Next Tuesday, April 10th, fiction panelists Jeff Waxman will be here in Rochester for a special Reading the World Conversation Series event, during which he’ll reveal the BTBA finalists in poetry and fiction.

Before he unveils the shortlists (which will also be posted here as soon as he reads them off), we’ll talk about the evolution of the award, the role of the BTBA in general book culture landscape, how the panel came to make its decisions, and so on. Seeing that Jeff works at the University of Chicago Press and 57th St. Books, he has a unique perspective on literary awards and promoting international literature.

Following our talk and the unveiling of the finalists, we’ll read a few pages from a few of my favorite titles on the list. (We don’t have enough time to read from all of them—anyone want to camp out in the Welles-Brown room?—but we want to at least highlight a few of the books in a special way.)

(NOTE: Cover images on this were chosen randomly by Nate for design purposes only. Read nothing into this. And having the list in front of me, I can only reiterate—read nothing into this poster.)

Also, this means that over the three weeks building up to the celebration of the two winners—which will take place on Friday, May 4th at 6pm at during the PEN World Voices Festival—we will be highlighting all of the poetry finalists and running short excerpts from the ten fiction finalists. Which means you have almost one more month of BTBA stuff to look forward to . . .

Our second (and final!) Reading the World Conversation Series event of the fall is happening in just a few days. As always, it’s taking place in Rochester, NY. So, if you’re in the area, you’d better check it out—lest all your friends go without you and bond intimately over the great time they all had (true story).

Here are the rousing details:

Reading the World Conversation Series:
Sergio Chejfec & Margaret B. Carson

DECEMBER 1, 2011
Thursday, 6:00 p.m
Plutzik Library in Rare Books & Special Collections
Rush Rhees Library, Ģ����ý
(Free and open to the public.)

Sergio Chejfec is the author of a dozen books, three of which are coming out from Open Letter Books: My Two Worlds (available now), The Planets (2012), and The Dark (2013). Spanish author Enrique Vila-Matas singled out My Two Worlds as one of the “best books of the year.” The English edition has been universally praised, with Publishers Weekly saying Margaret B. Carson’s “magnificent translation” should be “treated as a significant event.”

My Two Worlds is a novel about an author walking through a city in the South of Brazil. As he wanders, this unnamed narrator thinks about his walk, about his new book (which isn’t getting very good reviews), and about his life (his birthday is a few days away).

Chejfec and Carson will discuss this novel, literature, and the process of translation.

(Sponsored by The Dept. of Rare Books, Special Collections & Preservation)

Visit this event on
Or over at the

(This event is presented by Open Letter and Ģ����ý Arts & Sciences. It is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.)

We’ll have ten participants doing ten micro-readings from ten different Open Letter books (also, there will be food and an after-party/get-together at to which all are invited). You can checkout the full details on or at the .

For the sixth time in under three years, Chad has appeared on the preeminent local morning news show in Rochester, NY—clearly breaking/setting a record of some sort.

Chad’s talking about Open Letter hitting the three-year mark, and our (featuring 10 micro-readings from our books (as well as an after-party to which all are invited)) commemorating this, apparently inexplicable, achievement.

But, now, we have an cool change in programing for our final Reading the World event of the spring: On April 26, we’re having a celebration of sorts, in a big event featuring 10 readers, 10 great works of literature in translation, and some free food. Here are the details:

APRIL 26, 2010 – 6:00 p.m.
Hawkins-Carlson Room
Rush Rhees Library
Ģ����ý
Reception to Follow
(free and open to the public)

To celebrate the third anniversary of Open Letter Books, ten participants—UR faculty members, Open Letter interns, and fans—will read 3–5 minute segments from ten different Open Letter titles. You’ll hear a wide range of voices from all over the world, and find out firsthand what types of works Open Letter is making available to English readers. All 18 books published by the press will be available for sale, and a reception will follow this lively event.

Featuring: Dean Susan Gibbons, Jennifer Grotz (Dept. of Eng.), Meredith Keller (Open Letter intern), John Michael (Chair of Eng. Dept.), Dean Joanna Olmsted, Claudia Schaefer (Chair of Modern Languages & Cultures), Joanna Scott (Dept. of Eng.), Laurel Stewart (Open Letter Intern), Brad Weslake (Dept. of Phil.), Phil Witte (Open Letter intern), and hosted by Chad W. Post, director of Open Letter.

(This event is hosted by Open Letter and Ģ����ý Arts & Sciences. It is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.)

In a few short weeks, we’ll be be taking the stage, again, to talk with renown Latin American author Horacio Castellanos Moya. Here are the details:

APRIL 12, 2010
6:30 p.m.
Hawkins-Carlson Room (in Rush Rhees Library)
Ģ����ý
(free and open to the public)

Horacio Castellanos Moya (Dance with Snakes, Senselessness, The She-Devil in the Mirror), widely considered among the leading contemporary Latin American writers, will discuss his work, journalism, the myth of Roberto Bolaño, and world literature in general with Chad W. Post, director of Open Letter Books.

A finalist for the 2009 Best Translated Book Award, Horacio Castellanos Moya’s Senselessness introduced English-language readers to one of the most provocative, singular voices of twentieth-century Latin American literature. The recent publications of The She-Devil in the Mirror and Dance with Snakes received widespread attention, and with more translations already in the works, it’s clear that readers will be hearing about Moya for years to come.

