“So often what we’re trying to do is reanimate the kinds of choices that the author is making in the original language in the English that we’re writing.”
Check out this KQED discussion on translation, featuring Daniel Levy, Bruna Dantas Lobato, and ALTA member Olivia Sears:
“What matters [...] is not making the writing immediately classifiable, but immediately true [...] one’s voice might be fractured, imperfect, cacophonous and a bit unhinged.”
Chiara Barzini and Jhumpa Lahiri discuss multilingual third spaces and escaping editorial norms. At Lit Hub:
“loneliness that turned its back in fog thick as meat broth, instead of closing its eyes, because of what it saw behind closed eyes”
Check out these four translations of Kim Eon Hee’s visceral and uncompromising poems, translated from Korean by Soje. At the Offing:
“I believe firmly that nothing is untranslatable. It’s just that sometimes a word might take a whole book to translate.”
Lisa Lee reflects on emotions and lives lived across languages in her novel AMERICAN HAN. At Lit Hub: lithub.com/lisa-lee-on-...
“Coffee grounds still clung to my cup. Now it’s clean, like a wail in my mouth that protects each word of the lies I utter.”
Loved Afrizal Malna's 2025 National Translation Award in Poetry Winner DOCUMENT SHREDDING MUSEUM, translated by Daniel Owen? Check out these new poems at WWB: buff.ly/Uf8aVsF
We are eager to learn what being part of our community has meant for you. Whether you've been a member since ALTA was founded, you're new (welcome!), or anywhere between or besides, we want to hear from you. Fill out this mini-interview (it should take just a few minutes!): buff.ly/HnUCLZu
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! 👋🏡
Check out what our friends at @catranslation.org are up to - you can help open their doors! 👇
“Language shapes reality. Language shows how the world is constructed. We don’t know that until we describe it to ourselves.”
Translator Katarzyna Kotyńska speaks with Agnieszka Warnke about working with Ukrainian and Polish in translation. At Culture.PL: buff.ly/n1HHElf
🎉 Have you heard? The Guggenheim Fellowships have just been announced - and ALTA member Heather Cleary is a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow 🥳 Huge congratulations, Heather, on this accomplishment! buff.ly/PzX29Na
Check out this list of revolutionary novels by Arab women, compiled by 2026 National Translation Award in Prose judge Addie Leak! At Electric Literature: buff.ly/SZIZOcJ
🎉Congratulations to translators Zain-alabideen Mirza, Aiden Wilson, and Emily Holson on being recognized by World Literature Today’s 2026 Student Translation Prize! Read more at World Literature Today: buff.ly/S41B6Wj
“There’s something extraordinarily powerful about female friendship [...] when you have fewer people and responsibilities to answer to.”
Ashley Nelson Levy, author and co-founder of Transit Books, speaks on friendships and international literature. At Lit Hub:
“Silence is also rhythm, where language takes a breath on the line.”
Heather Cleary, translator of María Ospina’s’s ONLY A LITTLE WHILE HERE, shares her take on silence and the importance of waiting. At Lit Hub:
Check out this event happening tonight at the @uapoetrycenter.bsky.social!
Plus: ALTA's own Senior Program Director @kelsivanada.bsky.social will be introducing Volha Hapayeva 🤩 More info on the event (and livestream) here: poetry.arizona.edu/calendar/vol...
“I was not loyal to a single idea because my devotion was to these poems and what they made together, which was particular and cohesive but also plural.”
Iris Lee interviews Cindy Juyoung Ok about translating Kim Hyesoon’s visceral poetry collection, THE HELL OF THAT STAR. At THR:
One of the benefits of an ALTA membership is ✨️exclusive✨️ access to Pitch Sessions, 8-minute Zoom sessions where translators may present a project to a publisher for possible publication.
Sign-up info will be emailed to ALTA members this Thurs, so make sure your membership is active! buff.ly/nd6Nntq
Your search is over! Check out these five translations at Words Without Borders to spice up your spring TBR list, including one by ALTA Member Brad Harmon:
“It is clear that Hughes remained committed to publishing these stories years after he returned from Mexico…”
Ricardo Wilson II details Langston Hughes’s journey as a translator attempting to bring Mexican and Cuban writers to an American audience. At Lit Hub:
“Every word and thing you could possibly think of related to cuteness, sweetness, and beauty was surely housed in Tong Tong’s kingdom.”
ALTA Mentor Jennifer Feeley translates an excerpt from Gigi L. Leung’s SURVIVORS’ NOTES. At Words Without Borders: buff.ly/mLbRryn
Some sessions have unlimited seats: How to Get Started in Literary Translation (w/ Allison Charette & Poorna Swami), Making a Living as a Literary Translator (w/ Julia Sanches) & Marketing & Publicity (w/ Nick During)! There are also some dedicated to writing pitches & workshopping for first-timers.
Tickets for our Multilingual Translation Workshops, held June 22-27, are going like hotcakes! 🎟️ 🥞 6 of the workshops are already sold out - so be sure to secure your slot(s) before they're all gone! buff.ly/cyDfhIW
“French is my adopted language, but isn’t it more accurate to say that it adopted me…”
Ye Ram Esther Kim translates an excerpt from Zainichi Korean writer Ook Chung’s meditations on language, colonization, and loss. At World Literature Today: worldliteraturetoday.org/2026/march/s...
📣 The shortlist for the 2026 EBRD Literature Prize has arrived! Congratulations to all on the list, including ALTA members Shelley Fairweather-Vega, Katherine E. Young, past President Ellen Elias-Bursać, and past awards judge Ottilie Mulzet! @ebrd.bsky.social www.ebrd.com/home/news-an...
“I won’t say: what if. Won’t look at how you / leave. Won’t walk. Won’t collect bottles. Refuse / to pray to the moon.”
Read 2025 ALTA mentee Tim Tim Cheng’s striking translation of a poem by Hong Kong author Ka Yee Lee. At Words Without Borders: buff.ly/DdoLaDX
Graphic featuring open call for panel submissions for the Day of Translation, presented by the Center for the art of Translation and The Center for Fiction. Deadline is May 1st.
📣 Open Call for Panel Submissions! Day of Translation 2026 is a day-long celebration of language and literature, featuring dynamic panels on translation. This year, the event will be held Sept. 24 at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn! Have an idea for a panel? Submit here by May 1: buff.ly/pEQPatx
“Perspective makes you human. It’s mind-blowing, and it also allows for an approach to all other living things.”
Gabriela Cabezón Cámara speaks about her book WE ARE GREEN AND TREMBLING, translated by ALTA member Robin Myers. At Latin American Literature Today: buff.ly/dqyiWaZ
🎉 The shortlist for the 2026 International Booker Prize has been announced! Congratulations to ALL on this list, including ALTA members Izidora Angel and Padma Viswanathan, and past ALTA award winners Lin King and Jordan Stump:
“Kawakami provides no illusions regarding loyalty or love, whether platonic or romantic, between women…these fragile bonds radiate hopes and dreams.”
2026 ALTA mentee Grace En-Yi Ting reviews Mieko Kawakami’s SISTERS IN YELLOW. At Words Without Borders: buff.ly/qinjqQT
