Marking the second anniversary of our monthly literary translation lab, no man’s land invites all those budding, successful and prize-winning German-English translators out there to join in our translation talent contest. Last year’s event with the poet Ron Winkler was a huge success with submissions from around the globe, which you can read on our website. And now’s your chance to pit your skills at prose translation.

The text to translate is a short extract from Selim ÖzdoÄŸan’s story “Schwule Ziegen auf Lesbos” (see below). Translate it any which way you like – fast and loose, slow and steady, straight from the hip, give it a dialect, put it into iambic pentameter, recreate it as a film script – whatever you want to do. You don’t have to be a seasoned professional – a passion for words is all it takes. Please send your translation for the contest (in Word or rtf format) by 20 June to: katy@interalia.de. Don’t forget a brief paragraph about yourself and a telephone number where we can reach you, as we’ll be calling the winners live from the competition.

Ideally, you should be able to attend the contest itself, at 8.30 pm on 23 June at Saint George’s Bookshop, Wörther Straße 27, 10405 Berlin (Prenzlauer Berg). Just turn up with your translation, ready to read. The audience will vote on the winning version, and the writer will choose his own personal favourite. There’ll be prizes galore for the top Translation Idols. If you can’t attend, your text will be read on your behalf. It’s still well worth entering, as all entries will be published on the no man’s land website. Please let us know whether you’ll be coming to the contest when you send your translation.

So get your dictionaries out and get translating! Or just come along to participate in the audience vote and enjoy an entertaining evening of literature and translation.

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