American Literary Translators Association
@littranslate.bsky.social
The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) promotes literary translation through advocacy, education and services to literary translators.
https://literarytranslators.org/
https://literarytranslators.org/
Pinned
📣 Submissions for the 2026 ALTA awards are open!
Publisher and translators: Submit works published in 2025 to our book prizes 🏆
Emerging translators: Apply to the 2026 Travel Fellowships to get to the ALTA49 conference in Portland, OR ✈️
Submissions close on March 16! Learn more: buff.ly/x2W71cx
Publisher and translators: Submit works published in 2025 to our book prizes 🏆
Emerging translators: Apply to the 2026 Travel Fellowships to get to the ALTA49 conference in Portland, OR ✈️
Submissions close on March 16! Learn more: buff.ly/x2W71cx
“A very timely reminder of [...] the dreadful consequences of the blind belief that might is right, however many people’s lives are destroyed.”
Translator Nick Caistor speaks about WINTER WARRIORS by Olivier Norek and thedifficulties of its translation. At @ocregister.bsky.social:
Translator Nick Caistor speaks about WINTER WARRIORS by Olivier Norek and thedifficulties of its translation. At @ocregister.bsky.social:
Why Olivier Norek’s ‘Winter Warriors’ is a ‘timely’ book, says its translator
Plus, the Caldecott, Newbery and Coretta Scott King awards honored a range of books for young people this week.
www.ocregister.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:02 PM
“A very timely reminder of [...] the dreadful consequences of the blind belief that might is right, however many people’s lives are destroyed.”
Translator Nick Caistor speaks about WINTER WARRIORS by Olivier Norek and thedifficulties of its translation. At @ocregister.bsky.social:
Translator Nick Caistor speaks about WINTER WARRIORS by Olivier Norek and thedifficulties of its translation. At @ocregister.bsky.social:
🎉 The winners of the PEN Translates awards from English PEN have been announced! Congratulations to all on this list, including ALTA members Soleil David, Daniel Hahn, Tony Hao, Dominique Hoffman, Elisabeth Jaquette, and past ALTA mentees Natascha Bruce and Poorna Swami!
PEN Translates winners announced - News & Events - English PEN
Browse the latest news and events from English PEN News Events
www.englishpen.org
February 6, 2026 at 2:02 PM
🎉 The winners of the PEN Translates awards from English PEN have been announced! Congratulations to all on this list, including ALTA members Soleil David, Daniel Hahn, Tony Hao, Dominique Hoffman, Elisabeth Jaquette, and past ALTA mentees Natascha Bruce and Poorna Swami!
We are delighted to team up with the Fine Arts Work Center to offer this (free!) event, "Human Translators in the Age of AI," to be held 3/19 at 6pm ET! Feat. Shelley Fairweather-Vega, Ian Giles, Umair Kazi & Kristen Renee Miller, moderated by Chenxin Jiang. More info here: buff.ly/fVccQNF
February 5, 2026 at 9:30 PM
We are delighted to team up with the Fine Arts Work Center to offer this (free!) event, "Human Translators in the Age of AI," to be held 3/19 at 6pm ET! Feat. Shelley Fairweather-Vega, Ian Giles, Umair Kazi & Kristen Renee Miller, moderated by Chenxin Jiang. More info here: buff.ly/fVccQNF
Fresh off the presses! Take a look at these new translations to add to your TBR, including a translation by ALTA member Philip Boehm. At @theguardian.com:
The best recent translated fiction – review roundup
White Moss by Anna Nerkagi | The Old Fire by Elisa Shua Dusapin | The Roof Beneath Their Feet by Geetanjali Shree | Berlin Shuffle by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz
www.theguardian.com
February 5, 2026 at 3:04 PM
Fresh off the presses! Take a look at these new translations to add to your TBR, including a translation by ALTA member Philip Boehm. At @theguardian.com:
Reposted by American Literary Translators Association
The only organization in the United States devoted exclusively to literary translators, the @littranslate.bsky.social’s mission is to advance the art of literary translation & connect students, teachers, publishers & readers of translation. Bookfair booth 1066!
January 29, 2026 at 7:01 PM
The only organization in the United States devoted exclusively to literary translators, the @littranslate.bsky.social’s mission is to advance the art of literary translation & connect students, teachers, publishers & readers of translation. Bookfair booth 1066!
