Literary & Editorial Translation
Books, essays, poetry, short fiction, and long-form editorial content translated with the register and voice of the original preserved.
Literary translation is not about finding equivalents word by word. It is about reading the original closely enough to understand what the author was doing, and then doing the same thing in the target language. That is a different task from transferring information, and it requires a different type of translator.
SenseTranslations handles literary and editorial translation across several categories: literary fiction and short stories, essays and long-form journalism, cultural and historical non-fiction, poetry (always with translatorâs notes), and editorial content for cultural institutions, publishers, and arts organisations.
Sicily has a rich literary tradition â Pirandello, Sciascia, Camilleri, Consolo. We have translated work by contemporary Sicilian authors into English and French, as well as literary texts in the reverse direction for Italian publishers. We work in close dialogue with authors where they are available, and with editorial notes when working from archived or historical material.
For publishers, we deliver in manuscript format according to your house style guide. For authors approaching publishers directly, we can produce a translation sample suitable for submission alongside the original manuscript. Delivery timelines reflect the care literary translation requires: we do not rush this work.
In practice
Questions about this service
