of Translation and Creative Writing, offering a week-long Slovene-English translation workshop to translators of all ages. The workshop was funded by the AHRC Open World Research Initiative (OWRI) research project, led by Dr. Cecilia Rossi at the University of East Anglia. In July 2021, I was invited back to the BCLT, this time to design and lead a multilingual translation workshop, which focused on supporting translators of so-called 'less translated' languages.
In November 2017 I designed and led a public Translation and Screen Printing workshop as part of the Being Human Festival of the Humanties, in collaboration with artist Karoline Rerrie. Participants were presented with a series of excerpts from literature from around the world, translated in English, and were asked to design a print inspired by the text. Translation wields great power in disseminating ideas, and this creative workshop was a great starting point for encouraging people to think positively about literary translation and the role it can play in diversifying the range of ideas and experiences brought to an anglophone audience.
Past Research
My PhD research explored Slovene literary translation in Slovenia's post-socialist period, analysing the power relations, institutional structures and discursive mechanisms that drive the supply of literary translation from a 'small' nation like Slovenia. I developed a model of 'supply-driven' translation, a term first introduced by Ondřej Vimr at the Translating the Literatures of Small European Nations conference at the University of Bristol, 2015, arguing that there are three principle channels of 'supply' for literary translations from Slovene into English: academic, institutional and personal.
In April 2021 I organised a digital symposium entitled 'Supplying Translation'. The conference brought together scholars and translators of less translated languages to share case studies of source-oriented approaches, and to find commonalities and differences between supply-driven translation activity in a range of cultural contexts.