American Literary Translators Association (ALTA)

08/21/2026

🍿Have you seen The Odyssey and are looking forward to a fruitful discussion with fellow translators? Check out this virtual event dedicated to audiovisual translation hosted by the ATA (American Translators Association) Audiovisual Division, in partnership with ALTA!

https://buff.ly/BXUUrrQ

08/21/2026

Don't forget: the PEN Translation Committee is gathering tributes to Barbara, and invites ALTA members to share tributes to be published on the PEN Translation Committee website. Please send any memories you’d like to contribute to: [email protected] by the end of August.

ALTA is saddened to learn of the passing of its past President, Barbara “Bobbi” Harshav, on June 24, 2026.

Barbara was a prolific translator from French, German, Hebrew, and Yiddish into English. She served as ALTA’s President from 2009-2011, and was awarded the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation in 2018.

Learn more about her here: https://buff.ly/8lg2Naj

08/20/2026

This summer has been filled with exciting translation releases! The good news is that there’s just as much to come in fall 2026. Check out this PEN America’s reading list of some long-awaited books in translation this year. How many books translated by ALTA members can you spot? ⭐

https://buff.ly/QWgJX2B

Literature in translation invites readers into a global literary conversation. We are brought face to face with cultures and lives outsides of our own. English is exciting and strange as it stretches and shifts to accommodate ideas and formulations of language foreign to it. 2026 is an exciting year...

08/19/2026

“SIDETRACKED is full of vivid detail—about Ukrainian traditions and history, about the professions exiles adopted as they struggled to make a living in different countries, and, above all, about the daily life of a Hollywood film extra. All this is conveyed succinctly. Many of these passages conclude with memorable wit.”

Robert Chandler reviews former ALTA prize judge Boris Dralyuk’s latest translation, Alexander Voloshin’s SIDETRACKED, a poetic epic of Ukrainian exile lost in Hollywood, for Los Angeles Review of Books.

Boris Dralyuk’s latest work of translation is Alexander Voloshin’s poetic epic about a Ukrainian exile lost in Hollywood.

08/18/2026

“We cannot stay in translation world forever. I recognize that I run the risk of romanticizing the process of translation or even my father himself. But the healing and nourishment that this practice brings us is undeniable.”

Amanda L. Andrei, a playwright, translator from Romanian, and committee member at ALTA, writes about her experience of creative partnership with her father in her “‘Another Detective in This Mystery’: On Cotranslating with a Parent” essay for Words Without Borders.

https://buff.ly/B2vZTO9

From caretaker to cotranslator: Amanda L. Andrei on how a creative partnership transformed her relationship with her aging father.

08/17/2026

📣 Please be aware: There is a scam email going around offering to sell the ALTA49 attendee list. THIS IS A SCAM. Do not respond to that email; ALTA staff is looking into this matter. ALTA will never sell your personal information.

In the meantime, consult this list of common publishing scams on the Authors Guild site: https://buff.ly/dag9BWO

Alert: Rise in Email Scams Targeting Authors Our 2026 update explains what to look for and what to do if you’ve been targeted by a scam. Scams are an unfortunate reality in the publishing world. To help you stay alert to new […]

08/17/2026

As we continue celebrating Women in Translation Month, The Booker Prize has put up a list of “10 essential International Booker Prize-nominated books to read this August.” Follow the link below to discover new reads for the remainder of August:

https://buff.ly/63VhP4V

The founder of Martha’s Monthly, a newsletter designed to make books from around the world more accessible, recommends her favourite novels to help you read further and wider

08/14/2026

Don’t miss out on the best comics of 2026 (so far), according to Comic Book Herald. Their list includes Bérénice Motais de Narbonne’s METADOGGOZ, translated from French by Montana Kane, and Mozuka Sora and Higoro Toumori’s THE BUGLE CALL: SONG OF WAR, translated from Japanese by Caleb Cook:

https://buff.ly/04MEum9

All the best graphic novels and comics collections of 2026! Updated monthly.

08/13/2026

“If you’re buying literature in translation online, buyer beware.”

French and Belgian translator Terry Bradford warns about undisclosed AI use in translations published online, and how to spot these machine-translations before you accidentally buy them. Support human translators, go to The Conversation now.

https://buff.ly/8fdB7dR

AI translations push the crafted work of real translators – with qualifications, genuine language skills and experience – to the back of a very busy marketplace.

08/12/2026

📣 Check THIS out: ALTA's Executive Director Katrine Øgaard Jensen speaking today at the Youth and AI Summit at the United Nations, on AI and the Creative Industries! More info here: https://buff.ly/y8AinBa