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. Link in bio!
#CATCampaign #CAT #LiteratureInTranslation
🎞️ Our recent event with @bamfilmbrooklyn and @catranslation gave us a whole new perspective on the works of Clarice Lispector.
Barbara Epler, @benjaminfmoser , and Carlos Valladares (@cvall96 ) unpacked the intricacies of the author’s text, while filmmaker Luiz Fernando Carvalho and actress @mariafernandacandidooficial provided insight through the lens of their film The Passion According to G.H.
Thanks as well to Jesse Trussel and Madeleine Molyneaux, our attendees, and to @consuladobrnyc and the Instituto Guimarães Rosa for their support. 💙
Mark your calendar and join our next lunchtime book club 📚️. This month's pick is CELESTIAL BODIES by Jokha Alharthi, translated from Arabic by Marilyn Booth, published by @catapult .
"An inventive multigenerational tale spanning from the end of the 19th century to the early years of the new millennium, this is the first novel by an Omani woman to be translated into English. It’s also the first Arab novel to win the International Booker Prize." ―The New York Times Book Review, Editors' Choice
🔖 May 20, 12 pm PST @milibrary in SF OR join from anywhere via Zoom.
📚️ May 31: @twolinespress and the Center for the Art of Translation will be tabling at the @baybookfest ’s Bookworm Block Party in Berkeley. Stop by for discounts on all Two Lines Press titles and meet our team to learn more about our public events, education program (Poetry Inside Out), publisher (Two Lines Press), and our new building (coming soon to downtown SF!).
At 1:30 pm, join us for the panel "Dark Nights of the Soul: Mental Health" in Translation with NIGHT TRAIN translator @jeremy_tiang and @tatiana.tibuleac , moderated by @ritabullwinkel .
More info at the link in bio!
“As a Hong Kong writer, who writes in Chinese, I never imagined I could meet Western readers in person.” —Hon Lai Chu, MENDING BODIES author.
💫 Last year, the Center for the Art of Translation reached:
-->140,000+ readers
-->20+ languages, including 10+ underrepresented languages
-->and supported 100+ authors and translators
Thanks to you, these efforts expanded access to global literature and translation.
Now we’re building what comes next—a permanent literary and cultural center in dedicated to literary translation in downtown San Francisco.
Join us at the link in bio! 🔗
2025 was an incredible year! 💫 Thanks to our donors and partners, the Center for the Art of Translation:
• Programmed 48 events celebrating the work of translators in the Bay Area and beyond—including our annual Day of Translation event in Brooklyn, NY at @center4fiction with over 1,000 attendees joining us in-person and online
• Published 10 books that earned nominations across 7 literary prizes (including 2 National Book Award finalists!) through our publisher Two Lines Press
• Worked with 60+ educators and reached 4,000+ students through our education program, Poetry Inside Out, which brings the practice of poetry in translation into 3-12 grade classrooms
• Supported more than 120 writers and translators through our publications and events
This is just a glimpse of what supporters made possible last year. From the Day of Translation to award-winning books and classrooms across the country, your support helped connect readers with stories and perspectives from around the world.
Read the full 2025 Impact Report at the link in bio. 🔗
Looking to diversify your poetry collection with international voices? 🔖 You're in the right place!
In celebration of the National Poetry Month and to highlight the dazzling global range of poetic work, we invited literary translators @dianaarterian , Eric Fishman, and @monica.v.cure , contributors from Two Lines Press’s Calico series, to share their recommended reading list of poetry books in translation.
Read at the link in bio!
We had a beautiful evening at @therubysf celebrating the launch of EXEMPLARY HUMANS, with Brazilian author @leite__juliana and translator @zoeaperry in conversation with writer @yalitzaf .
They reflected on the nuances of translation and on the book’s exploration of memory, loneliness, and love. Juliana also spoke about her note-taking practice, her affinity for food writing, and how her grandfather inspired her reflections on aging.
Thank you to @therubysf for hosting, and to everyone who joined us.
Don’t miss the final stop of the tour tonight at the @communitybookstore in NY!
Swipe for a sneak peek of their reading—in Portuguese and English! 💚
“Reading, writing, and translating are radical acts of resistance. I see the Center for the Art of Translation as a refuge, but it is also a lighthouse.” —Jazmina Barrera, author of The Queen of Swords
We’re excited to build a literary community hub, a 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.
Help us create this permanent home and cultural anchor! 💫 ⚓️ Join us at the link in our bio.
#CATCampaign #CAT #LiteratureInTranslation
Happy Pub Day to EXEMPLARY HUMANS! In an interview with @twolinespress ’ Karen Gu, Juliana Leite shares insights into her creative process and the inspiration behind the book’s title. 💚
💫 Bay Area, we’ll see you 7pm at @therubysf tonight (April 21)! @leite__juliana and @zoeaperry will be in conversation, joined by @yalitzaf .
DC and NY, join us at @lostcitybooks and @communitybookstore this week.
Find the interview and RSVP to the events at the link in our bio.
The EXEMPLARY HUMANS tour is stopping in DC and BROOKLYN next week 👋
DC, join Juliana Leite, Zoë Perry, and Alex Brostoff at @lostcitybooks on April 23rd 📗
NYC and Brooklyn, we hope to see you at @communitybookstore on April 24th with Juliana Leite and Catherine Lacey 💚
“I think the most important thing is to get inside the voice of the author and figure out where they’re coming from, what tone they’re going for, but also what the effect is going to be for the readers.” – Olivia Sears, literary translator and founder of the Center for the Art of Translation.
Tuesday on Forum, the non-profit Center for the Art of Translation announced the opening of a bookstore and cultural center in downtown San Francisco dedicated to bringing translated works to the public. We had @catranslation founder @o.sears , along with translator @bdantaslobato and publisher @adam.z.levy on the show to ask: What does it take to bring a book to an English reading audience? How do translations challenge our world view?
We also dug into the art of translation, hearing from our guests about the intricacies of translating authors’ language, style and voice into English.
Listen back, wherever you get your podcasts.
