Cecilia Alvstad

Norwegian version of this page Department of Languages, Literature and Culture

Press photo

Norwegian version of this page Position

Professor

Contact

+4769608073

cecilia.alvstad@hiof.no

Study place

Halden

Office nr.

A3-086

Tasks performed

Professor in Spanish Linguistics. Researches Literary Translation.

Teaches Spanish Grammar, Language Acquisition and Language Variation.

Background

Alvstad studies literary translation from textual, translator-oriented and societal vantage points. Her main research skills are:

Literary Translation Studies
Latin American Literature
Literary Translation Ethics
Argentinean Children’s Literature (1970-2000)
Retranslation,
Indirect Translation
Self-translation
Literary Translation and Power (Global South-Global North)
Literary Translation and Gender
Literary Translation Pedagogy (for translators and for the reading of foreign literatures in translation at schools and universities)
World Literature, incl. Selection and Circulation of Translations.
Travel Writing (on Latin America)

Alvstad's twelve most important publications:

Alvstad, Cecilia. Forthcoming August 2026. The Routledge Guide to Teaching Literary Translation. Routledge.

Alvstad, Cecilia. 2025. “Översättningsforskarna och samhället: Reflektioner över den påfallande frånvaron av översättningsvetenskapliga rön i det skandinaviska offentliga rummet.” Nordisk tidsskrift for oversettelses- og tolkeforskning (NTOT). 1(2), 3-22.

Alvstad, Cecilia. 2022. “Traducir para el lector translingüe: Incongruencias productivas entre tres versiones de Los niños perdidos de Valeria Luiselli”. "Nuevas escrituras multilingües latinoamericanas y latinas (2000-2020)" LETRAL, guest-edited Logie & M. Geeroms.

Alvstad, Cecilia. 2021. “Literary Translator Ethics”. In The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Ethics, K. Koskinen & N. K. Pokorn (eds), Routledge. 2021, 180-194.

Alvstad, Cecilia. 2020. “Anthropology over Aesthetics: On the Poetics of Movement and Multlingualism in Three Translations of Yuri Herrera's Señales que precederán al fin del mundo”. In Literatura latinoamericana mundial: Dispositivos y disidencias, G. Guerrero, J. J. Locane, B. Loy, G. Müller (eds), Walter de Gruyter, 2020, 223-241.

Alvstad, Cecilia 2018. “The Proliferating Paths of Jorge Luis Borges' Work in Translation and the Resistance to an Innovative Trait.” In Susan Bassnett (ed.), Translation and World Literature. Routledge, 144-158.

Alvstad, C. 2018. “Children's Literature.” In The Routledge Handbook of Literary Translation, K. Washbourne and B. Van Wyke (eds). Routledge.

Alvstad, Cecilia. 2017. “Arguing for indirect translations in twenty-first-century Scandinavia”. Translation Studies. 10(2), 150-165.

Alvstad, Cecilia. 2015 “Migrants on Skis: Norwegian-Latin American Return Migration in the 1890s.”.In Expectations Unfulfilled: Norwegian Migrants in Latin America, 1820-1940, S. A. Sæther (ed.), Brill Academic Publishers, 77-101.

Alvstad, Cecilia. 2015. “The Translator’s Voice in Norwegian Upper Secondary Education: How Subject Curriculum, Teacher Training, Textbooks and National Examinations Prepare the Reception of Translated Literary Texts at School”. In E. Skibinska; M. Heydel & N. Paprocka (ed.), La voix du traducteur à l'école/The Translator's Voice at School 1 Canons. Éditions québécoises de l’oeuvre.

Alvstad, Cecilia. 2014. “The Translation Pact”. Language and Literature 23, 270-284.

Alvstad, Cecilia. 2012. “The Strategic Moves in Paratexts: World Literature Through Swedish Eyes”. Translation Studies 5(1), 78–94.

Alvstad holds a PhD-degree in Spanish from the University of Gothenburg, 2003, with a dissertation on translation of children's literature in Argentina. Alvstad was Associate Professor at Linköping University in 2006. 2007-2014 she was Associate Professor in Spanish Language at the University of Oslo, Norway, and 2014-2018. Full Professor in Translation Studies at Stockholm University 2018-2023. Alvstad joined Østfold University College in August 2021.

