Final LitSIG meeting of the 2023-24 cycle

Saturday, May 18 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Carver Branch of the Austin Public Library,
1161 Angelina Street, Austin, TX 78702,
in Meeting Room #1, the first left from the front doors.

Special guest Frank Báez will present on his Spanish translations of Dylan Thomas, for which he has been working in Austin on a fellowship, using manuscripts held at the Harry Ransom Center. Special guest Anthony Seidman will present on his English translations of Dominican poets including Frank Báez. And Liliana Valenzuela will present on her Spanish translation of a poem by Sandra Cisneros after Dylan Thomas.

After the meeting, Frank and Anthony will give a joint poetry reading from the book they collaborated on, Llegó el fin del mundo a mi barrio (Sonámbulos Ediciones, 2019) / The End of the World Came to My Neighborhood (Spuyten Duyvil, 2022), from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Alienated Majesty Books, 613 West 29th Street, 78705, co-hosted by AATIA.

And then we will take our customary summer hiatus. By all signs so far, AATIA general meetings will continue in the even-numbered months, putting the next series of LitSIG meetings in September, November, etc., the same as this time around. It’s never too early to tell me about a meeting idea you have or a project you’d appreciate the group’s support on.

Reader Bios (submitted by the readers)

Frank Báez (Dominican Republic, 1978) has published six books of poetry, a short story collection, and three nonfiction books. In 2006 he received the Short Story Prize of the Santo Domingo International Book Fair for Págales tú a los Psicoanalistas, and in 2009 he won the Salomé Ureña National Poetry Prize for Postales. In 2017 he was selected for the Hay Festival as a member of Bogotá39, the list of the best Latin American writers under forty years of age. In 2023 he received the University of Texas Mellon Fellowship for High Impact Scholars.

Anthony Seidman is a poet translator from Los Angeles. His most recent translations include Contra Natura by Rodolfo Hinostroza and A Stab in the Dark by Facundo Bernal, as well as The End of the World Came to My Neighborhood by Frank Báez. That Beast in the Mirror and Black Balloons are his latest collections of poetry. His poems, reviews, translations, and articles can be found in such journals as World Literature Today, Latin American Literature Today, Poetry International, New American Writing, Ambit, Rattle, Modern Poetry in Translation, Los Angeles Review of Books, as well as in journals from Mexico, Chile, Argentina, France, and Bangladesh.