“And maybe that’s the power of silence: it keeps you isolated, makes you into an island that survives in spite of the waves of fools crashing all around you.”
The persistent hopelessness of Fernanda Melchor’s EATING ASHES is vivid in Megan McDowell’s lyrical translation. At LARB:
The persistent hopelessness of Fernanda Melchor’s EATING ASHES is vivid in Megan McDowell’s lyrical translation. At LARB:
We Lived Inside Sadness Itself | Los Angeles Review of Books
On Brenda Navarro’s novel ‘Eating Ashes,’ newly translated by Megan McDowell.
lareviewofbooks.org
February 4, 2026 at 3:01 PM
“And maybe that’s the power of silence: it keeps you isolated, makes you into an island that survives in spite of the waves of fools crashing all around you.”
The persistent hopelessness of Fernanda Melchor’s EATING ASHES is vivid in Megan McDowell’s lyrical translation. At LARB:
The persistent hopelessness of Fernanda Melchor’s EATING ASHES is vivid in Megan McDowell’s lyrical translation. At LARB:
Looking to read more international literature written by women? Check out these six great picks in translation, featuring books translated by former ALTA Award Winners Lin King (2025) and Martin Aitken (2022), as well as 2026 ALTA Mentor Deepa Bhasti. At the California Aggie:
A beginner’s guide to reading women in translation | The Aggie
Davis, California
theaggie.org
February 3, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Looking to read more international literature written by women? Check out these six great picks in translation, featuring books translated by former ALTA Award Winners Lin King (2025) and Martin Aitken (2022), as well as 2026 ALTA Mentor Deepa Bhasti. At the California Aggie:
“The steppe bombards you, and in the cabin of the truck you lie as though naked, looking through the dark window.”
Check out former ALTA Travel Fellow Elina Alter’s vivid translation of STEPPE by Oksana Vasyakina. At @literaryhub.bsky.social: lithub.com/steppe/
Check out former ALTA Travel Fellow Elina Alter’s vivid translation of STEPPE by Oksana Vasyakina. At @literaryhub.bsky.social: lithub.com/steppe/
Steppe
I’ve seen the steppe from the window of an airplane. Do you know what it looks like? The steppe looks like a sinewy piece of yellow meat. Dark-orange lines, like heavy serpents, stripe the sands, g…
lithub.com
February 2, 2026 at 3:02 PM
“The steppe bombards you, and in the cabin of the truck you lie as though naked, looking through the dark window.”
Check out former ALTA Travel Fellow Elina Alter’s vivid translation of STEPPE by Oksana Vasyakina. At @literaryhub.bsky.social: lithub.com/steppe/
Check out former ALTA Travel Fellow Elina Alter’s vivid translation of STEPPE by Oksana Vasyakina. At @literaryhub.bsky.social: lithub.com/steppe/
“I don’t think AI can translate the unpredictability of poetry, the linguistic surprises.”
Dong Li, who was in residence at Princeton’s Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication in fall 2025, speaks about recognizing the creative labor of translators. At Princeton: buff.ly/kdpG6cr
Dong Li, who was in residence at Princeton’s Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication in fall 2025, speaks about recognizing the creative labor of translators. At Princeton: buff.ly/kdpG6cr
Q&A: Languages Expert Dong Li Explains the ‘Living’ Craft of Translation
‘I don’t think AI can translate the unpredictability of poetry, the linguistic surprises’
paw.princeton.edu
January 30, 2026 at 3:04 PM
“I don’t think AI can translate the unpredictability of poetry, the linguistic surprises.”
Dong Li, who was in residence at Princeton’s Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication in fall 2025, speaks about recognizing the creative labor of translators. At Princeton: buff.ly/kdpG6cr
Dong Li, who was in residence at Princeton’s Program in Translation and Intercultural Communication in fall 2025, speaks about recognizing the creative labor of translators. At Princeton: buff.ly/kdpG6cr
In her review of J.M. Coetzee and Mariana Dimópulos’s SPEAKING IN TONGUES, translator Chloe Garcia Roberts reflects on “the paradox of language [...] to love the language fate has consigned you, while also acknowledging its destructive tendencies.” At LA Review of Books: buff.ly/hcTtN4A
Has English Killed Global Literature? | Los Angeles Review of Books
Chloe Garcia Roberts considers J. M. Coetzee and Mariana Dimópulos’s new book on translation.
lareviewofbooks.org
January 29, 2026 at 3:03 PM
In her review of J.M. Coetzee and Mariana Dimópulos’s SPEAKING IN TONGUES, translator Chloe Garcia Roberts reflects on “the paradox of language [...] to love the language fate has consigned you, while also acknowledging its destructive tendencies.” At LA Review of Books: buff.ly/hcTtN4A
"Every adverb is Tuesday for some of us, and a body part for some, maybe more than just one.”
