Call for papers

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We invite contributions on the use of life writing as a means of creating knowledge about translation, interpreting, sign language interpreting and terminology through a focus on practice, research, and learning (hereafter, ‘translation’ serves as an umbrella term to encompass all four activities). We propose three strands of research: research, practice, and learning.

Life writing is a broad genre encompassing autobiographical writing, self-writing, and theorising about self-writing (Dowd and Eckerle, 2010). In translation studies, interest in life writing has grown over the past two decades, as entries in the Bibliography of Translation and Interpreting (BITRA) and Translation Studies Bibliography (TSB) indicate. Examples include autotheoretical translation memoirs (Grass and Robert-Foley, 2024), autoethnographies (e.g. Hokkanen, 2017; Yu, 2020; Voinova, 2023; Borg, 2024), and learning diaries (e.g. Li, 1998; Gile, 2004; Orlando, 2011; Shih, 2011). This conference aims to open a dialogue among translation studies, educational sciences, and ethnography about the uses of life writing in creating knowledge about translation, interpreting, sign language interpreting, and terminology. The conference will discuss various forms of life writing, grouped according to three strands: life writing by researchers (1), by practitioners (2), and by teachers and students (3), particularly within the field of translation studies.

The first strand focuses on forms of life writing centred on the researchers themselves: autoethnography, research journals, and écritures impliquées. Autoethnography (sometimes called confessional tales) is a form of life writing that combines tenets of autobiography and ethnography (Ellis, Adams, and Bochner, 2011); researchers analyse their personal experiences (autobiography) to understand the broader cultural experience (ethnography; Ellis, Adams, and Bochner, 2011). In translation studies, autoethnographies have been multiplying, though only a few have focused on the researcher and the reflexivity inherent to autoethnography (see Hokkanen, 2017; Yu, 2020). Some studies have used autoethnography to focus on translators and their work (Hokkanen, 2017; Voinova, 2023; Borg, 2024). Researchers have used research journals to write comments, reactions, feelings, and reflexive thoughts (see Baribeau, 2005). However, the idea of a research journal is relatively new in translation studies compared to disciplines such as sociology and educational sciences (see Davier, 2025). The écritures impliquées are biographical texts that consider the relationship that researchers have established with their participants (Hess, 2019). Researchers use writing to explore the “self” (Hess, 2019) and to undertake self-analysis (Hess, Mutuale et al., 2016). Against the backdrop of postmodernism, scholars across disciplines have used these forms of life writing to foreground researchers’ subjectivities and positionality.

The second strand of the conference includes forms of life writing centred on translators and translation itself. Autotheoretical translation memoirs focus on translators and their practices (see Grass, 2023; Grass and Robert-Foley, 2024). These creative-critical pieces of writing involve translators reflecting on their practice and positionality, with the intention of rewriting translation research from the perspective of practice (Grass and Robert-Foley, 2024). By combining theory and autobiography, translation memoirs typically distance themselves from more omniscient academic prose. They challenge traditional dichotomies between creative writing and translating, theory and practice, criticism and creativity, and they deconstruct theoretical concepts from a subjective and embodied standpoint (Grass 2023).

The third strand of the conference covers diaries and integrated reports used in teaching, whether in translation or translation-theory classes (Li, 1998; Gile, 2004; Orlando, 2011; Shih, 2011). Teachers have used learning diaries or translation diaries (or “integrated reports” [Gile, 2004]) in classrooms to support teaching (see Li, 1998, Orlando, 2011; Shih, 2011; Eraković, 2013). Of the six mentioned here, this form of life writing is the least developed in translation studies yet merits further investigation.

These different genres of life writing, which are less institutional than formal academic writing, matter because researchers in translation studies are often translators themselves (they are “practisearchers” [Gile, 1994]). As such, they foster creativity and provide data about researchers, translators, and students. Additionally, creating an “affective bond” and “joyful motivation” may, in turn, improve the data collected (Koskinen, 2025). This relevance aligns with experimental translation, a form of translation that is both creative and critical. Like autotheory, experimental translation can blur the boundaries between practice and theory in translation studies, question theoretical concepts, and enhance critical engagement with translation (Grass, 2023; Robert-Foley, 2024). In particular, experimental translation as a creative-critical practice can question the translational norms that prevail in the era of AI, such as productivity and predictability (Robert-Foley, 2024).

With this conference, we ask, among other questions, the following: What shared purposes, practices, and ethical concerns unite these genres of life writing? Which differences matter? How can these genres benefit translators, researchers, and students? What can they teach us about translation processes, lived experience, identities, and emotions? In what ways can experimental translation question translational norms prevalent in the era of AI? How does AI reshape the self, agency, and narratives? What can life-writing research from other disciplines bring to translation studies?

Target Audience

This conference aims to build bridges between practitioners (translators, interpreters, and terminologists), lecturers, and researchers, so practitioners should feel particularly welcome. We also welcome researchers from neighbouring disciplines with a special interest in journals, diaries, or other forms of self-writing.

A non-exhaustive list of possible presentation topics includes:

(In the list below, “translation” is an umbrella term covering translation, interpreting, sign language interpreting, and terminology.)

Journals / diaries kept during translation

Journals kept during translation
Translation memoirs, especially from minority languages or the Global South
Autobiographies of translators
Paratextual life writing (prefaces, endnotes, acknowledgements, or correspondence)
Autotheory from a diachronic or synchronic perspective
Memory, identity, and professional socialisation across the translator’s lifespan
Life writing, migration, and crisis
Life writing and affect
Life writing and activist translation
Life writing, AI, and materiality

Journals / diaries kept for research purposes

Autoethnographies of translation (analytical or evocative)
Confessional tales or other self-narratives in translation ethnography
Écritures impliquées
Diary methods: journal or diaries as data-collection methods
Other creative methods of data collection such as fictional letters
Life writing and activist translation studies
Life writing and ethics
Trauma-informed approaches to life writing
Life writing and embodiment

Journals / diaries kept to support teaching and learning

Learner’s diaries or integrated reports
Teacher’s diaries
Integrated problems and decisions reports (IPDR)
Cross-disciplinary imports from other disciplines transferable to translation studies (e.g. educational sciences or ethnography)

Experimental translation

Translation and creative writing
Translation and algorithmic writing

Grants / Financial Support
This event is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).