Commissions of trust

2025-2028 Member of the Humanities and Social Sciences Panel of the Research Grants Council, Hong Kong.
2022-2027 Member of the Scientific Council for Humanities and Social Sciences, Swedish Research Council.
2022-2027 Member of the Joint Committee for Nordic research councils in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NOS-HS). Chair 2023-2024.
2025-2028 Member of the Translation Studies Editorial Advisory Board, International Research in Children's Literature
2021-2022: Chair of the Scientific Committee: 10th EST Congress Advancing Translation Studies Oslo 22-25 June, 2022
2023–Feminist Translation Studies Taylor & Francis, International advisory board member.
2019- Benjamins Translation Library, John Benjamins, advisory board member
2019- Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, Taylor & Francis, editorial board member
2010–2020 Handbook of Translation Studies,vols 1–5, edited by Y. Gambier and L. van Doorslaer. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, advisory board member
2013-2024 Linguistica Antverpiensia: Themes in Translation Studies, advisory board member.
2005-2023 TRANS: Revista de traductología. University of Málaga, editorial board member
Norsk oversetterleksikon, advisory board member
2021-2024 Member of the Editorial Board Stockholm Studies in Romance Languages (SSIRL) (ISSN 2002-0724) (Spanish Linguistics).
2021 Member of Review Group HS-J: Linguistics Swedish Research Council.
2010–2013: Vice-president of the European Society for Translation Studies, an academic society with about 400 members from twenty-six countries from all over the world.
2010–2014: Review editor of the Routledge journal Perspectives: Studies in Translatology

Major external grants

As Principal Investigator and Project leader

Traveling Texts: Translation and Transnational Reception. University of Oslo. Budget: NOK 5,000,000 + two doctoral positions (2014–2018). An additional NOK 5,000,000 from Humeval (NFR)
Voices of Translation: Rewriting Literary Texts in Scandinavian Contexts. Research Council of Norway. Budget: NOK 11,575,000 (2012–2017), 5,200,00 from NFR. NFR Project number 213246. https://prosjektbanken.forskningsradet.no/en/project/FORISS/213246
Scandinavia Translates the Americas. The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities/The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. Budget: SEK 6,500,000 (2011).
Research intiation: Conference Text-Process-Text at Stockholm University, November 17–19, 2011. Riksbanken Tercententanary Fund SEK 190,000
Fjärranfiktioner: De arabiska, afrikanska och latinamerikanska litteraturernas svenska översättningshistoria (Images and Imaginations: The History of Arabic, African and Latin American Literatures in Translation into Swedish). Swedish Research Council. Budget: SEK 2,800,000 (2007–2009).
One-year scholarship for my PhD-studies from The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation 1997–1998, 160,000 SEK

As project member:

Desired Immigrants – Frustrated Adventurers? Norwegians in Latin America, 1820–1940. Principal applicant: Steinar A. Sæther. Research Council of Norway (2011–2015).
Främlingskap och främmandegöring : förhållningssätt till skönlitteratur i universitetsundervisningen(Estrangement and Defamiliarization: Approaches to Literature in Academic Teaching Situations). Principal applicant: Staffan Thorson. Swedish Research Council. Budget: SEK 2,430,000 (2004–2006).

PhD supervision

Eva Refsdal When ‘a girl’ becomes ‘an attractive little number’: Stereotyped representations of Latin America in literary translation and reception in 1960s Norway, Thesis defended January 8, 2016, University of Oslo. Main supervisor.
Siri Fürst Skogmo. Marked language in literary translation. Mapping challenges and solutions in five English novels and their Norwegian translations.Thesis defended March 2, 2017, University of Oslo. Main supervisor.
Kristina Solum, Literary Translation as Collaboration: Textual and Contextual Approaches. Thesis defended April, 9 2018. Main supervisor.
Ida Hove Solberg on “Feminism in Translation: The Multiple Translatorship of Simone de Beauvoir’s Le deuxième sexe in Norway”. Thesis defended April, 20, 2018. Main supervisor.
Rosario Garnemark Ingmar Bergman y el franquismo: Reescrituras ideológicas y posibilismo en el contexto de la Apertura(1960–1967). Thesis defended on March 8, 2013, University of Oslo.
Lars Liljegren The Taming of a Viking: August Strindberg, Translation and Post-Victorian Censorship (Linköping University). Thesis defended November, 16, 2018.
Lars JämterudIn Search of the Subtitler's Voice: A Study on Voice in Swedish Subtitles Based on the British Sitcom Fawlty Towers. Linköpings universitet. Thesis defended on June 13, 2025.
Idun Heir Senstad on translation of Cuban literature into Norwegian. Oslo Metropolitan University. In progress (paused)

