Translation in Digital Times: Omid Tofighian on Translating the Manus Prison Narratives

On 12 February 2020, while on an international tour promoting Behrouz Boochani’s No Friend but the Mountains: Writing from Manus Prison, translator of book, Omid Tofighian, participated in a seminar at Utrecht University, organised by Australian academic, Anna Poletti (associate professor English language and culture, University). is also co-editor journal Biography: interdisciplinary quarterly, which published special issue Mountains 2020 (Vol. 43, No. 4). The involved Poletti, Tofighian translation scholar, Onno Kosters (assistant literature studies, University) conversation. Iranian–Dutch filmmaker, Arash Kamali Sarvestani, co-director with Boochani film Chauka, Please Tell Us Time (2017), was attendance, as well Dutch publisher, Jurgen Maas (Uitgeverij Maas, based translation). event titled ‘No Translation Digital Times’. following dialogue, ‘Translation Times: Translating Prison Narratives’, derived this focuses Tofighian’s book Persian/Farsi into English. topics covered include translation, genre anti-genre, horrific surrealism, Kurdish elements influences, (from translation), publication original, activism, process technology.