Upcoming Translation Events (Virtual & In-Person): December 2025
Monday, December 1:
An Evening with Mosab Abu Toha | Join us for a presentation by the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Mosab Abu Toha, followed by a conversation between Abu Toha and prize-winning writer and translator, Yasmine Seale. Introductory remarks by Nadia Abu El-Haj, the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Anthropology and Co-Director of the Center for Palestine Studies. Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear (2022) and Forest of Noise (2024) by Abu Toha will be available for purchase. In-person. Hosted by Columbia University Center for Palestine Studies. More info here. 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Friday, December 5:
The Afterlives of Bestselling 18th-century Novelist Marie Jeanne Riccoboni - A Conversation Between Translators | Marie-Jeanne Riccoboni was a bestselling 18th-century writer—one of the first female authors who managed to finance an independent life away from her abusive husband thanks to her writing. Her novels explore the impossible choices that women in pre-Revolutionary France faced. Translators Kate Deimling and Karen Santos Da Silva will discuss Riccobboni's protofeminism, unique style, and the challenges of rendering her prose for modern English-language readers.This event is a $5 suggested donation ticket with 50 max attendees. Please register in advance. In-person. Hosted by Word Up Community Bookshop/Liberia Communitaria. More info here. 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. (ET)
Transparent Mornings: An Evening of Readings and Variations with Chenxin and Stine | Join award-winning literary translators Chenxin Jiang and Stine An for an evening of bilingual readings, experimental variations, and literary friendship—part book launch, part celebration of how poems, translations, and our relationships to texts evolve over time and through publication! Featuring selections from Chenxin’s translation from the Chinese of For now I am sitting here growing transparent by Yau Ching (Zephyr Press), and from Stine’s translation from the Korean of Yoo Heekyung’s Today’s Morning Vocabulary (Zephyr Press), the event explores how translations shift through languages, drafts, mediums, publication, and time. In-person. Hosted by Accent Is A Superpower. More info here. 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. (ET)
Monday, December 8:
Words Bridging Worlds: Arthur Sze, U.S. Poet Laureate | We are so honored to announce that U.S. Poet Laureate, Arthur Sze, will be visiting our campus on Monday, December 8. Sze chose our college specifically because of our first-generation immigrant population, and his talk will specifically involve translation of poetry from other languages. After reading from his vast body of work, Sze will sit down with our own Distinguished Professor Kimiko Hahn, herself the Poet Laureate of New York State, for a star-studded conversation on poetry and translation. In-person. Hosted by Queens College. More info here. Starts at 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Book Launch: Galápagos with the Colombian author and poet Fátima Vélez | Join NYC-based Colombian poet and writer Fátima Vélez and translator Hannah Kauders '20 in celebrating the release of Galápagos, a poetic novel following a group of bohemian artists who are dying of AIDS as they embark on a surreal final voyage through the Galápagos Islands, their bodies cloaked in the skins of the dead. The event will be moderated by Melissa Lozada-Oliva. In-person. Hosted by Café con Libros, Bk. More info here. Starts at 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Tuesday, December 9:
Book Launch: The Jaguar’s Roar by Micheliny Verunschk (Author), Juliana Barbassa (Translator) | Micheliny Verunschk’s fifth novel, the first to be translated into English, powerfully challenges dominant historical narratives by centering the voices of these stolen Indigenous children. In-person. Hosted by The Powerhouse Arena. More info here. 7:00 p.m - 9:00 p.m. (ET)
Wednesday, December 10:
Film Screening & Book Launch: An encounter with Cesare Pavese | Archipelago is thrilled to collaborate with The Theater of the Matters to present an evening of Pavese. Join us at BAM for a special 35mm presentation of Straub-Huillet’s film These Encounters of Theirs, a screening to launch our publication of Minna Zallman Proctor’s new translation of Cesare Pavese’s The Leucothea Dialogues. Minna Zallman Proctor will introduce the film alongside curator Edward McCarry. In-person. Hosted by Archipelago Books. More info here. 7:00 p.m - 9:00 p.m. (ET)
Book Talk – Literature Across Borders: A conversation with poet José F. A. Oliver and author Mario Martín Gijón | The Goethe-Institutes in North America invite you to a digital literary series celebrating the diversity of German literature—from new voices and graphic novels to classics, utopias, and dystopias. In dialogue with authors, journalists, and literature enthusiasts from North America and Germany, exciting conversations emerge—interactive and open to all. In this special online event, hosted by the team at the Goethe-Institut Mexico, poet José F. A. Oliver will present some of his poems and, together with author Mario Martín Gijón, discuss what it means to write poetry in today’s political context. They will explore how earlier poems gain new relevance in connection with the theme of migration and what visions and possibilities poetic and literary writing holds in light of new developments such as artificial intelligence. Virtual. Hosted by the Goethe-Institut USA. More info here. Starts at 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Thursday, December 11:
Juliana Barbassa + Alexandra Alter: The Jaguar’s Roar | Join the Strand for an event with award-winning journalist and author Juliana Barbassa, discussing her translation of The Jaguar’s Roar with Alexandra Alter. In-person. Hosted by the Strand at Union Square. More info here. Starts at 7:00 p.m. (ET)
If you have an upcoming literary translation event and you'd like us to feature it on our website, please fill out this form.