Sunday, June 19, 2016

#WITMonth the Third

As the weather begins to turn, the time has come once again to prepare for the third annual Women in Translation Month! This year's goal is simple. No bells, no whistles, no drama.

Just read.

Three years into this project and the gap between translations of books by women versus men is still disturbingly wide. The amount of prominent literary voices either ignoring the problem or denying its existence is still too high. The number of readers still largely unaware of the plethora of books by women writers in translation is sadly too high as well. And the vast libraries of untranslated masterpieces by women writers from around the world from all historical periods is a constant reminder of how far we still have to go.

So all I ask of you is this tiny favor: Read.

Read women writers in translation. Share books you love. Seek out new ones. Learn about untranslated masterpieces. Look at the statistics posts, whether the ones on this blog or on womenintranslation.tumblr.com or any other site. Research and learn. Read.

And spread the word.

Logo courtesy of Charlie Coombe - thank you!!!