This year marked eight years of DELT! On 31 May and 1 June of 2025 the committee gathered in person to take stock of the eight years under DELT’s belt, strategize about the years to come, share our work with local members, and celebrate at Islands Brygge Guldsmeden.
In attendance were Paul Russell Garrett (Chair), Ellen Kythor (Treasurer), Sharon E. Rhodes (Secretary), Misha Hoekstra, Kyle Semmel (online), Becky Waterton, and Sheila Nyholm D’Souza.
Here’s what we got up to!
By Sharon E. Rhodes
To start things off, Ellen Kythor gave us a brief history of what we now call the association of Danish to English Literary Translators and its mission.
We haven’t always had a network for literary translators of Danish into English. Because of this, cultural agencies such as the Danish Embassy in London and the Danish Arts Foundation in Copenhagen found it challenging to reach translators who might be interested in their events or eligible for their grants, and translators struggled to find colleagues beyond their personal circles.
In 2013, University College London’s Department of Scandinavian Studies and the Danish Arts Foundation announced its first co-funded Impact PhD studentship in Danish Translation and awarded it to our own Ellen Kythor. Ellen immediately began hosting in-per
son meetings with translators in London (UCL), Copenhagen (The Danish Arts Foundation), and New York (Consulate General of Denmark).
As the result of these discussions, the need for two separate online spaces was identified: a closed space for translators to communicate online and become par
t of the group, and a public website as an online presence to provide information to interested stakeholders about the network, its members and their work.
Since then we’ve created those spaces, all guided by the mandates of our constitution:
- To be a network of literary translators from Danish into English.
- To promote Danish literature in English translation.
- To represent the community of translators of Danish literature into English.
- To maintain a register of such translators.
- To actively promote links with Anglophone and Danish publishers and relevant cultural and literary organisations.
- To encourage greater recognition and improved conditions for literary translators.
- To engage in any activities relevant to the above.
We can now boast over 60 members worldwide! Moreover, since our founding in 2013 we’ve hosted countless professional development workshops, organized events for the public and for students interested in translation, and fostered friendships between translators who might never have met without DELT.
But as Ellen and Paul move
on from DELT, it’s clear we need members to get involved and share their talents. A lot of translators have a day job, but even if you can only help a bit, we need us! For fundraising, for celebrating (every time you publish something let us crow about you!), and for connecting!
After two days’ of committee meetings, we were joined by Phillip Shiels (online), Miranda Nicholas-Zaar, Sinéad Quirke Køngerskov (online), Mary McGovern, Ian Giles (online), Hunter Simpson, and Solvej Todd for a presentation, group brainstorm, and, of course, a solid round of toasts in the hotel’s courtyard.
In our last session, we i
nvited local members to join us for some brainstorming and a toast, so we’ve heard directly from you that:
You like the friendships DELT has given you, and the workshops (especially Nielsine’s Wild ones).
But many of us are looking for more connection. So how should we go about that?
Book club? Coffee hours in person and online? Where should we meet online?
On this last point, we recognize that Facebook is not what it was–should we move to LinkedIn? Set up a good ol’ fashioned listserv?
Finally, how do we honor our mission without overstretching? What are we best at and how can we do those things really well? The social hour and drinks with which we concluded accomplished part of our mission: real world connec
tion! But we also ironed out new needs–a dedicated events planner, a webmaster, a new place to meet online, and a dearth of ways to connect with one another in meaningful ways. We’re excited to put our new ideas into motion and we feel prepared to continue doing what works even as our long-time chair and treasurer step down.
Tak for sidst!
