Please click below to learn about ICWT's various initiatives. 
 

I acknowledge that we live in uneasy times. We are witnessing the endangerment and extinction of local, heritage, and indigenous languages. Beyond language, we face ongoing issues such as climate change, systemic racism, and militarization. But I do believe that the work of translation can help us to imagine and also enact more hopeful futures. To that end, I plan to launch a series of initiatives around the theme of “Hope in Translation,” which might be understood in two senses. On the one hand, it could refer to the role of translation in sustaining hope, for instance, in the maintenance of heritage languages or in the revitalization of endangered languages such as indigenous languages. On the other hand, it can refer to the ways in which the concept and practice of hope can be translated across different languages and different community and cultural contexts.

-Jerry Won Lee, Director, ICWT

 

The ICWT is happy to co-sponsor events at UCI related to the topic of translation, broadly conceived. Co-sponsorship requests up to $500 will be considered on a rolling basis as our budget permits. A co-sponsorship means that the ICWT will do each of the following: 1) transfer agreed upon amount of funds to the faculty/graduate student lead's home department/unit and 2) help promote the event through email and/or the ICWT website. In a co-sponsorship arrangement, the ICWT and its staff are NOT responsible for additional support, including items such as creating promotional literature (e.g., flyers), booking a room for lectures/workshops, processing payment for honoraria, booking flights or lodging, processing reimbursements for meals and incidental expenses, etc. 

 

Please send any co-sponsorship requests to ICWT Director, Jerry Won Lee (jwl@uci.edu).

Literature Out Loud logo

A podcast series co-sponsored by Illuminations

 

Enjoy stories from all over the world!

You may now listen to this free series of podcasts made by UCI MFAs, graduate student voice actors, and members of the community. The initiative was launched to provide an alternative to Zoom viewing and screen reading while supporting our graduate students during the pandemic. 

 

Season #1 is now available here.

Episode #1: "Conference of the Birds" by the Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar, translated by Sholeh Wolpe
Episode #2: "Traveling with Marco Polo" by Xue Yiwei, translated by Hu Ying

 

Season #2 is now available here.

Episode #1: "The Bacchae by Euripides" introduced by Zina Giannopoulou
Episode #2: "Philoctetes by Sophocles" introduced by Jane O. Newman

 

Season #3 is now available here.

Episode #1: "Voyaging Through Romantic French Poetry" by Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud

 

Sara Rodriguez

Sara Rodriguez
Director

 

 

 

JJ Margolis

JJ Margolis 
Sound Engineer 

 

 

 

Frankie Beach

Frankie Beach  
Music

Read ICWTs digital publication, Intimacy During Lockdown

On April 19, 2020, The International Center for Writing and Translation sent out a call for short submissions in all languages on the theme of Intimacy During Lockdown.

"What is it like," we asked, "to be in a relationship when sheltering in place or otherwise limiting social contact during the COVID-19 pandemic?"

Submissions flowed in from all over the world.

The online magazine, lusciously designed by Christine Guiyangco (PhD student in Comparative Literature) in shades of dawn and dusk, presents essays and poems by writers of all ages and backgrounds, including well-known writers such as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and Patrick Chamoiseau. Photographs by Luis Avilés, Professor of Spanish at UCI, capture a moment in the lifeworld of University Hills, a place where many of us found solitude and solace.

The ICWT offered this collection as a gift to all those who have continued to teach, learn, serve, and love during this difficult time.

Produced by Carrie Noland, Director of ICWT (2019-2022)

Click here to download and read Intimacy During Lockdown.