The new issue of SOURCE focusing on Lyrical Translating has now been posted.

Featured are Patrick Saari’s intriguing essay on self-translation, culminating with versions of his poem “Dawn” in three languages; signature cartoons by Tony Beckwith, along with his reminiscence of evenings on a roof in San Miguel; Rafa Lombardino’s review of ATA Literary Division conference presentations by Carsten Peters, Attila Piróth, and Jayme Costa Pinto, concluding with an appreciation of “Que de lindo,” the Brazilian version of Cole Porter’s song “It’s De-Lovely”; and Allison Ahlgrim’s review of Mark Herman and Ronnie Apter’s presentation “Translating Art Songs for Performance: Rachmaninoff’s Six Choral Songs.”

We also have a new News and Views section, which will be edited by Traci Andrighetti in future publications.

Our next issue will continue the focus on lyrical translating (songs and poems). We encourage submissions from Asia, Africa, and all other cultures less frequently represented. General submissions for future issues may be sent to Michele McKay Aynesworth.
News and Views submissions go to Traci Andrighetti. The Spring deadline is May 1.

We have an excellent program lined up for you on July 9.

First, Michele McKay Aynesworth will share some of her extraordinary experiences translating Une Saison gâtée [Season of Infamy: The Wartime Diary of Charles Rist 1939-1945]. Then, the Literary Special Interest Group will recap their special event this past January — One Hundred Bottles. If you were lucky enough to attend, you remember translator Achy Obejas regaling the audience with stories about meeting and working with Portela, as well as her work with Junot Diaz and Cuban crime fiction. If you missed it, here is your chance to see some videoclips of the event.

If interpreting is your field, you will enjoy a presentation on the new Texas Remote Interpreter Project. The State Office of Court Administration is implementing this three-year, grant-funded program to provide Texas district and county-level courts with remote foreign language interpreting in civil cases involving family violence between intimate partners. AATIA members Juanita Ulloa and Marco Hanson staff this project and will share first-hand information about it.

Date: Saturday, July 9
Time: 1:00 to 4:00 PM
Place: AATIA Headquarters (map at right)
            International Center of Austin
            201 East 2nd Street
            Austin, TX 78701

We'll see you there!

Dalkey Archive Press and the Center for Translation Studies at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign are continuing their online certificate program designed to help literary translators at any point in their early careers and that will result in the publication of their first book-length translation. This program represents a unique opportunity for young translators to gain invaluable experience as well as produce a translation that will aid them in gaining future work with Dalkey Archive and other publishers. 

Application due date: May 15, 2011

For complete information, click here.

On January 8, AATIA's Literary Special Interest Group presented a literary evening with translator and writer Achy Obejas, whose translation of Ena Lucía Portela's novel One Hundred Bottles was recently published by Austin's own University of Texas Press. 

If you were lucky enough to attend, you remember Obejas regaling the audience with stories about meeting and working with Portela, as well as her work with Junot Diaz and Cuban crime fiction.

If you missed the event, or if you would like to relive some of the more memorable moments, video clips are now available.  Click here to view all twelve. And check this space soon for a link to a full-length video of a very special evening.

Issue 50 of Source, featuring Literary Division highlights from the ATA’s Fall Conference in Denver, is now available. Contributions include a review by Nora Seligman Favorov of the LD’s After Hours Café recitals; an essay by Martha Kosir on “The Echo of Translation, from Poetry to Religion and Fable”; a lyrical fable by Tony Beckwith concerning the song of language; and a humorous recollection by Ann Cefola of her first efforts to translate the work of French poet Hélène Sanguinetti.

The Goethe-Institut New York has established a new prize for translators under 35:

In Fall 2010 the Goethe-Institut New York received a generous donation in memory of Frederick and Grace Gutekunst, with which we have established the Gutekunst Prize for Young Translators. Frederick Gutekunst was professor of German for more than 30 years at Hunter College in New York City. From Frederick Gutekunst’s love of the German language evolved the idea of creating a prize to be awarded to talented young translators of German literature into English.

Learn more about this effort to identify the next generation of outstanding literary translators here.

The application deadline is midnight, February 28, 2011.

This from the HMH Literature in Translation blog:

“Even in a city as literate as Austin, huge gaps remain in our collective knowledge of world-class writers. And it’s this obliviousness of the world beyond our borders that the Austin Area Translators and Interpreters Association works to eradicate: one member, one project, one word at a time.”

I love that I found this link from a blogger living in England.

“HMH” stands for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and this is their recent effort to bring attention to foreign literature in translation—their own and others’.  The quote is from Belinda Acosta’s wonderful article in the December 31 issue of the Austin Chronicle.

The blogger in question is brightonblogger, who tweeted about our Saturday, January 8, event:

Uncorking Cuba: One Hundred Bottles
A literary conversation with author and translator Achy Obejas
7:00 PM at the Mexican American Cultural Center
Doors open at 6:30 PM.  Refreshments and book signing follow.

Hope to see you there!

When esteemed translator Esther Allen was asked by New York magazine to name the best Cuban novel not available in English, she nominated Cien botellas en un pared, by Ena Lucía Portela.

Portela is the author of numerous works of fiction, including this novel, now available in a much-praised English translation by Achy Obejas, published this winter by the University of Texas Press.

Portela is one of the most engaging and successful young writers in Cuba today. At the UNESCO celebrations in Bogotá in 2007, she was named one of the “39 under 39,” a group of 39 writers under age 40 (which also included the U.S.-published Junot Díaz and Daniel Alarcón) who critics believe will shape the next generation of Latin American literature. By then, she had already received the 1999 Juan Rulfo Prize for the best Spanish-language short story that year, and the 2002 Jaén Prize for Cien botellas en una pared.

Join us this Saturday, January 8th, at 7:00 pm, at the Mexican American Cultural Center, for a literary conversation with the novel’s acclaimed translator, Achy Obejas.