The Taiwan Academy of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles (TECO-LA) partners with the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) to launch the “Emerging Translator Mentorship: Literature from Taiwan” program. Its primary goal is to nurture English translators and enhance the publication of Taiwanese literature. The program will select one emerging translator who will receive mentoring from an experienced translator on a translation project. Online submissions for this program are being accepted until November 30, 2024, at 11:59pm PT.
Translators who have not published more than one full-length of translated work are eligible to apply. The Ministry of Culture will provide support to the selected translator to work with the mentor for a nine-month period starting in February 2025. The selected translator will have the opportunity to participate in the ALTA annual conference in the fall of 2024, facilitating valuable networking connections with publishers.
Lin King, who has received the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers will serve as the mentor. She has translated Taiwanese Literature Yang Shuang-Zi’s novel Taiwan Travelogue (Graywolf, 2024) and the historical graphic novel series The Boy from Clearwater (Levine Querido, 2023-2024) to English.
Founded in 1978, ALTA is a U.S.-based organization dedicated exclusively to literary translation. Since its inception in 2015, the ALTA Emerging Translator Mentorship Program was designed to foster a strong, collaborative relationship between an experienced translator and an emerging translator on a translation project, which has supported 71 translators working from 25 languages.
For more information or to apply, please visit: https://www.literarytranslators.org/2025-mentorship-program