Current Teaching

SSP42218 Språklig variasjon

SSP10625 Spansk språkvitenskap I: Ord

SSP20625 Spansk språkvitenskap III: Tekst

Current Supervision at BA and MA-levels

SSP42318 Masteravhandling

SFS35021 Bacheloroppgave i spansk

SFBS30121 Språkforskning med korpusdata

Research groups

Tags: Spanish, Spanish Linguistics, Translation Studies, Literary Translation, Comparative Literature, Children's Literature

Alvstad, Cecilia (2025). Översättningsforskarna och samhället: Reflektioner över den påfallande frånvaron av översättningsvetenskapliga rön i det skandinaviska offentliga rummet. Nordisk tidsskrift for oversettelses- og tolkeforskning (NTOT). 1(2), p. 3–22. doi: https:/www.ntnu.no/ojs/index.php/ntot/article/view/6491. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Translation Studies is highly relevant for a series of current societal challenges and debates in areas such as migration, the environment and generative AI. Research carried out by translation scholars is nevertheless almost completely absent in the Scandinavian public sphere. The aim of the article is to discuss why translations studies and translation scholars are underrepresented in current debates. It is suggested that Translation Studies has the potential to contribute substantially to effectuatingsocietal change, andthat this would require scholars to communicate knowledge and insights from the discipline, as well as results from their own studies, in more and broader contexts.
Alvstad, Cecilia & Johnsen, Åse (2022). Continuity of Texts: Metafiction in a Cortazar Short Story and its Swedish Translation. Слово.ру: Балтийский акцент. ISSN 2225-5346. 13(1), p. 99–114. doi: 10.5922/2225-5346-2022-1-6. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
This article analyzes the Swedish translation of the short story Continuidad de los parques, written by the Argentine author Julio Cortázar and translated into Swedish by the translator Jan Sjögren. This short story is an excellent piece of metafiction as it plays with the relationship between a fictional reader and the real reader. By creating an aesthetic illusion, Cortázar leaves the reader in a tense state with a number of unanswered questions during the reading of the text. The analysis shows that this state of tension is weakened and works differently in the Swedish version of the story. By changing the title and other minor, but substantial, parts of the text, the translator transfers his interpretation of the text onto the Swedish translation. The narrative structure is altered and, as a result, the reader of the Swedish version does not have access to the same multiple interpretations afforded by Cortázar’s Spanish text.
Alvstad, Cecilia (2022). När kontakt genom tolk skapade ett stockholmssyndrom. In Dahnberg, Magnus & Lindqvist, Yvonne (Ed.), Tango för tre: en dansant festskrift till Cecilia Wadensjö. Stockholms universitets förlag. ISSN 9789198364705. p. 172–186. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2022). Traducir para el lector translingüe: incongruencias productivas entre tres versiones de Los niños perdidos de Valeria Luiselli. Revista Letral. p. 91–110. doi: 10.30827/rl.vi28.21368. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Los niños perdidos (Un ensayo en cuarenta preguntas)is a self-translation by Valeria Luiselli from 2016. It is an extended version of a text that was orig-inally published in English earlier that year. In 2017, Luiselli released a longer edition of the English text: Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions. In this article, the three versions are compared, and the differ-ences between them are seen as characteristic of the poetics of Luiselli’s work, because they, potentially, allow the translingual reader to access an in-terpretative layer that is not accessible to the monolingual reader. The incon-gruencies between the different versions can be considered productive, since they reveal alternative narrative orders of a story that, because of its painful topic, is almost impossible to narrate. This way, the translation process rein-forces one of the central themes of the work.
Alvstad, Cecilia & Borg, Claudine (2021). The impact of awards on the translation and circulation of children's literature into semi-peripheral and peripheral languages. Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice. ISSN 0907-676X. 29(6), p. 799–813. doi: 10.1080/0907676X.2020.1839521. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2021). Literary Translator Ethics. In Koskinen, Kaisa & Pokorn, Nike K. (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Ethics. Routledge. ISSN 9780815358237. p. 180–194. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2020). Anthropology over Aesthetics: On the Poetics of Movement and Multilingualism in Three Translations of Yuri Herrera’s Señales que precederán al fin del mundo. In Locane, Jorge Joaquín; Loy, Benjamin; Guerrero, Gustavo & Muller, Gesine (Ed.), Literatura latinoamericana mundial. Dispositivos y disidencias. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9783110673678. p. 223–241. doi: 10.1515/9783110673678. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
From the perspective of Latin American Studies, this volume offers a critical contribution to the current debate on world literature. It is structured around three conceptual blocks: "gatekeepers", as the dispositives and actors mediating the international circulation of literature; "translation", as an unavoidable but always problematic echanism; and "local literatures", as modes of writing that remain intrinsically tied to their contexts.
Alvstad, Cecilia; Bladh, Elisabeth; Ramnäs, Mårten & Eriksson, Olof (2020). Översättningens plats inom utbildning och forskning i romanska språk. In Romeborn, Andreas & Bladh, Elisabeth (Ed.), Romanistiken i Sverige: Tradition och förnyelse. Göteborgs universitet. ISSN 9789179630065. p. 281–294. doi: 10.21524/kriterium.18.o. Full text in Research Archive
