Emyr Wallace Humphreys
Literary translator/Cyfieithydd llenyddol/Tradutor literário
Emyr Wallace Humphreys translates from Welsh and Portuguese to English, and from English to Welsh. A graduate of the MA programme in Translation Studies at University College London, he has had literary translations published in journals such as The White Review, the New Welsh Review and Joyland Magazine, and has collaborated with Parthian Books, HarperCollins and UCL Press as a literary translator. He won a bursary for the 2022 Bristol Translates Literary Translation Summer School and was the first Celtic-language translator to be awarded the 2022-23 Visible Communities Mentorship, part of the National Centre for Writing’s Emerging Translator Mentorship programme. He is a two-time nominee for Deep Vellum’s Best Literary Translations Anthology. He works as a Welsh translator for Coleg Gwent and as a volunteer Welsh translator the Centre for Alternative Technology and Mid & North Powys Mind. He lives in Wales, dividing his time between rural Powys and Aberystwyth.
Translations
The Last Day, by Owain Owain, Parthian, 2024 (Forthcoming)
The Fanatic’s Story, by Leonardo Garzaro, in Latin American Literature Today, n. 28, December 2023
I am in today as if on a horse, by Ana Martins Marques, in The Stephen Spender Trust, Third Prize, Open Category, November 2023
The Last Day by Owain Owain: Translation Preview from Y Dydd Olaf by Emyr Wallace Humphreys, in New Welsh Review n.133, autumn 23 edition, September 2023
A Hole Where Your Name Is, by Ana Paula Lisboa, in Daughters of Latin America, ed. Sandra Guzman, HarperCollins, 13 August 2023
8 de junho de 1909, by Júlia Lopes de Almeida, in Mulheres no Paiz, 10 August 2023
23 de novembro de 1909, by Júlia Lopes de Almeida, in Mulheres no Paiz, 10 August 2023
From The Last Day, by Owain Owain, in Emerging Literary Translators 2023, National Centre for Writing, 30 March 2023
The Functionary’s Story, by Leonardo Garzaro, in Literal Magazine, 22 September 2022
Excerpt from Eva, by Nara Vidal, in Your Impossible Voice Issue 26, May 2022
Carmen, by Nara Vidal, in The White Review, January 2022
Maps to Nowhere, by Nara Vidal, in Joyland Magazine n.4, 17 November 2021
Leanne Wood: ‘Dyw Ond Eisiau Annibyniaeth Ddim Yn Ddigon. Rydyn Ni Angen Strategaeth’, by Aaron Bastani, in Novara Media, 6 October 2021
A Allai’r Blaid Lafur Arwain Cymru at Annibyniaeth?, by Aaron Bastani in Novara Media, 6 October 2021
Letícia’s Marriage, by Nara Vidal, in Latin American Literature Today v.1 n.19, August 2021
Amanda, by Nara Vidal, in Qorpus v.11 n.1 March 2021/Especial Brazilian Translation Club
CHAPTER 20 – In Search of the Tender Miracle, by Rui Zink, in Bode Inspiratório/Escape goat, May 2020.