Read Thiri Zune’s haunting translation of Nay Thit’s poem “The Language I Don’t Speak” at Asymptote: buff.ly/LsNRYP1
Read Thiri Zune’s haunting translation of Nay Thit’s poem “The Language I Don’t Speak” at Asymptote: buff.ly/LsNRYP1
The Language I Don’t Speak - Asymptote
(1)I wake up inside the mouth of The Language I Don’t Speak.The Language I Don’t Speak tries to make us take the precepts. While acting like It is speaking to us, It tries to talk to others about us.…
www.asymptotejournal.com
January 28, 2026 at 3:05 PM
"Every adverb is Tuesday for some of us, and a body part for some, maybe more than just one.”
Read Thiri Zune’s haunting translation of Nay Thit’s poem “The Language I Don’t Speak” at Asymptote: buff.ly/LsNRYP1
Read Thiri Zune’s haunting translation of Nay Thit’s poem “The Language I Don’t Speak” at Asymptote: buff.ly/LsNRYP1
Reposted by American Literary Translators Association
We are excited to open applications for a UK-based Translator in Residence working with/in Endangered Languages.
Find full details, including fee and residency requirements, below.
Application deadline: 15 February, 2026
buff.ly/yibsATf
Find full details, including fee and residency requirements, below.
Application deadline: 15 February, 2026
buff.ly/yibsATf
January 15, 2026 at 1:01 PM
We are excited to open applications for a UK-based Translator in Residence working with/in Endangered Languages.
Find full details, including fee and residency requirements, below.
Application deadline: 15 February, 2026
buff.ly/yibsATf
Find full details, including fee and residency requirements, below.
Application deadline: 15 February, 2026
buff.ly/yibsATf
Study literary translation at the 12th Annual Bread Loaf Translators' Conference in Vermont's Green Mountains, June 14-20! You'll get the chance to meet editors from presses there, including Two Lines Press, FSG, and Yale University Press. Rolling apps end 3/15: buff.ly/y2RUhju
January 27, 2026 at 3:02 PM
Study literary translation at the 12th Annual Bread Loaf Translators' Conference in Vermont's Green Mountains, June 14-20! You'll get the chance to meet editors from presses there, including Two Lines Press, FSG, and Yale University Press. Rolling apps end 3/15: buff.ly/y2RUhju
ALTA’s presence at the conference and bookfair would not be possible without the hard work of volunteers! Apply to be a volunteer with ALTA in exchange for conference registration at AWP26 (held March 5-7 in Baltimore, MD) by next Monday, February 2! Learn more and apply here:
ALTA
A L T A
literarytranslators.org
January 26, 2026 at 9:30 PM
ALTA’s presence at the conference and bookfair would not be possible without the hard work of volunteers! Apply to be a volunteer with ALTA in exchange for conference registration at AWP26 (held March 5-7 in Baltimore, MD) by next Monday, February 2! Learn more and apply here:
Looking for new fiction to read? Check out this January Watchlist, featuring ALTA member Maren Baudet-Lackner’s translation of THE AQUATICS by Osvalde Lewat. At Words Without Borders / @wwborders.bsky.social: buff.ly/dsBoLng
The Watchlist: January 2026 - Words Without Borders
Tobias Carroll recommends novels from Cameroon, Colombia, Russia, and more, plus the newest from Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk.
wordswithoutborders.org
January 26, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Looking for new fiction to read? Check out this January Watchlist, featuring ALTA member Maren Baudet-Lackner’s translation of THE AQUATICS by Osvalde Lewat. At Words Without Borders / @wwborders.bsky.social: buff.ly/dsBoLng
“Intensely poetic, yet deeply grounded, Honey Hunger reveals the layers of contemporary Oman through voices that are often unheard.”