Greenall, Annjo Klungervik; Alvstad, Cecilia; Jansen, Hanne & Taivalkoski-Shilov, Kristiina (2019). Introduction: voice, ethics and translation. Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice. ISSN 0907-676X. 27(5), p. 639–647. doi: 10.1080/0907676X.2019.1631862. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Although previous research on ethics demonstrates growing awareness that many agents or subjectivities besides translators and interpreters are involved in translation and interpreting processes, the consequences of this multiplicity for thinking about ethics in translation still lacks focused attention. In this introduction, we show how this special issue, titled Voice, Ethics and Translation, reduces this gap by highlighting the concept of voice and the idea that the world of translating and interpreting consists of many voices ‘having a say’. This carries with it the potential for negotiation, conflict and dissent regarding what constitutes good and bad translation and interpreting practice. The nine contributions discuss questions such as whose voices are involved in ethical negotiations, what is the nature of these negotiations, who has more power to have their voices heard, and whether translators and interpreters should be given more trust and responsibility. As evinced by these various contributions, a consensus seems to be emerging to the effect that rather than blindly following outside authorities in ethical matters, translators and interpreters need to be encouraged to independently reflect on a variety of voices on ethics and be actively conscientious and responsible in actual translation and interpreting situations.
Alvstad, Cecilia & Isis, Herrero López (2018). Gender and Translation: Understanding Agents in Transnational Reception. An Introduction. In López, Isis Herrero; Alvstad, Cecilia; Akujarvi, Johanna & Lindtner, Synnøve Skarsbø (Ed.), Gender and Translation: Understanding Agents in Transnational Reception. Éditions québécoises de l'oeuvre. ISSN 9782924337134. p. 3–28. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2018). Children’s Literature. In Washbourne, Kelly & Wyke, Ben Van (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Literary Translation. Routledge. ISSN 9781138699298. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2018). The Proliferating Paths of Jorge Luis Borges’ Work in Translation and the Resistance to an Innovative Trait. In Bassnett, Susan (Eds.), Translation and World Literature. Routledge. ISSN 9781138641754. doi: 10.4324/9781315630298-10. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia; Greenall, Annjo Klungervik; Jansen, Hanne & Taivalkoski-Shilov, Kristiina (2017). Introduction:Textual and contextual voices of translation. In Alvstad, Cecilia; Greenall, Annjo Klungervik; Jansen, Hanne & Taivalkoski-Shilov, Kristiina (Ed.), Textual and Contextual Voices of Translation. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISSN 9789027258847. doi: 10.1075/btl.137.01alv. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The notion of voice has been used in a number of ways within Translation Studies. Against the backdrop of these different uses, this book looks at the voices of translators, authors, publishers, editors and readers both in the translations themselves and in the texts that surround these translations. The various authors go on a hunt for translational agents’ voice imprints in a variety of textual and contextual material, such as literary and non-literary translations, book reviews, newspaper articles, academic texts and e-mails. While all stick to the principle of studying text and context together, the different contributions also demonstrate how specific textual and contextual circumstances require adapted methodological solutions, ending up in a collection that takes steps in a joint direction but that is at the same time complex and pluralistic.
Alvstad, Cecilia (2017). Arguing for indirect translations in twenty-first-century Scandinavia. Translation Studies. ISSN 1478-1700. 10(2), p. 150–165. doi: 10.1080/14781700.2017.1286254. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2015). The Translator’s Voice in Norwegian Upper Secondary Education: How Subject Curriculum, Teacher Training, Textbooks and National Examinations Prepare the Reception of Translated Literary Texts at School. In Skibinska, Elzbieta; Heydel, Magda & Paprocka, Natalia (Ed.), La voix du traducteur à l'école/The Translator's Voice at School 1 Canons. Vita Traductiva. ISSN 9782924337011. p. 17–47. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia & Rosa, Alexandra Assis (2015). Voice in retranslation: An overview and some trends. Target. ISSN 0924-1884. 27(1), p. 3–24. doi: 10.1075/target.27.1.00int. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2015). Migrants on Skis: Norwegian-Latin American Return Migration in the 1890s. In Sæther, Steinar Andreas (Eds.), Expectations Unfulfilled: Norwegian Migrants in Latin America, 1820-1940. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9789004307384. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Scholars from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, Norway, Spain and Sweden study the experiences of Norwegian migrants in Latin America between the Wars of Independence and World War II.
