Theatre Without Borders

                              December 2009
 What's HappeningPromoting International LiteratureFrom the WWB BlogBookshelf: New ReviewsUpcomng Events 
 
  December 2009: International Science Fiction

From Man from Mars by Stanisław Lem, translated from the Polish by Peter Swirski

Balloon to Solaris by Tomasz Kołodziejczak, translated from the Polish by Stanley Bill

From 2017 by Olga Slavnikova,translated from the Russian by Marian Schwartz

Sentimental Education by Zoran Zivković, translated from the Serbian by Alice Copple-Tosić

From The Stories of Ibisby Hiroshi Yamamoto, translated from the Japanese by Takami Nieda

A Visit from Alcibiades by Machado de Assis, translated from the Portuguese by Clifford E. Landers

From Ball Lightning by Liu Cixin, translated from the Chinese by Joel Martinsen

From Key of Passage by Tomasz Kołodziejczak, translated from the Polish by Michael Kandel

Reflections by Pablo A. Castro, translated from the Spanish by Andrea Bell

Tilism-e-Hoshruba by Muhammad Husain Jah, translated from the Urdu by Musharraf Ali Farooqi
 

 
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 Dear Friends, 
 
While translating and publishing international literature is at the heart of the mission Words without Borders, we also work to expand the market for writing in translation and to reach new readers. That's why in 2010 we're launching several new initiatives to promote international literature. 

The first two are newsletters. "Found in Translation: The WWB Quarterly Review of Books" will be launched in March 2010 and will include reviews from the site, recommendations from authors, translators, and booksellers, as well as listings of new releases and book news from around the Internet. You can subscribe using theUpdate Profile link at the end of this newsletter.

"WWB Recommends" is for agents, editors, and publishers and will include information on authors we believe can be successfully published in an English-language market. Those wishing to be added to the list should e-mail info@wordswithoutborders.org. 

The third initiative is an education program. We begin the conversation with educators at the MLA conference on December 28. Our panel will be a discussion among six panelists on how they incorporate contemporary literature in translation into their teaching. 

After that we will be hosting discussions online and in person with  high school and college educators. Our hope is to build a staffed program that provides content, tools, and resources to educators, helping them bring contemporary international literature into their classes. 

The education program is an ambitious undertaking and we will need tremendous support. If you are interested in being part of the discussion, we will be providing details in our mid-January newsletter and on our Facebook page. Or you can contacteducation@wordswithoutborders.org for details.

If you would like to support the development of the education program and our other endeavors, please consider making a tax-deductible pledge of $20, $50, $500, or $1000. 

2010 promises to be a good year for WWB. With your support we can make it even better. 
 
Sincerely,
Joshua
Managing Director
 
PS Your gift of $20, $50, $500, $1000, or any amount is fully tax deductible to the extent allowable by law. Words without Borders is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization as determined by the IRS.

From the WWB Blog 

Binhad Nurrohmat at Manggarai 
by Andy Fuller
14 December 2009

This film was shot at Manggarai train station in central Jakarta. Ujang, the person who reads Binhad Nurrohmat's poem ("The People on the KRL") works on the train line which runs from northern Jakarta (Kota) to its final station in the south, Bogor. Ujan sells crackers on the train, moving from car to car.[More]

Dispatches: Fault Lines by Meena Alexander 
by Geoff Wisner
10 December 2009

I covered a few events at this year's PEN World Voices festival, and when I arrived at a storytelling event sponsored by The Moth I was lucky enough to be seated next to the poet and author Meena Alexander. She was among those blogging about the event for PEN itself.

We talked about an extensive trip she had recently taken, funded by a Fulbright fellowship, and discovered that we both knew, and had fond memories of, the late Joel Porte, who taught at Harvard when I was an undergraduate there. [More]

European Lit Fest 
by Antonia Windsor
10 December 2009

Last month, a crumbling castle in the depths of the Styrian countryside became the unlikely meeting place for a motley group of writers, musicians and academics at an event organised by the European literature portal Readme.cc. 

The celebrated British poet Lavinia Greenlaw joined fellow writers from Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Denmark and France to read and debate at European Literature Days 09, the first of what is hoped to become an annual festival celebrating the diversity and convergences of European literary voices. [More]


Bookshelf 
New Reviews 

Field of Honour
by Max Aub
Translated from the Spanish by Gerald Martin 
Verso, 2009

Reviewed by Jonathan Blitzer
Field of Honour is a novel of relentless descriptions and namings; its scenes are dense with words." more>>>


Armenian Golgotha
by Grigoris Balakian
Translated from the Armenian by Peter Balakian with Aris Sevag
Knopf, 2009

Reviewed by Mythili G. Rao
On April 24, 1915, some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders were arrested in Constantinople.more>>>
More from the Bookshelf. . .
 Upcoming Events

Words without Borders at the Modern Language Association Conference

World Literature in the Classroom: Pedagogies in Literature and Translation

12:00 noon-1:15 p.m., Adams, Loews

A special session

Presiding: Stefanie E. Sobelle, Gettysburg College
Speakers: Bella P. Brodzki, Sarah Lawrence College; Karen Emmerich, Columbia University; Susan Harris, Words without Borders; Blake Seana Locklin, Texas State University; Nicole Rizzuto, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater; Stefanie E. Sobelle

    
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