Dr Anna Milsom

• BA (Hons) Fine Art (Sculpture), Winchester School of Art
• MFA Fine Art, Glasgow School of Art
• MA Translation, Middlesex University
• PhD Translation, Middlesex University

I have over twelve years’ experience teaching on Translation Studies undergraduate and MA programmes in British universities, starting out at Middlesex where I did my MA in Translation, immediately followed by my doctorate. As part of the submission for my PhD (Picturing Voices, Writing Thickness; A Multimodal Approach to Translating the Afro-Cuban Tales of Lydia Cabrera), I produced a multimodal, digital (re)presentation of translated folktales. From 2006-13 I was a Lecturer, and subsequently Senior Lecturer, in Translation Studies at London Metropolitan University. I lived and worked as a freelance literary translator in Ecuador from 2013-16, taking up a post as a Teaching Fellow in Translation at the University of Leicester on my return. I have also taught academic English, preparation courses for the Institute of Linguists Dip.Trans (Spanish to English) and I was an Associate Lecturer on the Dissertation module for the Open University MA in Translation in 2018-19. I joined the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Birmingham in 2019.

I have spoken about aspects of translation to many different audiences (in galleries, art schools, universities, the British Library, the British Centre for Literary Translation) and in many different contexts (such as exhibitions and public events, conferences, and invited speaker series).  

I have translated novels and short stories by Spanish, Colombian, Ecuadorian and Mexican authors, including three novels co-translated with Anne MacLean. Our translation of Evelio Rosero’s Feast of the Innocents was longlisted for the 2017 International DUBLIN Literary Award (formerly the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award). In 2012 I was on the panel of New Spanish Books.  In 2017, I co-curated TransARTation! (with Dr Manuela Perteghella and Eugenia Loffredo) a touring and virtual exhibition of inter-art translation, involving objects, performance and multimedia art, and site-specific work. For the exhibition, I collaborated with Mexican artist, Verónica Gerber Bicecci on a piece called Inverted (&Translated) Poem (2017).

Modules I teach on include:

• Spanish Core I and II Beginners (first year)
• Translation in Practice I and II (first year)
• Translation in Practice III and IV (second year)
• Translation in Theory and Practice in Europe I and II (fourth year)
• Supervisor for BA Dissertations (fourth year)
• Professional Development (MA Translation)
• I am also Engagement Liaison for the Distance Learning MA in Translation Studies  

I welcome enquiries from graduate students who would like to pursue further study in the areas of:

• Practice-based research in translation
• Creative /collaborative/ multimodal translation
• The visual turn in translation
• Translating Spanish and Latin American literature

Find out more - our PhD Hispanic Studies  page has information about doctoral research at the University of Birmingham.

The notion of ‘thick translation’ is central to my practice-based research. I am interested in exploring the ways translations can exist as multimodal artefacts, rather than solely as printed words on the page. 

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
• Member of the Translators’ Association (TA) of the Society of Authors
• Member, WalesPENCymru

• Engagement Liaison for the Distance Learning MA in Translation Studies