Johnsen, Åse & Alvstad, Cecilia (2014). Imágenes de Cuba en Noruega: textos para turistas. Temas. ISSN 0864-134X. p. 35–42. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia & Johnsen, Åse (2014). La traducción de la literatura infantil y juvenil: Presentación. TRANS. Revista de Traductología. ISSN 1137-2311. 18, p. 11–14. doi: 10.24310/trans.2014.v0i18.3242. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2014). The translation pact. Language and Literature. ISSN 0963-9470. 23(3), p. 270–284. doi: 10.1177/0963947014536505. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia & Johnsen, Åse (2013). Continuidad de los textos: Metaficción en un cuento de Cortázar y en su traducción sueca. Meta : Journal des traducteurs. ISSN 0026-0452. 57(3). doi: 10.7202/1017082ar. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2013). The transatlantic voyage as a translational process: What migrant narratives letters can tell us. In Boyden, Michael; Krabbendam, Hans & Vandenbussche, Liselotte (Ed.), Tales of Transit. Narrative Migrant Spaces in Atlantic Perspective, 1850-1950. Amsterdam University Press. ISSN 9789089645289. p. 103–119. Full text in Research Archive
Bladh, Elisabeth; Alvstad, Cecilia & Ramnäs, Mårten (2013). Clichés français sur la Suède – étude de la réception en Suède de La délicatesse de David Foenkinos et de son adaptation cinématographique. Synergies Pays Scandinaves. ISSN 1901-3809. 7, p. 57–70. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2013). Voices in Translation. In Gambier, Yves & Doorslaer, Luc van (Ed.), Handbook of Translation STudies 4. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISSN 9789027203342. p. 207–210. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2012). ANTHOLOGIZING LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE: SWEDISH TRANSLATIVE RE-IMAGININGS OF LATIN AMERICA 1954-1998 AND LINKS TO TRAVEL WRITING. Anglo-Saxónica. ISSN 0873-0628. 3(3), p. 39–68. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2012). The strategic moves of paratexts: World literature through Swedish eyes. Translation Studies. ISSN 1478-1700. 5(1), p. 78–94. doi: 10.1080/14781700.2012.628817. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2011). Är det bara vita, heterosexuella män som skriver skönlitteratur i Latinamerika? Om att undersöka skandinaviska konstruktioner av en fjärran kontinents litteratur. In Bladh, Elisabeth & Kullberg, Christina (Ed.), Litteratur i gränszonen : transnationella litteraturer i översättning ur ett nordiskt perspektiv. Högskolan Dalarna. ISSN 9789185941322. p. 159–173. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia; Hild, Adelina & Tiselius, Elisabet (2011). Methods and Strategies of Process Research. Integrative Approaches in Translation Studies. In Alvstad, Cecilia; Hild, Adelina & Tiselius, Elisabet (Ed.), Methods and strategies of process research : integrative approaches in translation studies. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISSN 9789027224422. p. 1–9. doi: 10.1075/btl.94.02alv. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia; Helgesson, Stefan & Watson, David (2011). Introduction. Literature, Geography, Translation. In Alvstad, Cecilia; Helgesson, Stefan & Watson, David (Ed.), Literature, Geography, Translation: Studies in World Writing. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISSN 9781443830102. p. 1–13. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2011). Översättning. In Petersson, Margareta (Eds.), Världens Litteraturer. En gränsöverskridande historia. Studentlitteratur AB. ISSN 9789144055879. p. 28–32. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2010). Children’s literature and translation. In Gambier, Yves & Doorslaer, Luc van (Ed.), Handbook of Translation Studies, Volume 1. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISSN 9789027203311. p. 22–27. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia & Lundahl, Mikela (2010). Den mörke brodern. Svensk negrifiering av svart poesi 1957. Tidskrift för litteraturvetenskap. ISSN 1104-0556. p. 39–53. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2009). Förhållningssätt till översättningar i universitetsundervisningen. In Ekholm, Christer & Thorson, Staffan (Ed.), Främlingskap och främmandegöring: Förhållningssätt till skönlitteratur i universitetsundervisningen. Daidalos. ISSN 9789171732835. p. 261–318. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia & Castro, Andrea (2009). Conceptions of Literature in University Language Courses. The Modern Language Journal. ISSN 0026-7902. 93(2), p. 170–184. doi: 10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00854.x. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
In this article we set out to explore and discuss reasons for reading literary texts in university curricula of foreign languages. Our analysis is based on 2 sources of information: 16 syllabi of Spanish as a foreign language and a questionnaire in which 11 university instructors teaching these syllabi express their intentions. We point to a number of risks when emphasis is predominantly placed on instrumental goals such as acquisition of vocabulary and grammar or cultural knowledge. We suggest, instead, that the literary modules within language curricula should formulate their own specific goals. Rather than privileging linguistic and cultural competences to be trained, the literary modules could, for example, raise students' awareness of the facts that there are many ways of reading a text but that interpretation nevertheless remains a historically situated and constrained activity.
Alvstad, Cecilia (2009). A Poetics of Omission or Omission of the Poetic: Gabrielle Roy's Bonheur d'occasion in Swedish. In Whitfield, Agnes (Eds.), L'écho de nos classiques. Bonheur d'occasion et Two solitudes en Traduction. Les Éditions David. ISSN 9782895971153. p. 87–122. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2009). Översatt skönlitteratur som historisk källa. In Ahlberger, Christer; Nilson, Thomas; Bagerius, Henrik & Nilsson, Ulrika Lagerlöf (Ed.), Historier. Arton- och nittonhundratalens skönlitteratur som historisk källa. Göteborgs universitet. ISSN 9789188614735. p. 16–23. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA

