The Center for the Art of Translation

11/18/2025

Bay Area: This week we hope you’ll join us for our last Bay Area public programs of 2025!

TONIGHT, November 18, the Mill Valley Public Library co-presents a reading from Hair on Fire featuring Afghan women poets in translation.

Wednesday, November 19, at Medicine for Nightmares in the Mission. We are also excited to host Mexico City author Jazmina Barrera and Spanish translator Megan McDowell.The evening will celebrate the life and fiction of Mexican author Elena Garro, with readings and discussions of two new books: The Queen of Swords and The Week of Colors, an autobiography and a short-story collection translated from Spanish and published this month by Two Lines Press.

Thursday, November 20, gallery 836M in SF co-presents an evening of Afghan and Iranian poetry from three different collections featuring the work of Nadia Anjuman, Mahbouba Ibrahimi, and Ahmad Shamlou.

Details and RSVP links here: https://www.catranslation.org/events/

11/14/2025

Open Call for Submissions: CALICO SERIES: Animal Stories (submit by Jan. 15, 2026)

Two Lines Press’s Calico Series is looking for stories that largely feature one or more animals for a forthcoming edition. This call is open to translations from any language into English. While we love cozy cat stories, we’re looking to be surprised by how animals appear in today’s fiction. Perhaps it’s a story about a human’s relationship to animals, or perhaps there are no humans in the story whatsoever. Work may skew toward ecofiction or speculative, feature animals in captivity or the wild—the parameters are wide. Overall, we’re looking to feature writing with a strong attention to craft. We highly encourage translators of literature from underrepresented regions and demographics to apply, as well as those earlier in their translation careers.

Full info here: https://www.catranslation.org/books/submit-work/

11/07/2025

At American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) this week? Several members of the Center for the Art of Translation's staff are on panels we hope you'll check out. Including:

Friday, 11/7, 9 am: Unity and Fracture: Translating Afghan Women Poets with Two Lines Publisher, CJ Evans

Saturday, 11/8, 9 am: Envisioning the Future of Literary Translation with Center for the Art of Translation President, Michael Holtmann

Saturday, 11/8, 10:45 am: Institutional Support: Collaboration Makes a Patchwork Quilt with Center for the Art of Translation Founder and Board Chair Olivia Sears

ALTA is dedicated to supporting literary translators at all stages of their careers. The cornerstone of ALTA is our conference, held annually since 1978. This community-led gathering brings together around 500 translators and editors for a three-day event. Open to members and non-members, there are....

10/31/2025

Headed to the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) Conference in Tucson, AZ Nov. 5-8? We invite you to share your ideas on the future of literary translation with us. Stop by a Center for the Art of Translation-sponsored 10:15-10:45 am beverage break in the Foyers any day of the conference and ask us about our lunchtime roundtables for translators.

Find more information on the conference here: https://literarytranslators.org/events/ -conference

10/25/2025

Bay Area: TONIGHT (10/25) @ 6:30pm come out for "So You Think You Can('t) Translate!" Join us for this casual workshop and spontaneous performance with our partners Litquake at 826 Valencia in the Mission.

Show off your skills and maybe learn some new ones while translating poems from all over the world. No need to be a poet. No second language required. Equipped with a glossary, guided by local translator JiaJing Liu, and encouraged by friends (bring your own!), you’ll dismantle and reassemble the poem in a new language. Translation of poetry by its nature offers multiple possibilities: since there is no single “correct” rendering of a poem, be prepared to share and defend your language choices. Who knows? Maybe it will change your entire relationship with language? With collaboration? With creation? See you soon!

RSVP: https://www.catranslation.org/event/lit-crawl-so-you-think-you-cant-translate/

10/17/2025

Bay Area, join us for "So You Think You Can('t) Translate!" We're partnering with Litquake Oct. 25 @ 6:30 pm at 826 Valencia.

Show off your skills and maybe learn some new ones while translating poems from all over the world. No need to be a poet. No second language required. Equipped with a glossary, guided by local translator JiaJing Liu, and encouraged by friends (bring your own!), you’ll dismantle and reassemble the poem in a new language. Translation of poetry by its nature offers multiple possibilities: since there is no single “correct” rendering of a poem, be prepared to share and defend your language choices. Who knows? Maybe it will change your entire relationship with language? With collaboration? With creation? Join us for this casual workshop and spontaneous performance!

