METM24 presentation
Crossing the editor-author divide: from the germ of an idea to publication
Sally Burgess, Tenerife, Spain; Fiona Kelso, Barcelona, Spain; Alan Lounds, Barcelona, Spain; Kate Sotejeff-Wilson, Jyväskylä, Finland; Theresa Truax-Gischler, Leiden, Netherlands
Interviewed by a participant-observer of our group, we will discuss our experience of carrying out a research project from four perspectives: the desire to follow a long-standing MET tradition of conducting and writing up research, participation in academic events, hands-on experience of collaborative authorship, and gaining experiences common to many of our clients. These perspectives allowed us to confront new challenges and cross the divide between language professionals and authors, with valuable contributions for our professional community and other overlapping communities.
Our discussion will explore the experience of four MET members working together to carry out a survey-based research project, analysing the data, writing successive drafts of a paper, and submitting to a journal. We will reflect on the processes and approaches we drew on, including the steps we took and our insider/outsider perspectives as editors, translators, academic employees, and published authors. We will also discuss the key benefits of writing a project in the context where our clients work and the valuable experience of seeing the other side of the publishing process alongside the authors we edit or translate for.
It is possible to step out of your comfort zone to achieve new goals. In the hope of encouraging our MET colleagues to share their own expertise on diverse public platforms, we will explain what can be achieved when a group of professionals with a common interest come together. Other MET members can gain valuable experiences by engaging with the communities they work with.
Our panel discussion is aimed at MET attendees working with academic or other clients in all fields who would like to collaborate with colleagues to explore the broader implications of their daily work.
About the presenters
Sally Burgess is an Associate Professor in the English and German Philology Department at the University of La Laguna, Spain. She has conducted research on the contribution of language professionals to the preparation of research publications, the teaching of research writing at university, and the publishing practices of Spanish scholars.
Fiona Kelso is a translator and authors’ editor at the Language Service of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, where she is also an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of Translation and Interpreting. She is currently completing her doctoral thesis on the translation of landscape.
Alan Lounds is a semi-retired translator and authors’ editor specialized in helping scholars who have English as an additional language to publish successfully in international journals. He is a founder member and former chair of Mediterranean Editors and Translators.
Kate Sotejeff-Wilson midwifes texts for academics and the arts. She translates into and edits in English, runs Ridge Writing Retreats, and chairs Nordic Editors and Translators. Her forthcoming translations include Esa Kirkkopelto’s Logomimesis (Routledge 2024) from Finnish and Regina Töpfer’s Childlessness in the German Middle Ages (Palgrave 2024) from German.
Theresa Truax-Gischler is a developmental and substantive authors’ editor in the narrative social sciences and humanities working with multilingual writers. An enthusiast of cross-cultural knowledge production and multimodal communication, Theresa spends part of her life learning how to be a more effective disability ally. She lives in Leiden, Netherlands.