Alvstad, Cecilia (2026). The Routledge Guide to Teaching Literary Translation. Routledge. ISBN 9781041128496. 224 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Routledge Guides to Teaching Translation and Interpreting is a series of practical guides to key areas of translation and interpreting for instructors, lecturers, and course designers. With professional realities now shaped by readily available translation technologies and generative AI, there is an urgent need to focus on the human aspects of literary translation. The research-based approach to teaching and learning in this volume draws on what translators, theorists, and researchers know about the translating mind to foster the next generation of translators. The six modes of translational thinking in this volume—the caring, sensuous, associative, relational, inquisitive, and reflective mind—are foregrounded as ways to take a human-centered approach to translation teaching, regardless of whether translation technologies are involved in professional translation contexts. Literary translation requires humans to take the lead, and this volume lays the foundation for a humanistic translation pedagogy. Designed to support customizing your classroom, 92 ready-to-use activities and commentaries illustrate how to foster a productive learning environment with course- and program-specific content and specific learning outcomes. This is the essential text for all instructors and lecturers teaching literary translation, translation theory, world literature and comparative literature.
López, Isis Herrero; Alvstad, Cecilia; Akujarvi, Johanna & Lindtner, Synnøve Skarsbø (2018). Gender and Translation: Understanding Agents in Transnational Reception. Éditions québécoises de l'oeuvre. ISBN 9782924337134. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia; Greenall, Annjo Klungervik; Jansen, Hanne & Taivalkoski-Shilov, Kristiina (2017). Textual and Contextual Voices of Translation. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 9789027258847. 262 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
The notion of voice has been used in a number of ways within Translation Studies. Against the backdrop of these different uses, this book looks at the voices of translators, authors, publishers, editors and readers both in the translations themselves and in the texts that surround these translations. The various authors go on a hunt for translational agents’ voice imprints in a variety of textual and contextual material, such as literary and non-literary translations, book reviews, newspaper articles, academic texts and e-mails. While all stick to the principle of studying text and context together, the different contributions also demonstrate how specific textual and contextual circumstances require adapted methodological solutions, ending up in a collection that moves the field in a common direction but that is at the same time complex and pluralistic. The book is intended for scholars and students of Translation Studies, Comparative Literature, and other disciplines within Language and Literature.
Alvstad, Cecilia; Helgesson, Stefan & Watson, David (2011). Literature, Geography, Translation: Studies in World Writing. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781443830102. 248 p. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia; Hild, Adelina & Tiselius, Elisabet (2011). Methods and strategies of process research : integrative approaches in translation studies. John Benjamins Publishing Company. ISBN 9789027224422. 377 p. Full text in Research Archive

