Guidelines for Translators
Latin American Literature Today (LALT) welcomes submissions of translated texts (Spanish-English, Brazilian Portuguese-English) of contemporary Latin American prose, verse, interviews, essays, and book reviews throughout the year.
Furthermore, the journal is committed to foregrounding the work of translators, so we encourage and welcome contributions such as translator’s notes, essays on the art of translation, translation reviews, interviews to translators, as well as translation “previews” from forthcoming book publications.
All translation submissions and questions should be directed to Denise Kripper, our Translation Editor, at [email protected]. Submissions will be reviewed by the entire LALT editorial team.
Length of Submissions
Creative prose (fiction and non-fiction) should have a maximum length of 5,000 words; poems should be limited to 3 to 5 poems; articles and interviews should have a maximum length of 2,000 to 2,200 words, unless otherwise directed by the editor; book reviews should have a maximum length of 1,200 words.
Please check our general style guide for questions related to text formatting.
Literary Submissions
Translators should send the original and the translation in two separate .doc files and should also send a cover letter for consideration. Please do not send either PDFs of either texts or scanned photocopies of original texts.
For consideration, write an email with “translation submission” in the subject field.
Every effort will be made to acknowledge receipt of your submission in a timely fashion, but, given the high volume of inquiries that we receive, please allow a minimum of eight weeks for evaluation and a response concerning acceptance. Please do not query after you have submitted your work.
Once the text has been submitted, it cannot be modified by the author. We recommend that all LALT collaborators ensure they are submitting the final version of their collaboration to avoid editing problems after submission. Once accepted, and before publication, we will provide a final proof for your approval.
The editors of LALT reserve the right to accept or reject any work received and to make any editorial changes they deem necessary, not including changes to content.
Cover Letter
In the cover letter, please explain the importance and relevance of the translated text. Translators must acquire rights to publish the original and the translation and must stipulate that these rights have been acquired in the cover letter. Please also include a bio of the translator and author in English of no more than 100 words each and send high-resolution pictures of both translator and author.
Name of Document Sent to LALT
The name of the 3 (three) Word documents should be formatted in the following order. 1) Title of the original work, name of author between parentheses, underscore, name of translator. 2) Title of the translated work, name of author between parentheses, underscore, name of translator. 3) “Cover letter”, underscore, name of translator.
For example:
- El fondo del cielo (Rodrigo Fresán)_Will Vanderhyden
- The Bottom of the Sky (Rodrigo Fresán)_Will Vanderhyden
- Cover letter_Will Vanderhyden
Simultaneous Submissions
Submissions for any issue of LALT should not have been previously published. Simultaneous submissions are allowed as long as the translator withdraws the submission from LALT as soon as it is accepted elsewhere.
Other Translation Submissions
For translation-related essays, interviews, book reviews, etc. please send an email with “translation contribution” in the subject field. These should follow our general publication guidelines, so make sure you check those before submitting a text for consideration.
Collaboration
We are excited about the opportunity to further collaborate with translators, so if you have an idea you want to pitch to us, be sure to send us an email with “translation pitch” in the subject field.
We are also looking for good Spanish-English translators who are willing to translate content submitted in Spanish. This may include essays, interviews, book reviews, and fiction and poetry. If you are interested in collaborating, please email with “translation collaboration” in the subject field.
OTHER INQUIRIES may be sent to the LALT editorial team by email with “translation inquiry” in the subject field.
Thank you for your interest in collaborating with Latin American Literature Today.
