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Center for the Art of Translation

@catranslation

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CAT champions literary translation: We publish books @twolinespress, program events in the Bay Area and beyond, and run Poetry Inside Out.

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October 8, 2026 update: We're so excited to announce that our funding is secured! We're working hard now to open our doors in 2027. Stay tuned and sign up for our newsletter (link in bio) for updates on our construction progress, upcoming events, and more! A huge and heartfelt thank you to all our supporters who've stepped up to make this ambitious dream a reality.

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Original post text: After 26 years of producing literary translation programming without a permanent home, the Center for the Art of Translation is launching an ambitious $17 million capital campaign to open a literary and cultural center in Downtown San Francisco. The new space will become a cultural anchor for international voices, translators, and readers.

✨️ Legendary bookseller Paul Yamazaki calls it “the most significant literary event in San Francisco since the opening of City Lights.” ✨️

We’re transforming a historic building into a community hub, the West Coast’s only bookstore dedicated exclusively to translated literature for readers of all ages, and a place for professional development workshops with translators, writers, and teachers, along with after-school workshops for students.

Thanks to support from our core individual donors and philanthropic partners, we’ve raised $13.3 million toward our $17 million goal. Now we’re announcing our public phase of the capital campaign and calling on our community to help us raise the final $3.7 million to make this vision a reality and open our doors in 2027.

To learn more, watch the full video on our website.

#CATCampaign #CAT #LiteratureInTranslation by @catranslation

Join us in celebrating the release of Splendor: Trans Poets, forthcoming on September 1! We invited bookstores across the US and internationally to organize creative readings and events featuring trans and nonbinary poets. These “authorless tour” events–ranging from readings, to workshops, drag shows, open mics, and more–are taking place throughout the months of September and October to uplift trans voices and build international trans solidarity through poetry. See the full tour and details at the link in our bio! 🪼 by @catranslation

Happy Halloween! If you’re looking for scary stories to read this weekend, here’s what we recommend:

🐍 THROUGH THE NIGHT LIKE A SNAKE, featuring multiple authors and translators: Latin American horror stories that are both unconventional and unsettling.

🪦 WOODWORM by Layla Martínez translated by Sophie Hughes and Annie McDermott: Domestic horror meets meets class rage and intergenerational vengeance.

🩸BLOOD IS DRIPPING ONTO THE COURTYARD by Elvira Navarro, translated by Christina MacSweeney: Liminal horror stories about isolation and loneliness where the real and the surreal begin to bleed together.

👻 I WAS ALIVE HERE ONCE, featuring multiple authors and translators: Ghost stories that breathe new life into the genre with tales from Korea, Yemen, Poland, Japan, Uzbekistan, Iceland, Tanzania, and Thailand. by @catranslation

Join us and the @center4fiction on Nov. 11! ✨️ Celebrated author @kawakami_mieko and translator @tokyohitomi launch the English edition of SISTERS IN YELLOW (@aaknopf) as part of Kawakami’s first-ever North American tour.

Translated by Laurel Taylor and Hitomi Yoshio, Kawakami’s novel probes the complexities of trust, friendship, and optimism in the face of betrayal.

All tickets include a signed copy of the novel. In-person tickets guarantee a seat, and Kawakami will sign books after the event.

📍 The Center for Fiction in-person or online 4pm PDT / 7pm EDT. Event link in bio! by @catranslation

Throughout the months of September and October, 12 indie bookstores across the US and internationally partnered with CAT and @twolinespress to celebrate the launch of SPLENDOR: TRANS POETS through a series of community events that drew over 200 attendees in total.

We’ve invited our event partners to share highlights from their readings, workshops, drag shows, and more! and reflect on how these events resonated with their local communities.

Read the roundup at the link in our bio! 🪼

@whitewhalebks, @shopatmatter, @charisbooksandmore, @greenapplebooksonthepark, @belmontbooks, @bricklanebookshop, @thecommonpress

📸 : from our Splendor event @greenapplebooksonthepark by Tommy Lau (@tommysees) by @catranslation

We had an incredible Day of Translation 2026 at the @center4fiction, celebrating the deeply human art of translation! 💫

Thank you to our stellar speakers and to the 500+ readers, translators, and educators who signed up to attend. We left inspired by the insights and engaging conversations shared throughout the day.