Marilyn Booth has won the 2025 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for her translation of Zahran Alqasmi’s HONEY HUNGER. At the Banipal Trust:
Marilyn Booth has won the 2025 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for her translation of Zahran Alqasmi’s HONEY HUNGER. At the Banipal Trust:
Banipal Trust for Arab Literature - The Banipal Translation Prize - The 2025 Award
The Trust supports the deepening and enriching of cultural dialogue between the Arab world and the West (particularly Europe and North America) in order to bring the literature of today's Arab…
www.banipaltrust.org.uk
January 23, 2026 at 3:03 PM
“Intensely poetic, yet deeply grounded, Honey Hunger reveals the layers of contemporary Oman through voices that are often unheard.”
Marilyn Booth has won the 2025 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for her translation of Zahran Alqasmi’s HONEY HUNGER. At the Banipal Trust:
Marilyn Booth has won the 2025 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for her translation of Zahran Alqasmi’s HONEY HUNGER. At the Banipal Trust:
🎉 The National Book Critics Circle Awards finalists are here! Congratulations to all on these lists, including ALTA member Paige Aniyah Morris, 2026 ALTA mentor Deepa Bhasthi, and past National Translation Award winner Martin Aitken! www.bookcritics.org/awards/
January 22, 2026 at 3:30 PM
🎉 The National Book Critics Circle Awards finalists are here! Congratulations to all on these lists, including ALTA member Paige Aniyah Morris, 2026 ALTA mentor Deepa Bhasthi, and past National Translation Award winner Martin Aitken! www.bookcritics.org/awards/
Take out your calendars and mark the dates. The Service95 Book Club has released a list of 21 must-read books coming out in 2026, including a translation by ALTA member Izidora Angel. No one’s TBR list is safe! At Service95:
The 21 Must-Read Books To Have On Your Radar In 2026
Discover the best new books of 2026 with our guide to the most-anticipated new releases each month this year.
service95.com
January 22, 2026 at 3:02 PM
Take out your calendars and mark the dates. The Service95 Book Club has released a list of 21 must-read books coming out in 2026, including a translation by ALTA member Izidora Angel. No one’s TBR list is safe! At Service95:
Looking for a horror novel to haunt your dreams? Mariana Enriquez’s OUR SHARE OF NIGHT, translated by Megan McDowell, is just that. Check out S. Zainab Williams’s review of the translation at Book Riot:
The Literary Horror Novel in Translation That Will Forever Haunt Me
This literary horror novel in translation will forever haunt me. It's as nuanced and compelling as it is brutally explicit.
bookriot.com
January 21, 2026 at 3:02 PM
Looking for a horror novel to haunt your dreams? Mariana Enriquez’s OUR SHARE OF NIGHT, translated by Megan McDowell, is just that. Check out S. Zainab Williams’s review of the translation at Book Riot:
“Translation for me is just one of the ways in which I choose to express myself.”
ALTA 2026 Mentor Deepa Bhasthi shares her thoughts on multilingualism and translation in HEART LAMP and beyond. At t2ONLINE:
ALTA 2026 Mentor Deepa Bhasthi shares her thoughts on multilingualism and translation in HEART LAMP and beyond. At t2ONLINE:
Deepa Bhasthi on translation, beyond the world of Heart Lamp
Deepa Bhasthi on translation, beyond the world of Heart Lamp
t2online.in
January 20, 2026 at 3:00 PM
“Translation for me is just one of the ways in which I choose to express myself.”
ALTA 2026 Mentor Deepa Bhasthi shares her thoughts on multilingualism and translation in HEART LAMP and beyond. At t2ONLINE:
ALTA 2026 Mentor Deepa Bhasthi shares her thoughts on multilingualism and translation in HEART LAMP and beyond. At t2ONLINE:
“[I]n a sense, a translator is always like a fan. You’re always in this position of admiration, but you are also emulating the author.”
Sarah Gear interviews translator Jen Calleja on the art, politics, and livelihood of literary translation. At Asymptote: buff.ly/3WmFKtX
Sarah Gear interviews translator Jen Calleja on the art, politics, and livelihood of literary translation. At Asymptote: buff.ly/3WmFKtX
An Interview with Jen Calleja - Asymptote
I met with Jen Calleja—author, musician and translator from German extraordinaire—at the Edinburgh International Book Festival where she was taking part in two events. In the first, she appeared…
buff.ly
January 16, 2026 at 3:02 PM
“[I]n a sense, a translator is always like a fan. You’re always in this position of admiration, but you are also emulating the author.”