View all works in NVA

Alvstad, Cecilia (2026). Sensorisk och subjektivitet i översättning av barnlitteratur. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2026). Om att arbeta med fenomenologisk varseblivning i språk- och litteraturundervisning. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2026). The Human Aspects of Literary Translation. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
With professional realities now shaped by readily available translation technologies and generative AI, there is an urgent need to focus on the human aspects of literary translation. In my talk I will present the outlines of my forthcoming book The Routledge Guide to Teaching Literary Translation, pinpointing implications for research. Literary translation requires humans to take the lead, and the guide lays the foundation for a humanistic translation pedagogy. Six modes of translational thinking—the caring, sensuous, associative, relational, inquisitive, and reflective mind—are foregrounded as ways to take a human-centered approach to translation teaching, regardless of whether translation technologies are involved in professional translation contexts.
Alvstad, Cecilia (2025). PETRA-E in The Routledge Guide to Teaching Literary Translation. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2025). Fostering Sensory-Driven Awareness in Translation Practice: The Female Body in Literary Translation as an Illustrative Example. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2024). Reflektion över romanistiken. Vart är vi på väg? Är kulturorienterade kurser en lösning? Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2024). Literary Translation and Nobel Consecration: Gabriel García Márquez in Swedish. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2024). Kroppslighet i skönlitterär översättning: Att ta Merleau-Ponty till hjälp. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2022). Kjell Risvik som översättare av María Luisa Bombal i ett nordisk perspektiv. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2021). Traducciones tardías en Escandinavia. La larga espera de María Luisa Bombal, Silvina Ocampo, Elena Garro y Clarice Lispector (Keynote)). Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2020). La configuración de la traductora activista en Los niños perdidos/Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions de la escritora translingüe Valeria Luiselli. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2020). Översättningsvetenskapens värde i samhället. Mellom Tidsskrift for omsett litteratur. ISSN 2387-4880. p. 146–160. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2018). Ethics and Literary Translation. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2017). Children’s literature and Global Concerns. Keynote. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2017). Panelsamtal: Översättningens plats inom utbildning och forskning i romanska språk. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2017). Translation studies and global challenges. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2017). Litteraturförmedling ¬– en transdiciplinär disciplin. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2017). The Proliferating Paths of Jorge Luis Borges’ Work in Translation: The Resistance to an Innovative Trait. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2016). Voices of Translation. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2016). The Literary Author Interview as a Response to Global Challenges. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Lena Cecilia (2016). Voices of Translation: Rewriting Literary Texts in a Scandinavian Context. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Lena Cecilia (2016). Peace. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Lena Cecilia (2016). The role of regional literatures in promoting transcultural knowledge and understanding. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Lena Cecilia (2016). The Early Reception of Ibsen in Latin America. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Lena Cecilia (2015). Traveling Texts: Translation and Transnational Reception. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia; Bladh, Elisabeth & Ramnäs, Mårten (2014). Transmissions des clichés : la Suède vue par les frères Foenkinos dans le roman La délicatesse et son adaption cinématographique. In Söhrman, Ingmar & Vajta, Katharina (Ed.), La langue dans la littérature, la littérature dans la langue. Göteborgs universitet. ISSN 9789173468114. p. 317–338. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia & Johnsen, Åse (2014). Presentación. TRANS. Revista de Traductología. ISSN 1137-2311. p. 11–14. