The Center for the Art of Translation Announces Grant Award from Amazon.com

The Center for the Art of Translation is proud to announce that it has been awarded a grant from Amazon.com to support the publication and promotion of its books of literature in translation. This includes the 17th volume of its annual anthology of world literature in the Two Lines World Writing in Translation series; the next book in its Two Lines World Library series, which brings readers the best literature from a particular region; and the next volume of Poetry Inside Out, a series of student poems and translations.

The Center is a nonprofit organization promoting world literature and translation through publishing, teaching, and public events. Its publishing arm works with today's leading translators—including Natasha Wimmer, Edith Grossman, Lawrence Venuti, and Margaret Jull Costa—and has been bringing readers their first look at new talent from around the globe for over 15 years.

Each volume of Two Lines showcases over 20 essential world authors, many from languages rarely translated into English. Now-prominent authors that have graced its pages include Mahmoud Darwish, Antonio Munoz Molina, Merce Rodoreda, Yoko Tawada, Jorge Volpi, Dahlia Ravikovich, and Jose Manuel Prieto.

"We're pleased to see that a business like Amazon.com supports our vision of bringing world literature to English-speaking readers," says Olivia Sears, founder and president of the Center. "Our programs strive to foster a culture of reading and promote dialogue with the world around us, and it's great that Amazon.com embraces the value of these goals and wants to help us reach them."

Incorporated as a nonprofit in 2000, the Center has since come to play an important role both locally and beyond its home in San Francisco, CA. In addition to the success of the Center's publishing efforts, its Poetry Inside Out program has taught thousands of young people the importance of poetry and translation, and it has helped them develop language and critical thinking skills while promoting a cooperative school environment. Lit&Lunch, its flagship event series, gives Bay Area audiences the chance to discover literature from around the globe and interact with the people responsible for it. The Center has also begun to reach new audiences with a weblog and events audio archive, where readers around the world can enjoy the fruits of its work.

The Center's most recent book of world literature, Wherever I Lie Is Your Bed, was published on November 9 of this year and was just named to the IndieBound Indie Next List. More information about the Center's books and programs can be found on this website.

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As featured in San Francisco magazine's "Best Of the Bay Area"

Download the sound file from radio station KALW San Francisco, May 9's "Your Call" show featuring an interview with translator Saadi Simawe and actress Denmo Ibrahim talking about contemporary Iraqi poetry. (54MB zipped .mp3 file)

Two Lines poet featured on PBS Newshour
March 22. Tune into the PBS NewsHour.

TWO LINES #14: World Writing in Translation features Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali's "Revenge," translated by Peter Cole, Yahya Hijazi, and Gabriel Levin. The poem met with an overwhelming response when it was read at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in the fall. Read more here…

Hear the unique voices and poetry of Poetry Inside Out students on KPFA's Cover to Cover. And don't miss the 7th Annual Student Recital on Saturday, May 12 at the San Francisco Public Library main branch's Koret Auditorium.

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At age 9, Berkeley fourth-grader Caroline Maria Woods-Mejia can claim an honor many of her adult peers cannot: She is a published, prize-winning poet.

When she writes, Caroline tells her poetry teacher at Rosa Parks School, "I am in a bubble of fire."

In "Harnessing the Transformative Power of Translation", Directors John Oliver Simon and Michael Ray include samples of student poems to illustrate the creativity that is unleashed in the program.

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CAT mentioned in "Loss in Translation" from Utne magazine, May/June 2003 Issue