In translation studies, research has tended to focus on the paratexts of printed translation products, such as book covers, translators’ prefaces and translators’ footnotes, but there is considerable scope for applying the concept to research in digital and audiovisual translation studies. The notion of the paratext is also potentially relevant to research into interpreting, where it might be used to investigate prosodic variation, body language, or other framing devices.
This ARTIS event aims to help translation studies researchers reflect on and apply theoretical frameworks for analysing paratexts and to consider the relevance of the notion of the paratext to a broad spectrum of translation studies research, including interpreting and process-oriented research. The event is timed to coincide with the publication of Translation and Paratexts by Kathryn Batchelor (Translation Theories Explored, Routledge, forthcoming July 2018), which outlines a theory of paratextuality for contemporary translation research. The event will include two keynote sessions, one on paratextual theory (Dr Kathryn Batchelor, University of Nottingham) and one on the analysis of visual material (Dr Lara Pucci, University of Nottingham). The remainder of the event will feature fifteen-minute presentations by participants, with significant time allocated to discussion and feedback. The event is designed primarily with PhD students in mind, but may also appeal to MA students who are working up PhD proposals. The event is also open to researchers at any career stage with an interest in the topic.
Fifteen-minute presentations are invited on any area relevant to the workshop theme as outlined above, and may include, but are not limited to the following:
· Paratexts and product-oriented translation research
· Paratexts and context-oriented translation research
· Paratexts and process-oriented research
· Paratexts and participant-oriented research
· Paratexts and interpreting
· Paratexts and translation history
· Translations as paratexts
· Visual and multimodal paratexts
· Adapting theories of the paratext to translation studies
· Methodological challenges of studying translation paratexts
· Intersections between digital studies and translation studies, with specific reference to paratexts
· Intersections between media studies and translation studies, with specific reference to paratexts
Those interested in giving a presentation should send a 200-word abstract to kathryn.batchelor@nottingham.ac.uk by 12 June 2018. Please include details of your university affiliation and stage of research with your abstract.
Registration fees:
Students and unwaged: £10
Staff: £20
The registration fee covers lunch and refreshments.
Participants are responsible for organising and funding their own travel and accommodation.
Call for PapersSpecial Issue of The Translator and Interpreter Trainer (2028)Theme: (Re)Conceptualising User Agency in Audiovisual Translation Education.Editors: Jorge Díaz-Cintas, Lisi Liang, Hui Wang and Serenella Massidda. Topics may include:the (re)conceptualisation of “user agency” in the context of non-professional and/or fanbased AVT training;online users’ motivations for exerting agency in AI-powered AVT and its impact on the theory and practice of AVT training;online users’ creativity in specific domains of AVT, such as danmu subtitling, fansubbing/fandubbing, game localisation, access services, and voice synthesis technologies for media localisation and its impact on the theory and practice of AVT training;empirical studies focusing on the activation of user agency through verbal and/or nonverbal channels in online and offline AVT training, supported by robust research methods and with high potential for innovation in AVT pedagogy;the negotiation of agency between AI platform developers, users and educators in AVT training;the extent to which the exercise of user agency bridges or extends the boundaries between professional and non-professional, human and AI translation in AVT training;pedagogical, technological, and ethical implications of user agency for AVT training;the impact of AI-based AVT paradigm and user agency on the established translation training paradigm in AVTSubmission informationSubmission of proposals: 1 July 2026 (title and abstract of approx. 500 words, references included)Acceptance of submitted abstracts: 1 August 2026.Submission of full manuscripts: 1 February 2027 (up to 8,000 words, including references and notes).Acceptance of papers: October 2027Publication: Late Autumn/Winter 2028.More details: https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/reconceptualising-user-agency-in-audiovisual-translation-education/
Call for Papers:Symposium: Translating Conflict: Language, Power, and the City.Location: Utrecht University — Languages in the City Series.Date: 22–23 April 2027Topics: Political and institutional translation: invisibility, neutrality, strategic mistranslation, asymmetrical communication.Conflict, post-conflict, humanitarian settings: diplomacy, peace negotiations, legal processes, ethics and positionality of translators, reconciliation.Resistance and public space: translation as activism, urban linguistic landscapes, social-media wars of meaning.Limits and exclusions: untranslatability, silencing, exclusion.Technology: AI-assisted translation in high-stakes settings.Exile and migration: translation, memory, and cultural continuity.Key dates:Submission deadline: 30/06/2026Notification: ~30/09/2026Symposium: 22–23 April 2027More details: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7451657930900361216-SP6Q?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAADAHFiwBi8jC4KbsaPPxHxBkCAx_UoukeoQ
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/