Sarah Gear interviews translator Jen Calleja on the art, politics, and livelihood of literary translation. At Asymptote: buff.ly/3WmFKtX
Sarah Gear interviews translator Jen Calleja on the art, politics, and livelihood of literary translation. At Asymptote: buff.ly/3WmFKtX
“Among everything, / the hand searches for skin / stone / water and earth.”
Alec Schumacher, longlisted for the 2020 National Translation Award in Poetry, translates five poems from Carlos Cociña’s SERVED WATERS. At Latin American Literature Today: buff.ly/v5U2Ujd
Alec Schumacher, longlisted for the 2020 National Translation Award in Poetry, translates five poems from Carlos Cociña’s SERVED WATERS. At Latin American Literature Today: buff.ly/v5U2Ujd
Five Poems from Served Waters - Latin American Literature Today
The contours are dissolved by the palm.
buff.ly
January 15, 2026 at 3:04 PM
“Among everything, / the hand searches for skin / stone / water and earth.”
Alec Schumacher, longlisted for the 2020 National Translation Award in Poetry, translates five poems from Carlos Cociña’s SERVED WATERS. At Latin American Literature Today: buff.ly/v5U2Ujd
Alec Schumacher, longlisted for the 2020 National Translation Award in Poetry, translates five poems from Carlos Cociña’s SERVED WATERS. At Latin American Literature Today: buff.ly/v5U2Ujd
“Whether palm reading or some other method, in the end I think they might all be looking at the same thing. The repetitions of the day-to-day. The evidence of a life.”
Read Heidi Clark’s stunning translation of Nakanishi Morina’s “Dried Seaweed at Midnight” at Asymptote:
Read Heidi Clark’s stunning translation of Nakanishi Morina’s “Dried Seaweed at Midnight” at Asymptote:
Dried Seaweed at Midnight - Asymptote
I hold my hands aloft.How many hours do people waste in a lifetime over this sort of action?Do I mean people, or do I mean normal people, people who aren’t me?I am sitting on a black, rectangular…
www.asymptotejournal.com
January 14, 2026 at 3:04 PM
“Whether palm reading or some other method, in the end I think they might all be looking at the same thing. The repetitions of the day-to-day. The evidence of a life.”
Read Heidi Clark’s stunning translation of Nakanishi Morina’s “Dried Seaweed at Midnight” at Asymptote:
Read Heidi Clark’s stunning translation of Nakanishi Morina’s “Dried Seaweed at Midnight” at Asymptote:
Reposted by American Literary Translators Association
Tomorrow, 1/15 ‼️ Join us for 𝑶𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒐𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒚, an *in-person* lecture and discussion led by noted translator Alexis Levitin 💫 #xl8 @littranslate.bsky.social
⏰ January 15, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
📍 At Folio 👉 93 Pike St # 307, Seattle, WA 98101
🙋 Info & RSVP 🔗 notisnet.org/event-6468397
⏰ January 15, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
📍 At Folio 👉 93 Pike St # 307, Seattle, WA 98101
🙋 Info & RSVP 🔗 notisnet.org/event-6468397
Northwest Translators and Interpreters Society - Lecture by Translator Alexis Levitin
notisnet.org
January 14, 2026 at 12:35 PM
Tomorrow, 1/15 ‼️ Join us for 𝑶𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑷𝒐𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒚, an *in-person* lecture and discussion led by noted translator Alexis Levitin 💫 #xl8 @littranslate.bsky.social
⏰ January 15, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
📍 At Folio 👉 93 Pike St # 307, Seattle, WA 98101
🙋 Info & RSVP 🔗 notisnet.org/event-6468397
⏰ January 15, 5:30–7:30 p.m.
📍 At Folio 👉 93 Pike St # 307, Seattle, WA 98101
🙋 Info & RSVP 🔗 notisnet.org/event-6468397
Author Hwang Bo-reum reflects on the power of the question “What have you been reading?” in an essay translated by Shanna Tan. At World Literature Today: buff.ly/BkK4hTU
What Have You Been Reading? by Hwang Bo-reum
“There are some books we meet in life that feel like falling in love; we think of them all the time.”
worldliteraturetoday.org
January 13, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Author Hwang Bo-reum reflects on the power of the question “What have you been reading?” in an essay translated by Shanna Tan. At World Literature Today: buff.ly/BkK4hTU