This year's panelists included Seta Astreou-Karides, Soleil Davíd, Nichole Gleisner, Zeina G. Halabi, Katharine Halls, Sabrina Jaszi, Kira Josefsson, Paige Aniyah Morris, Frances Riddle, Amanda Sarasien, Ena Selimović, Jeremy Tiang, and Jeffrey Zuckerman and culminated with a keynote by Emily Wilson.

We're grateful to all our participants and The Center for Fiction for their partnership and collaboration bringing this event together.

If you missed the event in person, sign up for our newsletter (link in bio) and we'll share links to the recordings in the coming weeks.

@seta.ak
@thedoorajar
@zeinaghalabi
@k_l__h____
@sabrijasz
@kjokjokjo
@francesriddle11
@amandasarasien
@yugaduga
@jeremy_tiang

📸 : aslanchalom by @catranslation

Happy paperback publication day to Jazmina Barrera’s THE QUEEN OF SWORDS, translated by Christina MacSweeney! Winner of the 2025 Cercador Prize and longlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature, THE QUEEN OF SWORDS is a searching and unconventional biography that attempts to understand the inimitable Elena Garro, writer, dancer, mother, mystic, and above all, an elusive and prolific artist with a complicated life and legacy. 👑⚔️ by @catranslation

In partnership with @catranslation, we’re thrilled to welcome @kawakami_mieko to The Center to launch the English edition of SISTERS IN YELLOW (@aaknopf), translated by Laurel Taylor and @tokyohitomi, as part of Kawakami’s first-ever North American tour.

📖 Amid the gritty chaos of 1990s Tokyo, 15-year-old Hana and her older friend Kimiko open a bar that becomes a haven, giving Hana the friends, work, and money she's always dreamed of. But as she descends further into the city’s nightlife, Hana’s hope, optimism, and drive are pushed to the limit.

Tickets to this event include a signed copy of ‘Sisters in Yellow.’ Get yours ASAP at the ‘Events’ link in our bio! by @catranslation

"I’ve expanded my understanding of translation to include a concept that I am calling 'collective epistemic responsibility' (a shared responsibility to translate the poem and render its meaning)." —Jie Park, Associate Professor of Education at Clark University

Editors of "Translating Words, Creating Worlds," Mark Hauber & Jie Park, share how they put the first Poetry Inside Out book together and their personal experiences working with students and educators through the Center for the Art of Translation's education program.

Read the interview at the link in our bio! And the book is out now from @myers_education_press. by @catranslation

Translate poems from all over the world at our Lit Crawl: So You Think You Can('t) Translate event in San Francisco this weekend! ✍️

Join us this Saturday, October 24, 6:30 pm at @826valencia for a fun workshop led by our 2025-2027 Poetry Inside Out Teaching Fellows and geared toward youth ages 12-18 (but all ages welcome!). This event will include guided lessons in translation (no 2nd language or prior translation experience required), conversations around meaning and close-reading, and spontaneous performance for youth writers. No registration required. See the link in our bio to learn more about this and all our future fall events with @litquake and other partners. by @catranslation

What a night! 📚

Thank you to everyone who joined us for (Un)Writing Place, a conversation between author Lin Hierse and translator Dr. Jon Cho-Polizzi on language, place, and belonging.

Together they talked about the German and Chinese entanglements in Lin’s writing, the role of Chinatowns across the diaspora, and what happens when her work travels into English through translation. The conversation didn’t end when the talk did. Many of you stayed long afterward with questions and to chat with Lin and Jon. That’s exactly the kind of evening we love. 💚

Thank you, @linhierse and @jpolizei for such an inspiring conversation!

#Goethelnstitut #Translation #GermanLiterature #SanFrancisco by @catranslation

“The night my father died, my brother and I ended up in the car, because by then it was dark, almost eleven o’clock, the shock had passed, we’d drunk the bitter tea the nurse made and reluctantly downed the sugar lumps she offered to help us cope, and there was nothing left to do but go home. In the end, with or without sugar, we coped not too badly, not badly at all, even. Actually, it was odd how well we were coping; I never would have believed it if you’d told me.“—from the opening of Anne Pauly’s BEFORE I FORGET, translated by Dina Leifer and winner of the 2025 Stevns Prize.

If you’re in Boston, don’t miss Anne Pauly’s @bostonbookfest event with Bruno Perreau this Saturday at 1pm. Find the event and registration details at the link in our bio 💚 by @catranslation