From the Word to the World: Workshop Series with Haider Shahbaz
We're delighted that our 2026/7 International Translator in Residence, Haider Shahbaz, will be tutoring an online course for us this winter. Across four workshops, Haider will cover many aspects of translation, including: spiralling out from the intricacies of words to the wider impact that anticolonial periodicals have had in the world. These workshops will take place monthly on Zoom from December onwards, and are open to early-career translators anywhere in the world. They can be booked individually, or you can sign up to attend multiple workshops at a discounted price.
This project is supported by SALT (South Asian Literature in Translation) Project.
Workshop 1: Word
Is every word translatable? In this workshop, we will focus on words from different parts of the Global South that might be considered 'untranslatable' due to their layered and complex historical contexts. Some translators provide explanations for these words, others use them as an occasion for invention, still others leave them intact. Through a series of immersive exercises, we will consider different ways of translating – or refusing to translate – such words.
When: Tuesday, 8 December, 7-9pm GMT
Where: Online
Tickets: £35 (Concessions available), £130 (Workshop pass to attend all four workshops)
Workshop 2: Form
Can we turn a ghazal into free verse? A short story into a play? Rhyme into dissonance? We will discuss why translators decide to preserve the original form of a literary text or depart from it. Examples from English translations of three icons of Urdu poetry – Ghalib, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, and Fahmida Riaz – will guide our session. Experimenting with multiple strategies, we will pay attention to the craft and politics of translation.
When: Tuesday, 12 January, 7-9pm GMT
Where: Online
Tickets: £35 (Concessions available)
Workshop 3: Paratext
How do we critically introduce translated texts from the Global South to the Global North? We will compare different translator’s notes from colonial and postcolonial times and discuss the shifting task of the translator as a curator and critic in an unequal literary world. The workshop will centre generative exercises designed to help translators prepare paratextual elements such as pitches, prefaces, and introductions.
When: Wednesday, 10 Februrary, 7-9pm GMT
Where: Online
Tickets: £35 (Concessions available)
Workshop 4: Periodical
How did anticolonial periodicals create solidarities between different struggles through the act of translation? How might we continue this practice today? We will look at examples from the twentieth century to the present moment, exploring Afro-Asian and Pan-African periodicals such as Lotus and Jalada, as well as South Asian periodicals such as Awaz. In this workshop, we will engage in playful exercises aimed towards inventing anticolonial periodicals for our contemporary world.
When: Wednesday, 10 March, 7-9pm GMT
Where: Online
Tickets: £35 (Concessions available)
(The workshop pass to attend all four workshops is priced at £130.)
Haider Shahbaz is a translator and writer from Pakistan. He is the translator of Mirza Athar Baig’s Urdu novel Hassan’s State of Affairs (HarperCollins India) and Fauzia Rafique’s Punjabi novel Keeru (Hachette India). His next translation, forthcoming from Ugly Duckling Presse, is a collection of ‘compositions’ by the anti-imperialist and avant-garde modernist Balraj Manra. He works as an Assistant Professor at Smith College.