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2014). Översättningsforskaren Cecilia Alvstad kommenterar Venuti ur ett nordiskt perspektiv. Med andra ord. ISSN 1104-4462. 80, p. 14–16. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2014). Översättning som scenbyte. RISS : magasin for studentar og tilsette ved Institutt for nordistikk og litteraturvitskap, Universitetet i Trondheim. ISSN 0806-5063. 1, p. 19–22. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2014). Theory in(to) fiction and fiction in(to) theory: Jorge Luis Borges as a case in point. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia & Refsdal, Eva (2013). Oversettelse. In Godal, Anne Marit (Eds.), Store norske leksikon (snl.no). Store norske leksikon AS. Full text in Research Archive
Refsdal, Eva & Alvstad, Cecilia (2013). Oversettelsesstudier. In Godal, Anne Marit (Eds.), Store norske leksikon (snl.no). Store norske leksikon AS. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2013). Collaborative Voices of Translation. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2013). Stemme i nordiske oversettelser. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2013). Språkcafé: Når alle verdas språk blir til norsk. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2013). The Translator’s Voice in High School Textbooks and Anthologies. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2013). Paneldebatt Hieronymusdagen. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2013). Klassikerna får alltid skrivas om. [Journal]. Svenska dagbladet. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2013). Borges and the Time of Translation. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2013). Collaborative Indirect Translations: The Swedish Collection The Indian Library as a Case in Point. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2012). Intervju om Voices of Translation i Kulturnytt. [Radio]. NRK Kulturnytt. Full text in Research Archive
Johnsen, Åse & Alvstad, Cecilia (2012). La presentación de Cuba en folletos turísticos. Comparación entre Noruega y España. Full text in Research Archive
Johnsen, Åse & Alvstad, Cecilia (2012). Imágenes de Cuba en folletos turísticos noruegos. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2011). Doldisarna som styr litteraturen. [Journal]. Fokus. Full text in Research Archive
Johnsen, Åse & Alvstad, Cecilia (2011). Imágenes de Cuba en Noruega. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2010). Authors, Translators and Readers, Trekking through Texts: Borges, Metafictions and Forking Tracks. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2010). Borges, Cortázar och deras metafiktion på svenska. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2010). Migration as Cultural and Linguistic Translation: Scandinavian Migrants inEarly Twentieth Century Argentina. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2010). Cultural Memory in Translation: Sierra Maestra and Le Deuxième Sexe in Swedish. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2010). Vem är det egentligen som möts i Julio Cortázars "Möte"? Om vertikala och horisontella översättningsstrategier och det problematiska med att missa poängen. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2010). Swedish Latin American In-Betweeners: What Migrant Narratives from Around 1900 Tell Us About Migrant Identity. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2010). Angvik, Birger. Sjå meg! Høyr meg! Forteljekunst fra Cuba og Mexico 1950-2000. Corriente del Golfo. ISSN 0804-7383. 1, p. 118–122. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2009). Prefaces as a Site of Cultural Translation. Representations of Latin America in Scandinavian Translations of Latin American Literature. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2009). Gentzler's Geography. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia & Lundahl, Mikela (2009). Den mörke brodern: försök att antologisera den svarta rasen, i Sverige 1957–1960. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2009). "Dessutom skulle jag inte hurra för översättningen." Om förhållningssätt till översättningar inom humaniora. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia & Johnsen, Åse (2009). Sammanhanget mellan översättningarna. Julio Cortázars novell ”La continuidad de los parques” på fyra skandinaviska språk. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2009). Southern Stereotypes. Latin American Literature in Scandinavia. Full text in Research Archive
Alvstad, Cecilia (2009). Huvudet i sanden? Om motsägelsefulla förhållningssätt till översatt skönlitteratur i akademisk undervisning och forskning. Full text in Research Archive

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Published July 1, 2021 1:51 PM - Last modified June 22, 2026 4:26 PM