Left to itself, every literature will exhaust its vitality if it is not refreshed by the interest and contributions of a foreign one.
— Goethe, 1827.

This belief that international literature plays a vital role in book culture is one that is shared by all the publishers and booksellers involved in Reading the World, a celebration of literature in translation to be held at BookPeople on Friday, June 6.

Noted Russian translator Marian Schwartz will moderate the hour-long program, which begins at 7 p.m. and will consist of three parts:

1. Liliana Valenzuela reading from her translation from English into Spanish: Cristina Garcia, A Handbook to Luck/Las Caras de la Suerte

2. Cristina Ferreira-Pinto Bailey reading from her translation from Portuguese: Teeth Under the Sun by Ignácio de Loyola Brandão (Dalkey Archive P, 2007).

3. Michele McKay Aynesworth presenting Beacons, the literary journal of the American Translators Association, with readings by the following: Liliana Valenzuela, Tony Beckwith, and Rob Cogswell and his translator, Horacio Peña.

This event is hosted by the Austin Area Translators and Interpreters Association. 

Source, the Newsletter of the ATA’s Literary Division, will take the form of an online newsletter and has issued a call for submissions for its August 2008 issue.

The newsletter provides “a forum for activities, issues, and humor pertaining to the tricky craft of literary translation.” It seeks contributions of general interest to literary translators: reviews, news, articles of general interest, interviews, photos, cartoons, fora, and conundra.

If you would like to host a regular column or wish to contribute to the August issue—deadline for submissions is June 15—contact Editor Michele Aynesworth.

The Translation Company Division (TCD) of the American Translators Association will hold its 9th Annual Conference July 17-20, 2008, in a Rocky Mountain setting at the Inverness Hotel and Conference Center in Englewood, Colorado. The theme will be "TCD in the Rockies: Translation with Altitude."

• Thursday evening reception and banquet
• Two days (Friday and Saturday) of informative educational sessions tailored to the needs and concerns of translation company owners and managers
• Topics include industry trends, workflow tools, project management, sales and marketing, and behavioral interviewing
• Plenty of time and opportunity for networking, networking, and more networking!
• Optional Friday or Saturday evening activity in Denver, The Mile High City
• Sunday morning buffet breakfast

If you’ve been dragging your feet about registering for the information session on ATA certification, drag them no longer! The registration deadline is Monday, February 25th. Contact Laura Vlasman, ATA Certification Coordinator for AATIA, for more information.

AATIA will host an information session on the American Translators Association (ATA) translator certification program on March 1, 2008, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. The session will include general information about ATA certification and specific tips on preparing for and taking the certification exam. No practice tests will be given during the information session, but sample test passages in a variety of languages will be available for participants to take and use for practice on their own.

This session is intended both for candidates who are planning to sit for the ATA certification exam in Austin on April 12, 2008, and for potential candidates who want to learn more about the exam before taking the plunge.

The session will be held at the International Center of Austin, 201 E. 2nd St. Download more information about the session and a registration form. The registration fee for AATIA members is $25. Non-members pay $30. The fee includes a packet of materials containing general information on the ATA certification program and exam, together with language-specific tips for candidates and samples of previous exam passages.

Esther Diaz will speak on Demystifying Cardiovascular Terminology at a medical seminar in Houston on February 23–24, 2008, sponsored by the American Translators Association and its regional affiliate, the Houston Interpreters and Translators Association (HITA). This professional development event targets experienced translators and interpreters who are seeking advanced-level continuing education:

• Overcome the unique challenges when translating for the healthcare consumer
• Learn to use the appropriate register, protect patient rights, and follow government regulations
• Effectively translate examination notes, prescriptions, autopsy reports, and other medical records
• Understand cardiovascular procedures to achieve an accurate translation

An ATA certification exam sitting will be offered on Sunday, February 24. Separate registration is required for the exam. ATA-certified translators can earn 9 Continuing Education Points for attending both days of this seminar.

The American Translators Association has called for presentation proposals for its 49th Annual Conference, to be held at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, November 5–8, 2008.

Proposals are invited on topics in all areas of translation and interpreting, including the following: Financial Translation and Interpreting; Independent Contractors; Interpreting; Language Services Providers; Language-specific Sessions; Language Technology; Legal Translation and Interpreting; Literary; Media; Medical Translation and Interpreting; Science and Technology; Terminology; and Training and Pedagogy.

Submission deadline is March 14, 2008.

At the meeting on Saturday (Jan 5), during the announcements, I announced the passing of our colleague and friend, Leslie Willson. I quoted from Mike Conner’s earlier posting and to some extent from the obituary in the paper, which gave a few insights into Leslie’s life.

His story reminds us of the myriad ways in which translators find their languages and their destiny: World War II interrupted Leslie’s plans for a writing career and he left the University of Texas to join the army, where he discovered he had a gift for German, in which he soon became fluent. He was later assigned to a top secret operation known only by its mailing address “P. O. Box 1142” where he and others used their language skills to great effect in the war effort.

That sounds like a blurb for a great movie, one of those black-&-white ones with steely-jawed men in fedoras and women who always used a really long cigarette holder, dahling! In his photo, Leslie looks as though he starred in his own movie – which sounds like one definition of a happy life.

When I finished reading about him, I asked the old question: Where do old translators go? And it occurred to me that old translators never die because they live on in their works. Not just in literary translations of books and poems, but in the countless documents of all kinds that translators work on day to day. The manuals and labels and patents and contracts. The signs and forms and letters and birth certificates. The brochures and instructions and warnings and all the fine print that nobody ever reads.

All those words were one day invoked by a translator and thenceforth entered the canon of their time and space as the issue of their creators – as the fruit of their lives, the essence of their very own synthesis, an expression of their being. Translators make the world a little more understandable, which is an honorable occupation. Leslie Willson did, and we salute him for it.