RSVP: https://www.catranslation.org/event/lit-crawl-so-you-think-you-cant-translate/

10/16/2025

TOMORROW: Bay Area! Join us and Litquake on Oct. 17 @ 6:30 pm at CounterPulse for a listening party debuting three audio lit in translation adaptations. What happens when a work becomes unbound by language, medium, and format? How does meaning and experience shift? How does blending translation, sound, and performance push the boundaries of understanding?

Writer, editor, and voice director Camilo Garzón and special guests, Noelle de la Paz, Monica Cure, and Amanda Nazareno, guide a listening party through three immersive audio adaptations: an Ecuadorian horror story about altitude sickness transformed into auditory terror, Romanian poetry layered with kitsch and nostalgia, and a Japanese short story with sounds and voices pushing the limits of reality. These multiple translations—from language, to audio, to the stage—unbind narrative from any single form, transcending the boundaries of medium, translation, and performance.

Part of Litquake’s Words Around the World
Sponsored by Center for the Art of Translation & Two Lines Press
In partnership with Cuentero Productions
Book sales by Medicine for Nightmares

RSVP: https://www.catranslation.org/event/litquake-unbound-translations-a-listening-party-with-cuentero-productions-two-lines-press/

10/15/2025

Open Call for Submissions: CALICO SERIES: Animal Stories

Two Lines Press’s Calico Series is looking for stories that largely feature one or more animals for a forthcoming edition. This call is open to translations from any language into English. While we love cozy cat stories, we’re looking to be surprised by how animals appear in today’s fiction. Perhaps it’s a story about a human’s relationship to animals, or perhaps there are no humans in the story whatsoever. Work may skew toward ecofiction or speculative, feature animals in captivity or the wild—the parameters are wide. Overall, we’re looking to feature writing with a strong attention to craft. We highly encourage translators of literature from underrepresented regions and demographics to apply, as well as those earlier in their translation careers. Submit by Jan. 15, 2026.

Full info here: https://www.catranslation.org/books/submit-work/

10/10/2025

TOMORROW NIGHT: Join us Saturday, Oct. 11 @ 7 pm at Telegraph Hill Books to celebrate the release of HAIR ON FIRE. This collection of 5 female Afghan poets is a blazing tribute to a group of exceptional poets and a reminder of what we lose when voices are silenced. Diana Arterian, Samantha Cosentino, Armen Davoudian, Sabrina Nouri, and Marina Omar read from their translations of poetry by Nadia Anjuman, Mahbouba Ibrahimi, Mariam Meetra, and Karima Shabrang. RSVP here: https://www.catranslation.org/event/litquake-hair-on-fire-afghan-women-poets/

10/09/2025

The Center for the Art of Translation (CAT) is hiring a full-time Engagement Editor—a new staff position in the Communications Department—to coordinate and contribute to the online communications for our organization and its programs in publishing, education, and events in order to support the literary translation community more deeply. For more information, visit our site. The deadline to apply is Oct. 31.

https://www.catranslation.org/about/opportunities/

10/07/2025

Bay Area! Join us and Litquake on Oct. 17 @ 6:30 pm at CounterPulse for a listening party debuting three audio lit in translation adaptations. What happens when a work becomes unbound by language, medium, and format? How does meaning and experience shift? How does blending translation, sound, and performance push the boundaries of understanding?

Writer, editor, and voice director Camilo Garzón and special guests, Noelle de la Paz, Monica Cure, and Amanda Nazareno, guide a listening party through three immersive audio adaptations: an Ecuadorian horror story about altitude sickness transformed into auditory terror, Romanian poetry layered with kitsch and nostalgia, and a Japanese short story with sounds and voices pushing the limits of reality. These multiple translations—from language, to audio, to the stage—unbind narrative from any single form, transcending the boundaries of medium, translation, and performance.

Part of Litquake’s Words Around the World
Sponsored by Center for the Art of Translation & Two Lines Press
In partnership with Cuentero Productions
Book sales by Medicine for Nightmares

RSVP: https://www.catranslation.org/event/litquake-unbound-translations-a-listening-party-with-cuentero-productions-two-lines-press/

10/04/2025

Bay Area! Join us next Saturday, 10/11 @ 7 pm at Telegraph Hill Books to celebrate the release of HAIR ON FIRE. This collection of 5 female Afghan poets is a blazing tribute to a group of exceptional poets and a reminder of what we lose when voices are silenced. Diana Arterian, Samantha Cosentino, Armen Davoudian, Sabrina Nouri, and Marina Omar read from their translations of poetry by Nadia Anjuman, Mahbouba Ibrahimi, Mariam Meetra, and Karima Shabrang. RSVP here: https://www.catranslation.org/event/litquake-hair-on-fire-afghan-women-poets/