Translating Ireland

Day One: Royal Irish Academy
Thursday, Apr 16th
To register for day one of the event, at the Royal Irish Academy (19 Dawson Street, Dublin), reserve tickets here.

Day Two: University of Notre Dame Dublin
Friday, April 17th

To register for day two of the event, at Notre Dame Dublin (O’Connell House, 58 Merrion Square South), please email dublin@nd.edu. Please be aware that space is very limited for day two.


As part of the Dynamic Translation Lab, Professor Clíona Ní Ríordáin is co-organizing a symposium to mark the 30th anniversary of the publication of the influential book Translating Ireland by Michael Cronin. This is a collaborative project that involves the Keough-Naughton Institute, Notre Dame Dublin, the Royal Irish Academy, Literature Ireland, and the University of Galway. The event will feature a 40-person seminar with an international cohort of academics, including participants from the US, the UK, Canada, and Ireland. Sessions are open to the public.

Michael Cronin's ground-breaking book Translating Ireland was published by Cork University Press 30 years ago. It offered innovative and incisive analysis of the role translation and translators played in on the island of Ireland from the middle ages to the twentieth century. Acknowledging the role translation played as "a weapon of political propaganda, a catalyst for cultural renewal," the volume drew attention to the central role translation played in the contact zone between languages and the way in which it shaped the development of language of literature and the construction of identity in Ireland. This conference responds to the work of Michael Cronin in Translating Ireland and re-evaluates the position and role of translation and translators in contemporary Ireland. 

Thursday, April 16th: Day One

Royal Irish Academy (19 Dawson Street, Dublin)

10:00 Opening addresses by Patrick Lonergan and Clíona Ní Ríordáin, Michael Cronin MRIA opening remarks
10:30 Session 1 / Painéil 1: Aistriuchain tri Ghaeilge: Ken Ó Donnchú (UCC), Rióna Ní Fhrighíl (Galway), Máirtín Coilféar (Concordia), Gearoidín Uí Laighléis (DCU) Chair Meidhbhín Ní Úrdail (with simultaneous translation into English)
11:30  Coffee Break
12:00 Session 2 / Painéil 2: Alan Titley MRIA in conversation with Michael Cronin MRIA (with simultaneous translation into English)
13:00 Lunch break
14:30 Session 3 / Painéil 3: Susan Bassnett: “Finding and Fetching: What Translation Means” Chair Enrico Terrinoni
15:30 Session 4 / Painéil 4: Cormac Ó Cuilleanáin (TCD): “Make Aistriúchán Great Arís: Why translation has flourished in Ireland” Chair Enrico Terrinoni
16:15 Session 5 / Painéil 5: Declan Kiberd (ND) Chair Margaret Kelleher (UCD)
17:15 Session 6 / Painéil 6: Respondents from the RIA’s Committee for Language, Literature, Culture and Communications: Sabine Egger (Mary Immaculate), Nuala Finnegan (UCC), Rachel MagShamhráin (UCC) Chair Patrick Lonergan

Friday, April 17th: Day Two

University of Notre Dame Dublin, O’Connell House (58 Merrion Square South)

9:30 Session 7 / Painéil 7: Translation and Technology: Dorothy Kenny and Joss Morkens (DCU) Chair Anne O’Connor
10:30 Coffee Break
11:00 Session 8 / Painéil 8:  David Johnston (QUB): “Tiocfaidh ár lá agus no surrender. Or is the play really the thing?” Chair Marianne Kennedy
12:00 Session 9 / Painéil 9: Translating Irish Literature out of Ireland: Marco Sonzogni (Victoria U. NZ), Marie Hermet (Paris, Translator in residence TCD), Indrek Õis (Estonia)  Chair Clíona Ní Ríordáin
13:00 Lunch, O’Connell House
14:00 Session 10 / Painéil 10: Translating to English in Ireland: Anne O’Connor (Galway), John Gleeson (TCD), Sinéad MacAodha (Lit. Irl) Chair Rebecca Braun (Galway)
14:45  Session 11 / Painéil 11: Publishers’ Roundtable: Bridget Farrell (Bullaun Press), Tadhg MacDhonnagain (Futa Fata & Barzaz),  Patrick Cotter (Southword), Muiris Ó Raghailligh (an Gúm) Chair Rióna Ní Fhrighil
15:45 Coffee break
16:00 Session 12 / Painéil 12: Frank Wynne in Conversation with Sinéad MacAodha
17:00 Closing Remarks
17:15 Conference ends