Pitches wanted (Asian language, culture) | $150 to $450 per article

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: THE MARGINS

Call for Submissions: Translation Column

An open call for essays on language and translation

By Transpacific Literary Project

A monthly column on Asian language, culture, and translation.

The Margins seeks work from writers for a monthly column on language, culture, and translation from Asia to launch in February 2023. We consider Asia as an umbrella term that encompasses not only South, Southeast, and East Asia, but also West and Central Asia, and the many diaspora communities of Asians all over the world.

We welcome essays, hybrid works, translations, and translator’s notes that engage with Asia’s literature, cultures, subcultures, languages, and diasporas. We are also interested in works that grapple with the concept of the Transpacific, colonialism, history, and empire, especially as they relate to language and translation.

We pay all writers and translators. Please refer to our rate sheet for more details.

EXAMPLES OF WORK WE’RE INTERESTED IN:

• Translator’s notes: Essays on the philosophy, craft, and art of translation
• Translator’s diaries: Writings about the experience and choices for a particular book in translation
• Essays and translations of essays on languages and multilingualism
• Essays on power and empire as they relate to translation
• New translations/re-translations of essays by important Asian scholars, thinkers, philosophers, and revolutionaries
• Reportage on the writing, reading, publishing, and translation culture of a particular place
• Photo essays about bookstores and literary salons in Asia or that feature Asian literature
• Interviews with independent publishers, writers, artists, and thinkers in Asia or the Asian diaspora

SOME EXAMPLES OF WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:

• Van Runcit Putih | Neighborhood Sundry Van
• Blueprints
• Two Rohingya Lullabies
• Queerness ∞: A Stream
• Sugar on the Gash

Send pitches of up to 500 words or finished pieces from 1,000-2,500 words to Soleil David, senior editor, at translation@aaww.org. We read submissions year round and in all languages spoken in Asia. Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please let us know via email if your pitch/essay has been accepted elsewhere. Writers can expect a reply within two to three months.

CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly):

• Submissions: translation@aaww.org
• Website: https://aaww.org/

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

• Learn more about the publication: The Margins is a digital magazine of literature, arts, and ideas published by the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. The Margins draws upon a commitment to social justice to imagine a vibrant, nuanced, multiracial, and transnational Asian America. It features original poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, critical essays, reportage, translations, interviews, and experimental and hybrid-genre work. More information here.
• Read through a selection of recent stories/articles on its website.
• Review the submission guidelines here.
• Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook Database and at SuccessfulPitches.com.
• Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a few lines highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.

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