The Stephen Spender Trust

Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators | What do teachers say? | Engaging with this competition has been an inspirational, motivational ​ and confidence-boosting experience for our students. | It's just a great initiative in every way. It opens the world of languages to students beyond the confines of examination syllabi. | The Prize is very inclusive and engaging – no student felt excluded. | With the well-planned and engaging resources... I have the feeling that I don’t have Year 8 pupils in front of me, but Sixth Form students. | The Queen's College Translation Exchange

Teachers of MFL in the UK, we've got two questions for you..​.
​
➡️ Have you registered for the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators?​

➡️ Did you know we're running a webinar next week all about the competition, including how to get involved?​

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I’ll be sharing some tips and insights into the judging process for the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators this Thursday – come join us!

✨ Applications are open for the John Dryden Translation Competition ✨

Sponsored by the BCLA and the BCLT, the competition awards prizes for the best unpublished literary translations from any language into English.

bcla.org/prizes-award...

Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators Are you a risk taker? A problem solver? A critical thinker? A creative writer? Take part in the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators, a national translation competition for secondary school students aged 11-18. Monday 2 February - Friday 27 March Winners announced in June 2026 Translate poetry, fiction and non-fiction from: - French (into English and Welsh) - German - Italian - Mandarin - Russian (including beginners') - Spanish

The Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators launches TWO WEEKS TODAY!​ Our national competition will open for entries on Monday 2 February, when students aged 11-18 will have the opportunity to translate poetry, fiction and non-fiction from French, German, Italian, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish 📝

Join us to celebrate a new translation of A Doll’s House, Men of Honour & When We Dead Awaken, tracing the dialogue between Henrik Ibsen and Laura Kieler.

🗓 19 Jan | 5-7pm
📍 Seminar Room 8, St Anne’s College
🥂 Drinks reception

#BookLaunch #TranslationStudies #WomenWriters

Happy New Year! 🎉 We're kicking off 2026 with the Anthea Bell Prize webinar series for MFL teachers. Registration is free and open to all, whether you're new to the Prize or run it every year in your school. More information can be found in the thread below 🧵

After a successful 5 years at the University of Bristol, our online literary translation summer school is moving to St Edmund Hall, University of #Oxford. Once again, we have a line-up of stellar tutors and inspiring speakers!

Deadline EXTENDED! Register by 12 January for the final spots on the Jan-Feb courses: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...

Learn more about the Literature Fires the Imagination project: www.stephen-spender.org/literature-f...

#CreativeTranslation #edusky #curriculumforwales

The Poetry in Translation Prize | 2025 | Granta The Poetry in Translation Prize, founded by Fitzcarraldo Editions, New Directions and Giramondo, is a...

ICYMI: @grantamag.bsky.social published poems from the Poetry in Translation Prize shortlist. The inaugural winner of the prize will be announced in January 2026. Read them here: granta.com/the-poetry-i...

Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators Webinar Programme 2026 Teaching Creative Translation from Mandarin In Collaboration with Paper Republic Wednesday 7 January, 4:30PM Meet the Judges Thursday 22 January, 4:30PM Competition Information Evening Tuesday 3 February, 4:30PM Organised by the Queen’s Translation Exchange

We are delighted to invite MFL teachers to attend our 2026 webinar series, organised as part of the Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators competition launch. Come along to learn about the Prize, meet the judges, and try your hand at creative translation from Mandarin! Full details below 🔽

What do Ursula Le Guin, Diana Bellessi, and Karan Kurose have in common?

They're all featured in our essay anthology, Living in Language: International reflections for the practising poet!

For this week only, read two of the essays from the anthology on the PTC website FOR FREE!

buff.ly/rZxRxC9

Exciting news! 📣

We are delighted to announce the workshop strands for the BCLT Literary Translation Summer School 2026. Next year’s Summer School will take place online from Monday 20 July – Friday 24 July 2026. Bursaries are available.

Find out more and apply:
www.uea.ac.uk/groups-and-c...

There's still time to register for free Creative Translation training!

Register by 5 Jan to book your place on the final spots for the Jan-Feb courses: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon...

Learn more about the Literature Fires the Imagination project: www.stephen-spender.org/literature-f...

#edusky

Announcing the shortlist for the Poetry in Translation Prize | Fitzcarraldo Editions Fitzcarraldo Editions, Giramondo and New Directions are pleased to announce the shortlist for the inaugural Poetry in Translation Prize, selected from 259 submissions in more than 55 languages. The Po...

📣ANNOUNCING THE 2025 POETRY IN TRANSLATION PRIZE SHORTLIST📣
Fitzcarraldo Editions, Giramondo and New Directions are pleased to announce the shortlist for the inaugural Poetry in Translation Prize.
Read more about the shortlist here: fitzcarraldoeditions.com/2025/12/anno...

The Anthea Bell Prize for Young Translators logo and the Queen's Translation Exchange logo, wearing a Christmas hat

It’s that time of year again… Welcome to the Anthea Bell Prize Christmas Draw for Teachers! 🎄

Tell us about your experience of the Anthea Bell Prize so far this year by 23:59 on Sunday 14th December 2025 and you will be entered into our Christmas Draw...

