What are the current priorities for your organization?
We’re focusing on literature that hasn’t received the spotlight it deserves, with recent magazine features including a global issue on disability and a collection by members of the Vietnamese diaspora working in various languages. We’ve also scaled up our education program, training over 100 teachers in the past year to bring international literature into classrooms, and we increased our contributor rates by 20% this past year.
How do you perceive the current state of translated literature in the U.S.?
The field has seen dramatic growth over the past decade. We’ve witnessed increased interest, more translators, and high-profile developments, like the addition of a translated literature category to the National Book Awards. At the American Literary Translators Association, membership and conference attendance increased dramatically, with a new generation of translators and a much more diverse cohort. I see the field shifting away from the underdog narrative.
What’s your view on the field of Arabic translation these days?
Fifteen years ago, Arabic literature in translation was mostly published with an anthropological lens by university presses. The influx of new translators has shifted the landscape. Unlike other languages, where agents drive publication decisions, Arabic translators largely do their own pitching. This has led to more vibrant, contemporary work focused on literary voice.
