Translators Centre

The Translators Centre caters for professional translators and those wishing to specialise in literature for children.

The Centre is an information, debate and international exchange hub for sector professionals meeting each year in Bologna.

Professional skills, specialisation and networking
The Translators Centre provides an opportunity to meet with other professionals, exchange information and build partnerships. A wide range of information is made available on this specialist branch of translation, such as trade associations, residencies and scholarships for translators, as well as translations subsidies available to publishers.

The Translators Café 
During BCBF, the Translators Centre offers an exciting programme of activities to all participants. These include meetings with the diverse stakeholders in the book translation world, translation workshops that each year consider several foreign languages, theme specific seminars and an important international conference on a topical professional issue.

The World Directory of Children’s Book Translators
This broad database of children’s book translators around the world was developed by the Translators Centre and has been available since 2008.Translators and publishers can consult the online directory from the Children’s Book Fair website or on the UNESCO Index Translationum site. During the Book Fair The Directory can be accessed at the Translators Centre, and new members may also register.

Update for Professionals
A special seminar on translation-geared technologies will look at the technological developments and consequent high-tech skills required of today’s translators. The seminar is organised in partnership with sector specialists.

Special focus on translator training
Professional skills, continually striving for higher quality and the constant need to keep abreast of developments are the main drivers of the Centre’s training activities. This is at the basis of the consolidated collaboration the Centre has developed with the Scuola di Lingue e Letterature, Traduzione e Interpretazione of Bologna University and with the Scuola Superiore per Mediatori Linguistici Carlo Bo, also of Bologna.

“In Altre Parole”:  Annual translation competition
Aimed at aspiring translators working in Italian from a range of languages -  the selection is changed each year to encourage linguistic and cultural diversity -  the competition helps winners gain visibility in the publishing world.

Networking
The Translators Centre has over the years developed a large network of members and many collaborations  in order to promote the activity of its partners. Among which is the UK Children's reading charity BookTrust and in particular the launch of their new project, In Other Words, which aims to promote the translation and UK publication of outstanding children's books from around the world. Indeed it is these projects and many others like it that have helped promote the Italian language and literature across the world:

The Centre for Books and Readership, created by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities, has dedicated space on its website to translators working for publishers through the Banca dati per traduttori editoriali.
The databank is open to all translators translating from any language to Italian and from Italian to any other language. It is an official site where translators can present their curriculum vitae and experience, while publishers seeking a translator will be able to find a solution for their requirements.

The Rome translators’ residence Casa delle Traduzioni, was set up to promote excellence in literary translation. Located in the heart of the capital, the residence provides accommodation and resources, such as a specialist library on translation.

Translators wishing to visit the Fair, may ask for a reduced ticket reserved to the category to translator@bolognafiere.it .

The 2023 Translators Centre

In 2023, BCBF has established a new exciting partnership with CEATL - the European Council of Literary Translators’ Associations to promote good practices in the field of literary translation and copyright.

A new Translation Forum for those in general trade publishing took place as part of BolognaBookPlus programme. Finally, the annual translation competition “In Altre Parole”, aimed at aspiring translators working in Italian from a range of languages. 

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