(This event is hosted by Open Letter and Ģ����ý Arts & Sciences. It is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.)

MARCH 22, 2010
6:00 p.m.
Hawkins-Carlson Room (in Rush Rhees Library)
Ģ����ý
(free and open to the public)
Sponsored by the Friends of the Ģ����ý Libraries

Open Letter editor E.J. Van Lanen will discuss the difficulties, joys, and controversies of re-translating Ilf and Petrov’s The Golden Calf, a revered Russian comedic classic, with the novel’s translators, and Rush Rhees Librarians, Konstantin Gurevich and Helen Anderson

Teaming up with two petty criminals and a hopelessly naïve driver, Ostap Bender leads his merry band of mischief makers on a raucously hilarious jaunt across the “wild west” of the early Soviet Union in pursuit of a secret fortune. One of the true classics of Russian literature, this new translation of Ilf and Petrov’s The Golden Calf—the first complete translation of the novel—restores the absurd, manic energy of the original and reaffirms the judgment of the Soviet censors, who said: “You have a very nice hero, Ostap Bender. But really, he’s just a son of a bitch.”

(This event is hosted by Open Letter and Ģ����ý Arts & Sciences. It is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.)

More information on each event will be posted separately, but—so you can mark your calendars now—here is the rundown of all three events in this spring’s Reading the World Conversation Series at the URochester.

These events are hosted by Open Letter and Ģ����ý Arts & Sciences. All events are supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.

—

MARCH 22, 2010
6:00 p.m.
Hawkins-Carlson Room (in Rush Rhees Library)
Ģ����ý
(free and open to the public)

Featuring: Helen Anderson & Konstantin Gurevich

Open Letter editor E.J. Van Lanen will discuss the difficulties, joys, and controversies of re-translating Ilf and Petrov’s The Golden Calf, a revered Russian comedic classic, with the novel’s translators, and Rush Rhees Librarians, Konstantin Gurevich and Helen Anderson.
(Co-sponsored by the Friends of the Ģ����ý Libraries.)

—

APRIL 12, 2010
6:30 p.m.
Hawkins-Carlson Room (in Rush Rhees Library)
Ģ����ý
(free and open to the public)

Featuring: Horacio Castellanos Moya

Horacio Castellanos Moya (Senselessness, The Devil in the Mirror), widely considered among the leading contemporary Latin American writers, will discuss his novels, short stories, and journalism with Chad W. Post, director of Open Letter Books.

—

APRIL 26, 2010
6:00 p.m.
Hawkins-Carlson Room (in Rush Rhees Library)
Ģ����ý
Reception to Follow
(free and open to the public)

A Celebration of Open Letter

To celebrate the third anniversary of Open Letter Books, ten participants—UR faculty members, Open Letter interns, and fans—will read 3–5 minute segments from ten different Open Letter titles. You’ll hear a wide range of voices from all over the world, and find out firsthand what types of works Open Letter is making available to English readers. All 18 books published by the press will be available for sale, and a reception will follow this lively event.

Featuring: Dean Susan Gibbons, Jennifer Grotz (Dept. of Eng.), Meredith Keller (Open Letter intern), John Michael (Chair of Eng. Dept.), Dean Joanna Olmsted, Claudia Schaefer (Chair of Modern Languages & Cultures), Joanna Scott (Dept. of Eng.), Laurel Stewart (Open Letter Intern), Brad Weslake (Dept. of Phil.), Phil Witte (Open Letter intern), and hosted by Chad W. Post, director of Open Letter.

—

(For additional info, contact nathan dot furl at rochester dot edu)

(A glamorous shelf in my glamorous office filled with BTBA titles.)

Just a reminder that after five weeks of build-up, we’ll be announcing the fiction and poetry finalists for this year’s Best Translated Book Awards tonight at 7pm tonight at Idlewild Books (12 W. 19th St.).

Cressida Leyshon will be moderating the event, and Idra Novey (poet, translator, executive director of the Center for Literary Translation at Columbia University) will announce the poetry books, and I’ll do the honors for the fiction.

Most of the time will be spent mingling and drinking wine (and hopefully buying books), and it promises to be a lot of fun. So if you’re in the NY area, be sure to come out.

Oh, and yeah, I’m totally open to bribes if anyone wants to find out what’s on the list before the event . . .

Rather than simply announce these on the website, this year we’re going to have a special event at to celebrate the finalists.

So, next Tuesday, February 16th at 7pm, Cressida Leyshon of The New Yorker will host the festivities and Idra Novey and I will make the grand announcements. This won’t really be a formal panel—more a chance for us to talk about the importance of international literature and to bring some extra deserved attention to these books.

And, as with every great publishing party, there will be drinks.

Everyone reading this should definitely come, and tell all your journalist and blogger friends. It’d be great to use this event as the next push to bring attention to all of these wonderful books and the great translators who often go unappreciated . . .

Copies of all the books will be on hand as well so that attendees can cough financially support cough the publishers/authors/translators/Idlewild. (And all BTBA titles are 20% off . . . )

Hope to see you all there!