All Things Translation—January 2024 at CAT

2024 marks the Year of the Dragon, my friends, and even if I feel like I am breathing fire, I promise my colleagues and I don’t want to burn everything to the ground. (Maybe just a few things?)

As we cast our dragon eyes over the land—er, over the year ahead—I’m pleased to say we’ve got incredible things lined up for you. The treasures we’re guarding are excellent books: debuts from Swiss author Rebecca Gisler (About Uncle) and Spanish novelist Layla Martínez (Woodworm); a spectacular collection of Latin American horror stories (Through the Night Like a Snake); 2023 National Book Award-finalist Astrid Roemer’s family epic Off-White; a dazzling book of short work by the “bilious and bleakly funny” Wolfgang Hilbig (Under the Neomoon); an exquisitely melancholy selection of Romanian poetry (Cigarettes Until Tomorrow); “the best Finnish writer alive,” Pirkko Saisio’s Lowest Common Denominator; Croatian author Damir Karakaš’s damning Celebration; and Johannes Anyuru’s brilliant and timely AI-inflected novel Ixelles.

Have I mentioned that now is a great time to subscribe to Two Lines Press? Now is a great time to subscribe to Two Lines Press.

We’re planning a memorable season of in-person and online events with authors and translators (keep an eye on our events page for details), and you’ll hear more from Poetry Inside Out’s Teaching Fellows, who are enriching student experiences around the country by translating poetry with them. You’ll also have several opportunities to catch up with us in person: at AWP in Kansas City, Winter Institute in Cincinnati, the Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley, the American Library Association’s Annual Conference in San Diego, and the Brooklyn Book Festival, among other appearances.

As a final note, I have to express my heartfelt gratitude for your generosity during our year-end fundraising drive. Thank you! Your contributions have made it possible for us to start 2024 on secure financial footing—and we promise to honor your trust with updates on our ambitions, accomplishments, and thrilling plans. (If you weren’t able to donate before December 31, there’s still time to give to support our work in 2024.)

If dragons are symbols of supernatural wisdom, strength, and hidden knowledge, we couldn’t be more excited to cultivate these qualities with you, our daring and delightful community of readers, writers, translators, educators, and students. I can’t wait to connect with you online or in person soon.

With fiery good wishes, as ever,

Michael Holtmann, Executive Director & Publisher

1. Rock it at AWP. We’ll be in Kansas City from February 7 to 10 at the annual Association of Writers & Writing Program Conference, and we hope you’ll stop by our table and say hello!

2. Publish another great catalog of books in translation. Two Lines Press has a varied catalog this year, from a paperback version of Jazmina Barrera’s Cross-Stitch to a Calico filled with Latin American horror stories. 

3. Host some amazing events around the world. Mark your calendars for February 6, our first event of the year—streaming online and happening live in San Francisco! Acclaimed French poet, translator, and translator-theorist Mireille Gansel joins Joan Seliger Sidney for a reading and discussion of Gansel’s first book of her poetry in English translation, Soul House, and a conversation about the nature of language and the splendors and limitations of translation. 

In ten chilling stories from this ensemble cast of contemporary Latin American writers, horror infiltrates the unexpected, taboo regions of the present-day psyche. Latin American horror is having a moment. Through the Night Like a Snake, the latest in our Calico Series, is an attempt to capture that energy, however eerie or plain terrifying it appears on the page. With writings from celebrated horror practitioners like Mariana Enriquez (Our Share of Night), Mónica Ojeda (Jawbone), Camila Sosa Villada (Bad Girls) and many others, Through the Night Like a Snake arrives in pitch-perfect English translation, courtesy of translators Sarah Booker, Megan McDowell, Ellen Jones, Kit Maude, Julia Sanches, and others.

If you preorder before the stroke of midnight on January 16, you can bundle your copy with exclusive, limited-edition merch! We have T-shirts, tote bags, stickers—all with an horrifyingly awesome design.

The Center for the Art of Translation enriches the library of vital literary works, nurtures and promotes the work of translators, builds audiences for literature in translation, and honors the incredible linguistic and cultural diversity of our schools and our world. Invest in the future of literature in translation with a donation today!