The #PoetryByHeart festive elves have been busy packing up our competition packs to send out to schools. That's over 2,000 packs bursting with resources! If you haven't registered for our 2026 competition, there's still time ❤️

Head over to our website for more - poetrybyheart.org.uk/register

A brown goatskin on a pale background with handwritten black and red horizonal lines of poetry in Greek script. Some sections are upside down. There are also some red curving lines of Greek poetry which follow the ridges and edges of the goatskin which make it look like a map. The image spreads from the front to the back cover.

A brown goatskin on a pale background with handwritten black and red horizonal lines of poetry in Greek script. Some sections are upside down. There are also some red curving lines of Greek poetry which follow the ridges and edges of the goatskin which make it look like a map. The image spreads from the front to the back cover.

OUT NOW!

The Antidote to Agony: Focus on the Poetry of Greece and Cyprus

Guest-edited by Jessica Sequeira

Featuring artwork by Phoebe Giannisi ('Aegis')

Buy this issue: buy.stripe.com/5kQeVedZOgRY...

See full contents: modernpoetryintranslation.com/magazine/the...

Your annual reminder that we have a bank of festive poetry learning resources, free to download on our resources site Poetryclass! Teachers, students, parents & poetry learners everywhere, check them out at bit.ly/FestivePoetryResources

We'll be adding a special new poem & resource soon... 👀 🎄 ⛄

👏👏👏🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟⬇️⬇️⬇️

What an honour it has been to judge the Stephen Spender Trust’s #PortugueseSpotlight Prize, with entries by KS1–5 students from across the UK! Today’s celebration event with winners and commendees, teachers and judges, truly illustrated the transformative power of creative translation.

Yellow background. Cartoon hands hold up a sign which says “Stephen Spender Prize”. Image text reads “Stephen Spender Prize 2025, 1 May – 31 July”. Brightly coloured confetti on either side. Image footnote reads "We harness the power of language and translation to celebrate heritage, unlock creative and educational potential, and inspire communities. www.stephen-spender.org”. SST logo in yellow bottom left.

Congratulations to all winners and commendees, and thank you to everyone who entered the Stephen Spender Prize 2025!

Read the winning translations, judges’ commentaries and more: www.stephen-spender.org/stephen-spen...

#SSTPoetryPrize2025 #PortugueseSpotlight #youngpoets @georgianasseh.bsky.social

Image text reads "Stephen Spender Trust 2025 Celebration Event. Wednesday 19th November 2025 6.00pm - 7.30pm (GMT). (Zoom)" Bunting diagonally across the image. 2 cartoon figures jumping into the air.

This Wednesday 19 November!

Join us online 6pm-7:30pm to celebrate the winners of the Stephen Spender Prize 2025 and another wonderful year of #CreativeTranslation at the Stephen Spender Trust.

Book tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stephen-sp...

#SSTPoetryPrize2025 #PortugueseSpotlight #youngpoets

How to Be or Not Be a Translator: A Workshop Series by Deepa Bhasthi Attend four curated online writing workshops tutored by our inaugural International Translator in Residence, Deepa Bhasthi.

Join Deepa Bhasthi – our inaugural International Translator in Residence – for her second online workshop next Saturday, 22 November. This is a unique opportunity for an intimate learning experience with an International Booker Prize-winning translator.

Only two days until our Moving Forward with Languages online conference!

Designed for Higher and Advanced Higher learners, teachers can find the full programme and register their class here: https://loom.ly/42qIULk

Image text reads "Stephen Spender Trust 2025 Celebration Event. Wednesday 19th November 2025 6.00pm - 7.30pm (GMT). (Zoom)" Bunting diagonally across the image. 2 cartoon figures jumping into the air.

Only 1 week to go! Celebrate with us!

Featuring the winners of the Stephen Spender Prize 2025 and many of the young people, teachers, translators, judges and poets involved in this year's prize and school programmes.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stephen-sp...

#SSTPoetryPrize2025 #PortugueseSpotlight

Not to be missed: two events coming up with Phoebe Giannisi in Oxford and Cambridge!

Cambridge: Friday 14th November with translator
Brian Sneeden

www.ccgs.csah.cam.ac.uk/events/poetr...

And in Oxford on 17 November with Brian Sneeden and A. E. Stallings

www.ox.ac.uk/event/phoebe...

Poetry By Heart - Poetry Club Montage In celebration of National Poetry Day, we're sharing a scene from the feature documentary Poetry By Heart which is currently in post production. The documentary…

The 2026 @poetrybyheart.bsky.social competition is open!
> 128K young people took part last year. See how they did it in a preview of Poetry By Heart:The Movie
bit.ly/PBHMoviePreview ⬇️

Great to see teachers Gareth & Alex featured, both part of our school projects!

Sign up ➡️ poetrybyheart.org.uk

⭐ Coming up on 8 December: Come ready to twist, knot, and tangle words in exciting, unexpected ways—and leave with a brand-new body of multilingual work!

poetrysociety.org.uk/event/online...

2 weeks to go! Join us online on 19 November 6pm-7:30pm to celebrate the winners of the Stephen Spender Prize 2025 and another wonderful year of #CreativeTranslation at the Stephen Spender Trust!

Book free tickets at www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stephen-sp...

#SSTPoetryPrize2025 #poetry #multilingualism