The Write Stuff

Good prose stems from having confidence in your writing skills. Translators often see themselves as "humble servants" of the source text rather than as confident, proactive and competent writers. This practical workshop aims to shift that mindset, empowering translators to make full use of the resources of the English language and strengthen their target-language writing skills.

Designed for translators working into English across a range of specialist fields, the session will explore how literary translation techniques can enhance everyday translation practice. Participants will learn how to analyse translations from a stylistic perspective, identify areas for improvement, and apply practical self-editing strategies to improve style, readability and flow.

Why this webinar is relevant and timely

As AI continues to transform the translation profession, the ability to write well remains one of the most valuable skills a translator can offer. High-quality translation requires more than accuracy alone; it requires the ability to craft clear, engaging and natural-sounding text.

Many translators, particularly those early in their careers, stay too close to source-text structures and hesitate to trust their own instincts as writers. This webinar is designed to provide the confidence boost they need to see themselves as writers.

Key takeaways for participants 

• Develop greater confidence in writing and stylistic decision-making

• Apply practical self-editing techniques to their own work

• Produce more polished, fluent and reader-focused translations

• Recognise how strong writing skills can support access to higher-value translation opportunities.

Speaker - Ros Schwartz

Ros Schwartz is an award-winning translator from French. Acclaimed for her new version of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince (published in 2010), she has over 100 fiction and nonfiction titles to her name. She is one of the team retranslating George Simenon’s novels for Penguin Classics. She has translated a number of Francophone writers, including Tahar ben Jelloun, Ousmane Sembène and Max Lobe. Her translation of Jacqueline Harpman’s 'I Who Have Never Known Men' has sold 1 million copies worldwide. Ros was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2009, and in 2017 she was awarded ITI’s John Sykes Memorial Prize for excellence.

For the past two decades, Ros has been energetically involved in translator training. She gives masterclasses worldwide and is co-founder of a literary translation summer school, first held at Birkbeck in 2011, and now at St Edmund Hall, Oxford.

Ros is dedicated to nurturing emerging translators and guiding them to become better writers. After two years as a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at King's College London (2019–2021), assisting PhD students with their academic writing, she was made an Advisory Fellow. She now leads Writing for Self-Expression workshops as part of the RLF's social sector work.

Ros contributed a chapter to The Translator as Writer (Continuum, 2007) and has published in professional journals such as In Other Words and Context.

Free for ITI members

£40 for non-members*

Recording will be accessible from the ITI Webinar library for ITI members and for those that book in advance, even if you can’t attend on the day

Attend the live event to receive a CPD certificate and for the event to be automatically added to your ITI CPD log.

* Prices shown include VAT. For those who are VAT exempt, please contact training@iti.org.uk once you have completed your booking to request a VAT refund.

Booking link:

https://www.iti.org.uk/training/events-calendar/the-write-stuff.html