The Center for the Art of Translation

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The Center for the Art of Translation

Championing literary translation. Dedicated to finding dazzling new voices, and to celebrating the art of translation in publishing, events, and education.

01/09/2026

LAST WEEK TO SUBMIT: Open Call for Submissions: CALICO SERIES: Animal Stories (deadline 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.

Visit our site for full information: https://www.catranslation.org/books/submit-work/

12/30/2025

Today is the last day to make a tax-deductible donation to our year-end fundraiser. So far we’ve raised $35,211, unlocked a $25K match, and welcomed 25 new donors. Will you help us reach our $40K stretch goal before midnight? Your support allows us to continue building audiences for literary translation through our public events, publishing, and education programs. Join here www.catranslation.org/donate/!

Bonus: ALL DONORS AT ANY LEVEL will receive an "I ♥ Translators" sticker, created for our at capacity Day of Translation event this year! And if you give $100 or more (which becomes $200+ with the match), we’ll send you our new limited-edition tote, designed by Lan Truong.

12/15/2025

Open Call for Vietnamese to English literary translators: The Stevns Translation Prize, run by Peirene Press (UK) and our publisher Two Lines Press (US), is an annual award for emerging translators to translate their first full-length work of fiction. Every year, a different language and book is chosen and entrants are invited to translate an extract. The winning entrant is offered a contract to translate the whole book, along with a mentorship from an experienced translator and a retreat in the French Pyrenees.

This 2026 prize focuses on Vietnamese, and the selected title is Bảo Tàng Lông [Museum of Hair] by Maik Cây, a daring and intimate novel told in eight kaleidoscopic stories. Entrants are asked to submit a translation of a chosen extract from the book along with a 500 word translator’s note. We welcome all translators from Vietnamese who have not yet published a full-length literary translation to enter.

More information here, submissions close on Feb. 1: https://www.catranslation.org/books/stevns-prize/

12/14/2025

1 month left to submit to our open call for animal stories in translation. The deadline is Jan. 15, 2026. Full info here: https://www.catranslation.org/books/submit-work/

12/12/2025

A quick update on our year-end fundraising drive: thanks to generous supporters, we’ve raised $20,400, which means we're 80% toward our goal of unlocking a $25,000 dollar-for-dollar donor match by our 12/31 deadline! Reader support has been incredible, but we still need your help to close the gap left by this administration's NEA funding cuts.

And to make it a little more fun, we’re extending our thank-you gifts through December 31. ALL DONORS AT ANY LEVEL will receive an "I ♥ Translators" sticker, created for our at capacity Day of Translation event this year! And if you give $100 or more (which becomes $200+ with the match), we’ll send you our new limited-edition tote, designed by Lan Truong. (Gifts pictured below)

Donate here: www.catranslation.org/donate/

12/08/2025

A generous donor is matching all Center for the Art of Translation donations up to $25,000, doubling every dollar you give in December and helping cover the loss of our NEA funding in 2026.

As a thank-you, if you donate any amount by December 15, you'll receive a special “I ♥ Translators” bumper sticker.

If you give $100 or more by Dec. 31 (which becomes $200 with the match), we’ll send you our new limited-edition tote, designed by Lan Truong.

With help from supporters, important books—and the international writers behind them—can reach English-language readers. Translators can get the support they need to bring these works into the world. Students will have access to transformative hands-on experiences with poetry and translation. Your donation makes a direct impact on the events we program, books we publish, and our education program.

Donate: https://www.catranslation.org/donate/

12/02/2025

MIAO, MEO, MEOW 😻, thank you to all CAT supporters. We’re grateful for you, today and always for your belief in the power of literary translation. You make it possible to publish groundbreaking books and bring readers, writers, teachers, students, and translators together.

On this Giving Tuesday, we’d love to send you a fun thank you gift! Our CAT tote, designed by Lan Truong, is available to supporters who make a tax-deductible donation of $100 or more. This tote is not for sale, so this is your chance to show your love for international writers while supporting the work we do.

https://www.catranslation.org/donate/

Happy , and thank you for being part of our story.

12/01/2025

It's the LAST DAY of our holiday sale--don't miss 30% off all our books (40% off for Two Lines Press members, select $12 hardcovers, and free shipping for U.S. orders over $50!📚 https://www.catranslation.org/books/ -tile

11/28/2025

Psst! Our one-week-only holiday sale goes until December 1. Now's a great time to give the gift of translated literature with 30% off all of our books (40% off for Two Lines Press members), special $12 hardcovers, and free shipping for U.S. orders over $50!
https://www.catranslation.org/books/ -tile

11/24/2025

Give the gift of literary translation with our ONE WEEK holiday book sale! For one-week-only we're offering 30% off all books (40% off for Two Lines Press members), special $12 hardcovers, and free U.S. shipping for any order over $50! 🎁 🐈📚 https://www.catranslation.org/books/ -tile

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/

Address

582 Market Street, Ste 700
San Francisco, CA
94104

Telephone

+14155128812

Website

http://www.catranslation.org/

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Celebrating the art of translation

The Center began more than 25 years ago as a dream of current President Olivia Sears, who launched the Two Lines journal at her kitchen table with other translator friends equally dedicated to bringing fresh new world voices to English-speaking readers, and to shining a light on the work of translators.

Over the past 25 years we’ve grown from a scrappy literary journal to an award-winning press and translation center offering a world poetry and translation curriculum and dynamic events. We’re committed to building audiences for literature in translation, enriching the library of vital literary works, nurturing and promoting the work of translators, and honoring the incredible linguistic diversity of our schools and our world.

Two Lines Press publishes outstanding literature in translation that would otherwise not be available to readers in English. The Poetry Inside Out language arts curriculum celebrates classroom diversity and builds literacy skills by teaching students to translate great poetry from around the world. And readers and audiences engage in original and provocative conversations about literature and language at events with international writers and translators.