Marelena (excerpt), by Nara Vidal, in Capitolina Books Blog, 15 June, 2019
Awards/Accolades
Nominated: Deep Vellum Best Literary Translations Anthology 2025
Nominated: Deep Vellum Best Literary Translations Anthology 2024
Third Place: The Stephen Spender Prize for Poetry Translation 2023 (co-translation)
The Wales Literature Exchange: Novel translation grant for The Last Day, August 2023
The Wales Literature Exchange: sample translation grant for The Last Day, December 2022
National Centre for Writing Emerging Translator Mentorship (Visible Communities mentorship), 2022 – 2023
Bristol Translates Bursary 2022
Workshops/Courses
Poetry Translation Workshops with PELTA, Portuguese to English Literary Translators Association, 6 March & 30 April 2023
Gweithdy Cyfieithu Barddoniaeth Cymraeg/ Welsh Poetry Translation Workshop with Lowri Williams and Arachne Press, 15 January 2023
National Centre for Writing Emerging Translator Mentorship (Visible Communities mentorship), 2022 – 2023
Brazilian Portuguese Literary Translation Course with Alison Entrekin, February – August 2022
Cwrs Gloywi Iaith with Dysgu Cymraeg. Advanced Certification in Welsh for Adults (Grade: Distinction), September 2021 - June 2022
Multilingual Translation Workshop with Daniel Hahn at Bristol Translates, 4-6 July 2022
Portuguese - English Workshop Led by Rahul Bery with Manchester in Translation and Comma Press, 22 February 2022
Poetry Translation Workshop with Wales Lit Exchange, Wales PEN Cymru, Literature Across Frontiers, Aberystywth, 8 September 2019
Celebrating Multilingualism on the Page, multilingual translation workshop at the University of London, 1 June 2019
Spanish Literary Translation Masterclass at the British Library with Rahul Bery (Translator in Residence), 18 May 2019
Writing
Inside Júlia Lopes de Almeida’s Rio: on Translating Two of Her Crônicas, PELTA Blog, 8 December 2023
The Last Day by Owain Owain: Translation Preview from Y Dydd Olaf by Emyr Wallace Humphreys, in New Welsh Review n.133, autumn 23 edition, September 2023
Emerging Translator Mentorship Programme, in Newyddion, ITI Cymru Wales, Summer 2023
Introduction, in Emerging Literary Translators 2023, National Centre for Writing, 30 March 2023
Books of the Year, in the White Review, December 2022
On translating Nara Vidal’s “Amanda”, in Qorpus v.11 n. 1 March 2021/Especial Brazilian Translation Club
Academia
A sociocultural perspective on the rise of the Brazilian Novelist in Translation, September 2019. (MA thesis. Grade: Distinction)
Lectures/Events
PELTA & Portuguese in Translation Present: Discovering Lusophone Literature, New Cross Gate, London, 21 November 2023
The Politics and Mixed Fortunes of Welsh and other Minority Languages, University of Aberystwyth, 12 July 2023. (Fulbright Summer Institute roundable discussion.)
Wyneb Newidiol Technoleg yng Nghymru, Swansea Science Festival & University of Swansea, 5 November 2022. (Part of the Swansea Science Festival, Welsh-language discussion on translating Owain Owain’s Y Dydd Olaf into English.)
A Historia e a Cultura do País de Gales, in 106208 - A Babel Poética e Literária: a tradução em vários idiomas: Módulo II (on-line), Universidade de São Paulo, 13 June 2022. (Lecture on the cultural and linguistic history of Wales given in Portuguese for the University of São Paulo.)
Media
Two PELTA members published in groundbreaking anthology of writing by Latine women, in October Newsletter, PELTA, October 2023
33, autumn 2023. Theme: voices, in October 2023 Newsletter from New Welsh Review, The New Welsh Review, October 2023
Testemunho de Emyr Humphreys, Mulheres no Paiz on Youtube, 10 August 2023
Member Interview: Emyr Humphreys, in Newyddion, ITI Cymru Wales, Spring 2023
Foreword, in Emerging Literary Translators 2023, National Centre for Writing, 30 March 2023
Meet the Future of Literary Translation, National Centre for Writing on Youtube, 30 March 2023
Cyfieithu un o glasuron y byd llenyddol Cymraeg i’r Saesneg, in Golwg360, November 2022
Emerging Translators 2023 - Meet the mentees!, National Centre for Writing on Youtube, 17 October 2022
NCW announces 2022 Emerging Translators, BookBrunch, 3 October 2022
NCW Emerging Translator Mentorships 2022-23 – Winners, Polish Cultural Institute London, 3 October 2022
National Centre for Writing supports 14 emerging tranNCW Emerging Translator Mentorships 2022-23 – Winnersslators through mentoring programme, in The Bookseller, 20 September 2022
Emyr Humphreys reads a short story from Nara Vidal's MAPS TO NOWHERE, Translators Aloud on Youtube, 19 July 2022