This is the second Translation Day we have hosted in our new home at 38-40 University Road. With lots to squeeze in, we've extended across two days. We hope that audiences will be able to stay for the full programme of events across Friday and Saturday. Registrations for each day will help us prepare refreshments and welcome packs. 

In addition to the two-day programme, for two weeks in October, we are playing archive episodes from BBC Radio 4's Book at Bedtime which featured Seamus Heaney's famous translation of Beowulf. Rebranded as Book at Breakfast, these 15 minute segments will play each morning (Mon-Fri) from Mon 13 Oct in the Wolfson Lecture Theatre. 

Guest Speakers and Partners

Mihaela Buruiană is a literary translator and writer from Romania. She has translated over 60 books from English and French, and her portfolio includes many Irish authors such as Sally Rooney, Naoise Dolan, Maggie O’Farrell, Ferdia Lennon and Kevin Barry. Mihaela’s writing has appeared in anthologies, a short story collection, and she has recently completed her first novel. She is the Literature Ireland and The Trinity Centre for Literary and Cultural Translation Translator-in-Residence for 2025.

Nicky Harman translates from Chinese, focusing on contemporary fiction for adults and children, literary non-fiction, and occasionally poetry, by a wide variety of authors. She is a trustee of Paper-Republic.org, the charity promoting Chinese literature in translation. She writes blogs, gives talks and lectures, mentors new translators, teaches summer schools, and judges translation competitions.

Aoibheann Devlin, Déaglán Ó Doibhlin and Sorcha Uí Chuireáin are members of the group Lí Ban and hail from the shores of Lough Beg. As regulars at the Seamus Heaney Centre’s monthly traditional music session It Goes As Follies, Aoibheann and Déaglán have helped shape these events with their curiosity, skill and depth of knowledge.

Dr Shannon Kuta Kelly is a Ciaran Carson Fellow at the Seamus Heaney Centre. Her work has appeared in such places as New England Review, Poetry Ireland Review, and the Irish Times, and she has presented her research on poetry, censorship, and translation at conferences throughout the United States and Europe. Her debut poetry collection will be published in April 2026 by Faber & Faber.

Literature Ireland brings the finest of Irish literature in the best possible literary translations to readers around the world. It awards translation grants to publishers, hosts literary translators in Ireland, and represents Irish writers at international events, book fairs and festivals. In 2025 Literature Ireland celebrates its thirtieth year.

The Woodberry Poetry Room at Harvard University was founded in 1931. It is home to an unparalleled collection of 20th and 21st century English-language poetry books and serials, audio recordings and rare materials.

Queen's University’s Special Collections include rare and early printed book, map, and manuscript collections, and more modern material relating to Ireland and in particular Ulster. All items held by Special Collections are of lasting research value.