CfP: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
TRANSLATION AND THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
University of Westminster, London
7-8 October 2016
Jointly organised by:
Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Westminster
School of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Nanjing Normal University
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
As the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) refers to the ‘interface between creativity, culture, economics and technology in a contemporary world dominated by images, sounds, texts and symbols’, the creative industries are becoming increasingly central to policies intended to stimulate economic growth and foster cultural diversity.
The demand for the creative sector to fulfil this double function is growing, and so is the need to foster critical and productive thinking on the precepts, prerequisites and performance(s) of such duality. This conference aims to address this issue through the prism of translation, itself an activity often caught in a conceptual double-bind of creativity on the one hand and (re-)productivity on the other.
Translation, as a professional (and thus value-generating) mediation activity across linguistic, cultural, and conceptual boundaries (and indeed as a NACE-designated creative industry in its own right) not only plays a crucial role in contributing to and indeed shaping both global and local creative economies, but is also itself increasingly shaped by the emerging ‘creative economy’ paradigm.
We invite papers from both academics and industry practitioners that reflect on the relationship between the creative industries and translation in both theory and practice. Themes to be explored may include, but are not limited to:
Images, sounds, texts and symbols: translating the language(s) of the creative industries Translating values and the value(s) of translationCreativity and translational commerce Translation and cultural/social/economic transformationTranslation between globalization and localizationTranscreation – new kid on the block or the emperor’s new clothes?Technology, translation, and the (not so) new media
We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers in English on these and related topics.
Please send your 300-word abstract plus 50-word bio note to tci2016@westminster.ac.uk by 14 June 2016.
Call for PapersEvent: the 16th International Symposium on Bilingualism.Place and date: University of Saskatchewan, Canada, June 14-18, 2027. Thems and topics:Bi-multilingual speech and communicationCognitive, neuro- and psycholinguisticsChild and adolescent bi-multilingual developmentAdult bi-multilingual developmentEducation and pedagogy HJHeritage, immigrant, regional and other minority languagesIndigenous languagesTranslation and InterpretingSociolinguistics and Sociology of languageSpeech-language pathology; Health CommunicationAbstract submission deadline: 1 October 2026. More details: https://conferences.usask.ca/isb16/
Call for Abstracts This is a call for an edited volume on 'Translators at Work in Periodicals: Agency, Mediation, and Cultural Power'. Edited by Ivana Hostová and Eva SpišiakováSuggested topics:• periodicals as infrastructures of literary, cultural, and intellectual mediation• translators, editors, reviewers, and other mediators shaping periodical cultures• translators’ multiple roles, including editing, curating, annotating, and framing• distributed, relational, or contested agency in periodical cultures• translator agency, editorial strategy, and activism• translation in peripheral, semi-peripheral, or politically unstable ecologies• periodicals as spaces of cultural resistance, ideological struggle, or symbolic negotiation• paratextual framing, editorial positioning, and the politics of selection• material and medial conditions of translation, including format, layout, page space, seriality, and multimodality• circulation of minoritized, marginalized, or non-canonical literatures• periodicals and the transfer of theory, philosophy, science, or political ideas• translation in periodicals and the making of national, regional, or transnational cultures• microhistorical or biographical studies of translators and editors• actor-network, social-network, bibliographic, or database-driven approaches• methodological reflections on blending close reading with large-scale or digitally assisted analysisDeadline for abstracts: 31 December 2026Deadline for full chapters: 31 July 2028Expected publication: 2029Full info: https://ktr.ff.ukf.sk/en/research/call-for-abstracts-translators-at-work-in-periodicals-agency-mediation-and-cultural-power/
Call for Papers:Conference: Global North and Global South Perspectives on Literature, Linguistics, and Translation.Organised by the Research Centre for Irish Studies (RCIS).Date: 7-8 June 2026. Main themes: Literature;Irish Studies;Linguistics;Translation, Power and Knowledge Circulation. Submission deadline: 30 April 2026More info: https://old.bue.edu.eg/global-north-and-global-south-perspectives-on-literature-linguistics-and-translation-conference-7-8-june-2026/
Call for papers:Journal: Translation in Society.Special issue on 'Translation, Social Media, and the Creator Economy' (2028)Guest editors: Renée Desjardins & Émilie Gobeil-Roberge.Main themes: Translation strategies and practices among creators, influencers, and social media usersTranslation tools used by creators and influencers to expand their multilingual reachTranslation as a form of online compliance or resistanceTranslation and online misinformation, disinformation, and propagandaTranslation, social platforms, and societyTerminology related to the social internet and the creator economySocial platform translation and language policiesMultilingual influencers and creatorsMultilingual online activismMultilingual fandomsMultilingual and translation trends on social platformsDeadline for abstract submissions: July 1, 2026Full info: https://www.benjamins.com/series/tris/callforpapers.pdf
Call for PapersThis is a call to submit papers to the non-thematic issue of JosTrans, 48, to be published in July 2027. The journal welcomes submissions on:Theoretical, methodological and practical issues in specialised translation,Subject field translation/interpreting, i.e. medical, legal, financial, technical, localisation, etc.Media accessibility and audiovisual translationTranslation technologies, translation and AI (with human factors),Aspects of training and teaching specialised translation/interpreting.Submission deadline: June 30, 2026. More details: https://www.jostrans.org/about/cfp48
