When I see people online, even in jest, suggest that people living in Republican-controlled states should be abandoned because of their politicians, I feel a deep heartache. New York CREATED Donald Trump and none of y’all are ever talk about it the way you disparage Alabama or Mississippi.

Translators: where could I submit an almost 8,000 word story by a prize-winning author? Lots of journals seem to emphasize a 4-5k word limit.

Jeremy Tiang really hits the nail on the head here (as would be expected). Translation is caught between two forms of capitalist exploitation: using a per-word freelance structure to provide a bare minimum fee, and playing on its artistic nature to compel free ancillary labor alongside

Since I'm seeing a lot of talk about covers and what's on them: I love a good cover (maybe more than most!) But from my own experience, and the lived experience of many translators I know, wildly unethical practices can lurk behind a pretty cover, too. Good on the grid ≠ good labor practices

WeTransfer just changed their TOS giving themselves permission to train AI on any content you transfer and produce derivative works based on content you transfer that they are allowed to monetize and you are not allowed payment for. Stop using WeTransfer.

New & emerging BIPOC lit translators! Apply for the Building Our Future 2-Day Virtual Workshop, meant to empower lit translators of color as they begin navigating the field. Led by poupeh missaghi & Sawad Hussain, w/ a business talk by Anni Liu. Free to participate! Apply by Monday:

It’s hot out and I would rather be by some body of water sipping this new pawpaw Ale-8 with @wrongsreversed.bsky.social

Writers! Note that AI translation (under the guise of "global access") is being seen/used as the weak point to get AI into publishing (possible bc Eng lang publishing is weak on translation). Stand with translators & for more human translation, fairly paid!

Every time someone writes a smug poorly-argued AI article like this, they’re simply demonstrating how swiftly AI has already transformed said writer’s critical thinking into a rotten log on the forest floor, studded with grubs and slime mold, gently disintegrating into humus even as we watch.

It's pub day for Rosa Mistika—and here is a lengthy interview about the novel (and much else!) with @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social chireviewofbooks.com/2025/06/17/t...

Today's "we're all in this together" lesson: while negotiating a translation contract this morning, I was told they couldn't offer a royalty clause because the last time this author was translated, TEN years ago, the previous translator had only agreed to a a flat fee.

Get Edgar Wilson and Bronco Gil on the case.

While researching my novel 1983, which is based on the Nottinghamshire mining village where I grew up, I had a weird memory of a man who used to take his cow for a walk around the village, like it was a dog. "Have I made that up?" I wondered. So I checked my mum and dad's old photos. I hadn't.

Made it home from LBF with a few new additions. Nobody does cover design like Brazil, and nobody appreciates craft and attention to detail (matching bookmarks! embossed logo!) like the amazing Fósforo. Sample or pitch or some combination thereof available for all three.

Spending the week at Looren, where I’m surprisingly getting a lot done on my translation in spite of these distracting views

Give me ONE reason for us to use AI (in any industry) that doesn't ultimately come down to 'because it saves rich people and big corporations' money...literally just ONE and I'll listen...if it's about improving OUR productivity then it should be OUR choice AND should come at no cost to us

Reading the interviews of Gabriel García Márquez and this passage stands out to me, from the 1970s but relevant in this time, that in this era the fight must be for collective happiness, which as he astutely describes, is the only kind of just happiness

Out of office reply

🎉Many congratulations to Cercador '23 winner Of Cattle and Men! High five to the judges for all their hard work! 🐄🐖

Announcing the winner of the 2023 Cercador Prize: @zoeperry.bsky.social’s translation of Ana Paula Maia's OF CATTLE AND MEN. The Cercador committee says OF CATTLE AND MEN "lays bare the brutal labor of the slaughterhouse trade," hailing the novel as a "new breed of western."

So happy to announce the finalists of the Cercador Prize, the first literary prize for works in translation chosen solely by booksellers. Congratulations to all the finalists. Long live the Cercador!