Call for Papers – International Conference – Translating Comics: Between Bubbles, Cultures, and Constraints in East Asia – April 10, 2026 – Paris Nanterre University, CRPM (hybrid) – Deadline for applications: 15, January 2026

Translating Comics: Between Bubbles, Cultures, and Constraints in East Asia

April 10, 2026, Paris Nanterre University, CRPM (in a hybrid format)

Organizers: Marie LAUREILLARD (Paris Nanterre University), Jaqueline BERNDT (Stockholm University), assisted by XIANG Wenlan (Paris Nanterre University)

Communication language: English

As a hybrid form that merges text and image, comics offer a particularly stimulating field of inquiry for translators and translation scholars. This study day aims to explore the specific challenges of comic translation, at the intersection of literature, visual semiotics, and culture. What are the difficulties posed by the spatial layout of text? How can humor, puns, cultural references or typographic effects be rendered in another language? What roles do publishing norms or censorship play in different cultural areas?

We welcome proposals focusing on translations from or into Asian languages, with particular attention to comics from the Sinophone, Japanese, and Korean spheres (manhua, manga, manhwa). The adaptation of national or foreign literary works will also be considered a form of translation. We can also consider the editorial dimension of translations: for example, which Japanese works have been translated into Chinese, and which Chinese works into Japanese?

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Translation of the various textual components (dialogue, onomatopoeia, titles…)
• Cultural adaptation and localization strategies
• Editorial and graphic constraints (format, reading direction, lettering…)
• Specific issues in various graphic traditions (manga, manhua, webtoon…)
• Case studies of published or ongoing translations
• The translator’s role in the production chain
• The issue of adaptation
• The editorial selection