This is the fourth annual Day of Giving, but the first that included the option to

Our challenge is to raise $2,000, which will go directly to Will Vanderhyden (a URochester alum) to support his translation of The Dreamed Part by Rodrigo Fresán. Given the excitement surrounding the first two Fresán titles we’ve published—The Invented Part and The Bottom of the Sky—I know there are a lot of people out there waiting for this next volume in his trilogy. By contributing, you’ll help ensure that we can get this out as soon as possible, with all the proceeds from this fundraising event going directly to Will as they’re received.

If you’re a University employee, I hope you’ll consider including Open Letter among the projects that you’re contributing to today. And even if you’re not working for the U of R, I hope you’ll consider helping Will out with a small one-time, fully tax-deductible donation.

          Tuesday, October 3rd, 7pm

Volumes Bookcafe
1474 N. Milwaukee Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622

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          Thursday, October 5th, 7:30pm

Kosciuszko Foundation
2025 O St. NW
Washington, DC 20036

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          Tuesday, October 10th, 7:30pm

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Sloan Auditorium
Goergen Hall
Rochester, NY 14627

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          Wednesday, October 11th, 7pm

��ŧ���DZ�
138 West Broadway
New York, NY 10013

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And here’s a bit more info about the book itself:

Lying in bed in Gotland after a writer’s conference, thinking about his compulsive desire to travel—and the uncomfortable tensions this desire creates—the narrator of Salki starts recounting tragic stories of his family’s past, detailing their lives, struggles, and fears in twentieth-century Eastern Europe. In these pieces, he investigates various “salkis”—attic rooms where memories and memorabilia are stored—real and metaphorical, investigating old documents to better understand the violence of recent times.

Winner of the prestigious Gdynia Literary Award for Essay, Salki is in the tradition of the works of W. G. Sebald and Ryszard Kapuściński, utilizing techniques of Polish reportage in creating a landscape of memory that is moving and historically powerful.

In honor of the three editors of this volume—Esther Allen, Sean Cotter, and Russell Scott Valentino—are coming to town to talk about Heim and his lasting influence on a variety of aspects of the field of literary translation.

Esther, Sean, and Russell (all of whom are greatly respected for their own personal translations) did an amazing job putting this book together, creating a volume that’s both a homage to one of the most important literary figures of the twentieth century and a book that adds a lot to translation studies. The essays in this book—from a variety of contributors, including Dubrakva Ugresic, Celia Hawkesworth, Rosanna Warren, Maureen Freely, Alex Zucker, Breon Mitchell, and more—are by turns engaging, heartbreaking, brilliant, and intellectually stimulating.

I’ll be moderating this panel, and there will be a reception to follow.

So, if you’re in the area,

RTWCS: Michael Henry Heim & A Life in Translation
Thursday, April 2nd at 5:00pm
Welles-Brown Room in Rush Rhees Library (755 Library Road at the U of R)

Hope to see you there!

From the press release published by the Ģ����ý:

“The $60,000 grant will support the publication and promotion of several books in 2015, including Rochester Knockings, a novel based on the Rochester-based religious movement of Spiritualism and the famous Fox Sisters.

‘We’re extremely grateful to the NEA for this generous award,’ said Open Letter Publisher Chad W. Post. ‘To be awarded the third largest grant in the literature category is one of the highest honors a nonprofit publisher can receive. But even more importantly is that this award allows us to introduce English readers to six amazing new books.’

The press was one of 55 organizations to receive a grant in this year’s literature category. In 2014, the NEA received more than 1,400 applications for Arts Works grants, requesting more than $75 million in funding.

. . .

In addition to supporting the publication of Rochester Knockings (translated by Jennifer Grotz, associate professor of English at Rochester), the grant will support the publication of five additional books: Post-Exoticism in Ten Lessons, Lesson Eleven (translated by J.T. Mahany ’13); Traces of Time; Rock, Paper, Scissors; So Much, So Much War; and Loquela (translated by Will Vanderhyden ’13).”

For the full release and more information, go .

For more information on the NEA and its work, go .

Very cool opportunity to see Auster in an intimate setting (if you consider a room that seats 150 people to be intimate), and I’m sure he’ll have a lot of interesting things to say about translation. He’s always been a big advocate of French—and world—literature, and has published a number of translations, including pieces by Edmond Jabes, Pierre Clastres, Jacques Dupin, and others. (The complete list is available )

The event will take place from 5-6 on Thursday, September 30th in the Hawkins-Carlson Room in the Rush Rhees Library on the Ģ����ý’s campus. Should be cool, should be crowded. I recommend getting there early, since there’s no ticketing process . . .

As part of the Reading the World Conversation Series, this “Translators’ Roundtable” brought together four literary translators—who work in a variety of languages and genres—to discuss their experiences. The conversation explored a number of different topics, from how they got started as translators, to the obstacles of retranslating classic works, to translating film scripts during the writers’ strike, etc.

In attendance were Michael Emmerich, Edward Gauvin, Marian Schwartz, and Martha Tennent. There’s a lot of brilliant discussion here—one of my favorite points coming from Michael who makes a case to those who lean on the phrase “Lost in Translation” that it is, instead, and “100% gain.”

from on .

John Michael (john.michael@rochester.edu) is the CLTS advisor, so please feel free to contact him with any questions.

Information about graduate-level programs will be available later this year.