Arabic is spoken by some 375 million individuals, from Morocco to the Gulf, and from the Middle East to Europe and North America. In Canada, the 2011 Census recorded 380,620 Canadians who report having Arab ancestry.
ellipse, the premier literary translation magazine in Canada, wishes to devote its next special issue to a celebration of Arabic-language literature translated in this country. Moving beyond Orientalist and diasporic clichés, we would like, by way of translation, to facilitate an exploration of the unique perspectives, as well as the plurality, offered to readers by Arabic-language authors. While it is difficult to overlook the centrality of experiences of migration for such authors—their heart-rending departures, and the traumas of arrival—what ellipse would also like to showcase, in providing this opportunity to discover contemporary Arabic prose and poetry, is the originality and dynamism of Arabic literature.
To this end, ellipse is seeking French and English translations of Arabic-language poetry, fiction, and essays. The magazine will also accept other types of original submissions that are related to the subject of this special issue: reviews of literary translations or of Arabic books on literary translation, critical and creative essays, translator profiles, interviews, and so on.
The submission deadline is May 15, 2020. Prose and non-fiction submissions should be a maximum of 3,000 words (excluding the source text word count), double-spaced. Poetry/verse submissions should be a maximum of 10 pages (excluding the source text page count). Critical essays should be a maximum of 5,000 words. Book reviews and other formats should be a maximum of 2,000 words. Please contact the editorial board for questions about word and page limits, and for more details regarding formats that do not fit the above categorization. This special issue will be edited by Benoit Léger.
Translations should be sent alongside their source texts, and documentation indicating that the translator has secured the translation rights must be provided. It is the translator’s responsibility to secure translation rights; ellipse will not publish any translation for which the translator has not provided written proof that permissions have been granted.
Included in a single Word document should also be the author’s and the translator’s bio of approximately 50 words each. All submissions should be sent to the following e-mail address: soumissions.ellipse@gmail.com. In its new format, ellipse will be available online and in a limited print run.
We look forward to reading your translations.
The ellipse editorial board: Arianne Des Rochers, Bilal Hashmi, Beatriz Hausner, Benoit Léger, and Danièle Marcoux.