It’s that one day a year when we all light a candle for St. Jerome: International Translation Day! Placed as we are between multiple languages and cultures, Seattle is a natural home for translators, and for cross-cultural exchange. Below are a few people and institutions that are making Seattle an International City of Literature.

The first great resource is the Northwest Translators and Interpreters Society (NOTIS), a regional chapter of the American Translators Association. NOTIS provides a wide range of services, information and events, including – in happier times, anyway – local meetups for translators to get together and share their experiences across language pairs and genres.

The University of Washington – and its Press in particular – have been powerhouses of language research, multilingual archives, and translation for decades, so it’s no surprise that the UW has also started a translation hub, which is meant to knit together a wide range of people and programs, raising the profile of translations, translators, and translation studies. They put on semi-regular events; you can sign up for their newsletter (and subscribe to various social media) here.

And no surprise, furthermore, that both of our featured translators today are affiliated with the UW! First up is Nicolaas Barr, Director of Study Abroad and lecturer at the UW’s Comparative History of Ideas. A translator from the Dutch, his most recent translation publication is the memoir of Moroccan-Dutch politician Tofik Dibi, titled Djinn, published earlier this year by SUNY Press, as part of their Queer Politics and Cultures series. From the publisher’s description:

“A bestseller upon its publication in Dutch in 2015, it tells the poignant, at times heartbreaking, story of Dibi’s coming-of-age as a gay Muslim man with humor and grace.”

In an interview with the UW News, Barr talks about how the memoir “cuts through the dominant ‘clash of civilizations’ narrative between supposedly tolerant Europe, on the one hand, and minoritized people, especially Muslims, on the other.

“Dibi was born in the Netherlands, speaks Dutch as a first language, and grew up steeped in Dutch culture and institutions, yet like other people of color, he is often treated as a permanent newcomer — or worse, as an unwanted threat. In addressing these themes, “Djinn” offers a compelling counter-narrative, showing how Dibi’s multiple identities are deeply entwined in the country’s distinctive cultural landscape.”

Our second featured translator is Mary Childs, also at the UW’s Comparative History of Ideas department (probably no accident that many translators have found a home there), where she teaches courses on Environmental Humanities and Post-Soviet studies. She’s been translating from the Georgian since 2007, and her upcoming novel translation is Form 100, by Zviad Kvaratskhelia, due out in October from BookLand Press. Kvaratskhelia is an editor and publisher in Tbilisi, and his short story “Peridé”, also translated by Childs, was featured in Comma Press’ collection The Book of Tbilisi.

We asked her to tell us a bit about the experience of translating Form 100, which won a SABA literary prize for Best Novel of the Year in 2016. “The novel was difficult for me when I first started working on it, as it deals with violence against women in the country of Georgia, and the ramifications of that violence in the lives of the perpetrators. I had a few years break between initially translating and then editing for publication, and in this time, I researched more about domestic violence in Georgia, and came to understand the intense taboo of talking about it. When I had the opportunity to polish the translation, I realized that this would be an important occasion for a wider public to hear, and read, some open discussion on the topic. I look forward to hearing and reading more of Zviad Kavaratskhelia's works.”

As do we. Happy International Translation Day, everyone: get out and read a book!