Issues for Literary Translators
Jeffrey S. Ankrom
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B. Working Directly with an Author—With or without a Contract
The translation rights to some books belong to the author. More often, however, these rights are controlled by the publisher. To further complicate matters, authors sometimes believe they control rights that they have actually signed away.
Sometimes a translator will work directly with an author, only to learn (too late) that the author does not hold the rights to the book. The rights holder (often the original publisher) sometimes simply declines to authorize publication of any translation. Period.
Other times, after a translator has invested a great deal of work in a translation, there is a falling out with the author-or the author dies. The author (or the estate) may then decide to drop the project, or to rewrite the translation (over the translator's objections), or to work with a different translator. Even if the author likes the translator's work, the author does not necessarily have any influence over the publisher.
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Contract Resources | Working with an Author | Working with the Rights Holder