At the July membership meeting AATIA President Michael Blumenthal welcomed Jonathan Cole to the Board of Directors as Interim Director of Finance and thanked outgoing board member Al Favela for his years of service as Finance Director.

Approximately 50 members and guests attended the meeting, which featured Marianne Martinez, International Program Coordinator for the City of Austin, who gave a fascinating presentation on the Sister Cities program housed at the International Center of Austin.  The concept of International Sister Cities, the umbrella program, was first introduced by President Eisenhower to build international relationships and promote global exchange. 

Austin has ten Sister Cities: Adelaide, Australia; Koblenz, Germany; Lima, Peru; Maseru, Lesotho; Oita, Japan; Saltillo, Mexico; Taichung, Taiwan; Xishuangbann, China; Old Orlu, Nigeria; and Gwangmyeong, Korea.

Secretary Julie Nordskog introduced Nominating Committee members Carlota Grimes (Chair), Marco Hansen, and Carolina Modesto. She also encouraged members to contact a committee member or herself in order to run and/or suggest candidates for the 2009 Board of Directors.  The deadline for nominations is August 15.

The City of Austin will host a Small & Minority Business Resources “Certification 101 Workshop” on Wednesday, July 9th, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., at 625 E. 10th Street, Room 105.

• Find out more about the requirements and benefits of obtaining your Minority-Owned Business Enterprise and/or Women-Owned Business Enterprise Certification (MBE/WBE) through the City of Austin Procurement Program.
• Learn about Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Certification
• Work with the City’s Vendor Registration Department to add or update your information on the Vendor Registration System.

“In addition to becoming certified for City minority and women-owned business procurement opportunities, Small & Minority Business Resources can help businesses with certification as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, used in federal transportation and aviation projects, as well as the Historically Underutilized Business Program, which encompasses the state of Texas procurement opportunities,” said SMBR Director Stephen Elkins.

RSVP to Blender Hill at 512.974.7677.

Marianne Martinez of the Austin Sister Cities program will be one of the featured speakers at AATIA’s next member meeting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, July 12. The broad goals of the program are to foster friendly relations and promote understanding between the people of Austin and the citizens of our sister cities around the world.

This program is designed to contribute to the educational, cultural, social, and economic presence of the City of Austin in the international community of nations. You may have noticed the related displays at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

The meeting, to be held at the Austin History Center (9th & Guadalupe), will have the usual high-quality networking, top-notch refreshments, and other meeting segments, which will be announced here as the details surface.

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.