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Mission

The Third Wheel is a magazine dedicated to literature in translation, with a focus on translators and their process. It offers a curated space for translators to reflect on their craft, with an emphasis as much on the journey as on the finished piece.

Aside from literature in translation (fiction, non-fiction, poetry), we focus on interviews, essays, annotated drafts, and experimental formats that foreground the translator’s voice as central to literary invention. This is a space where translation is recognized not merely as an act of transfer, but as a creative practice in its own right.

Why Now?

In recent years, translators have begun stepping out of the shadows, reclaiming visibility after being sidelined for generations. Too often, translators have been expected to remain inconspicuous, hidden in the margins, while enabling readers to access world literature. The Third Wheel offers a platform to those who silently and relentlessly do this work. We want to shed light on the intricacies of the translation process, from conceptualization to collaboration with the author, from early drafts to final choices, from research, endless checks and revisions to recreating tone and atmosphere.

This magazine offers readers a chance to peek into the translator’s workshop, to witness the heavy lifting: the translator’s motivations, rituals, doubts, and delights. We also want to make space for showing off and venting, acknowledging translation as both art and (emotional) labor.

Such close and comprehensive exploration of the literary translation process becomes increasingly important, as all creative work suffers continuous blows with the large-scale adoption of artificial intelligence solutions and their demoralizing effect on an already de-professionalized field (lit translators more often than not have to moonlight as something else, as financial stability isn’t among the perks of the job).

Why The Third Wheel?

The name reflects our ethos: translation is not secondary, but an integral, dynamic presence in literature. The translator may often feel like the "third wheel" in the author–reader relationship, yet without that wheel the relationship would become impossible. We embrace this paradox, positioning the translator as a central creative force and insisting that translation itself deserves the spotlight.