“‎I write my essays not to preach and moralize, though that’s unavoidable, too, but to see what’s behind the curtain, how the mechanism works. One of my dearest books was, and still is, The Wizard of Oz. And my favorite literary hero is not Dorothy, or her three companions, but Toto, a little dog. He’s the one who pulls the curtain, not because he’s brave, but simply because he’s curious.”

Jessa Crispin full interview is available over at Kirkus Review.

And you can read more about Dubravka Ugresic’s Karaoke Culture right here.

“Saer’s rhythmic, philosophical novel Scars is the second title in a three-translation project courtesy of Open Letter Books. Covering five months in the early ’60s, the book tracks four different narrators as they converge on the same murder/suicide. But Scars is not reducible to its plot: The real draw here is how Saer orchestrates these four stories, interlocking them through repetition, overlapping, and metaphysical subtext.”

Scott Esposito’s full review is available over at Bookforum.

And you can read more about Juan José Saer’s Scars right here.

“Chejfec bravely reveals to us a world seen all askew, wherein we will gaze at everyday objects, and perhaps glimpse their invisible, indestructible core. Reading this book is an indoctrination into this logic, showing for a short time a world of Kafka’s infinitely deep “smooth surfaces” – a necessary meditation in any time, and perhaps more than most in these days.”

Scott Esposito’s full review is available over at the Critical Flame.

And you can read more about Sergio Chejfec’s My Two Worlds right here.

We at Three Open Letter want to say: Thank you.

This may be the last message we’ll post about our 2011 Annual Campaign, and we want to use it to let you know that, by participating, you’re making a vital (and tax deductible) gift toward all of the nonprofit publishing, programing, and educational efforts here at Open Letter. And, even more, you’re joining us in helping to diversify our larger literary landscape.

We can’t thank you enough for your shared interest, support, and appreciation of how these many publications and programs make enriching contributions to our culture.

Finally, we have a challenge for all those who haven’t yet contributed: $10. It doesn’t seem like much, but when each of you gives just a little, the total effect is huge. Your gift really does make a outsized impact, far exceeding the simple dollar amount.

And, as a special incentive, 1 in every 10 donors (making a gift of any amount) will receive a free Open Letter book of their choice.

We ask that you’ll please join our campaign by quickly contributing online or by mailing back this flier.

Thanks, again, to all of you this holiday season!

Sincerely,
Chad W. Post
Publisher & Director

We’re in the midst of our Open Letter Annual Campaign (don’t worry, this won’t go on forever), and we just want to say “thank you” to those you who have already contributed by making a donation.

We’re not done, though, and we’re still a ways from our goal . . .

First off: We really like giving out free things much more than asking for anything (to be honest, we think we’re much better at the former than that latter, too). So, in that spirit, 1 in every 10 donors (making a gift of any amount) will receive a free Open Letter book of their choosing. (Once the campaign wraps up, we’ll get in touch with the winners to find out your free book selection.)

To reiterate a key point from our special appeal: Your shared interest/excitement/involvement is why we do all this. And, by the same token, your support is a huge part of how we’re able to find/translate/publish ten books a year from around the world, to keep Three Percent one of the best literary sites out there, , to run our asses off getting great international lit into the hands of as many readers as possible, to host free events and put them online for everyone, to work with the University of Rochester to educate a new generation of literary translators, and on and on . . .

No one has cash to spare, we know. If you enjoy reading Three Percent or Open Letter’s books, get excited about international literature, and think our culture is damn better because of it, though, we hope you’ll take a moment to make a contribution of any size.

On a side note, let us just say that the direction of the giving and gratitude here should always be pointed from us toward you for being interested/excited/involved with Three Percent, Open Letter, and international literature in general. It does seem weird, then, that we’d ask you for more, but nonprofits like us need help from a base of individual supporters. Without all of you, we’d wouldn’t be here tomorrow. We hope, from where you’re standing, our mission is one that you value supporting, too.

(And on a specific note: We are a 501(c)(3), all contributions are tax-deductible, and you can donate online or via mail.)

Again, thanks.

As the year comes to a close, we thought we’d take a minute to look back at what we’ve done over the past twelve months. It’s also that magical time of year when we thank you all for your continued support, and ask for your help in the year to come by participating in our Annual Campaign.

Most of you are aware that Open Letter is the University of Rochester’s non-profit publishing house, and as such, our annual revenue comes from a few diverse sources, including book sales, foundational support, governmental support (from the U.S. and others), support from the New York State Council on the Arts. One of our most important sources of funding, however, comes from individuals interested in furthering the appreciation of international literature.

Thanks to the support of readers like you, we were able to expand our reach and activities over the past year in a variety of ways:

- We published 10 titles from around the world, including the critically acclaimed Zone by Mathias Enard, My Two Worlds by Sergio Chejfec, Selected Stories of Merce Rodoreda, Vertical Motion by Can Xue and Scars by Juan Jose Saer;

- The Reading the World Conversation Series entered its fourth season, and included presentations by Thomas Pletzinger and Ross Benjamin, Sergio Chejfec and Margaret Carson, the Ledig House, and Piotr Sommer and Bill Martin;

- Awarded the fourth annual Best Translated Book Awards to Tove Jansson and Thomas Teal for The True Deceiver and to Ales Steger and Brian Henry for The Book of Things. All four winners received $5,000 cash prizes thanks to Amazon.com;

- Launched Read This Next to provide readers with extended previews of forthcoming and recently released works in translation;

- Published The Three Percent Problem: Rants and Responses on Publishing, Translation, and the Future of Reading with all proceeds going to support literary translators;

- Started a semi-weekly podcast to discuss books, culture, publishing, translation, and other related topics;

- Offered internships to students interested in getting into the publishing field.

And that’s really just the visible things . . . Behind every book, every initiative there’s a lot of time, energy, and thought about how best to expand the audience for our titles, and for interesting literature in general. Our goal is to help foster a healthy book culture—something that wouldn’t at all be possible without all of you.

To that end, you can help us continue to create exciting content and fun outreach programs by contributing online to our Annual Campaign. (Or click here for a PDF donation form that you can mail to us.)

Reading the World Conversation Series:
Sergio Chejfec & Margaret B. Carson

DECEMBER 1, 2011
Thursday, 6:00 p.m
Plutzik Library in Rare Books & Special Collections
Rush Rhees Library, University of Rochester
(Free and open to the public.)

Sergio Chejfec is the author of a dozen books, three of which are coming out from Open Letter Books: My Two Worlds (available now), The Planets (2012), and The Dark (2013). Spanish author Enrique Vila-Matas singled out My Two Worlds as one of the “best books of the year.” The English edition has been universally praised, with Publishers Weekly saying Margaret B. Carson’s “magnificent translation” should be “treated as a significant event.”

My Two Worlds is a novel about an author walking through a city in the South of Brazil. As he wanders, this unnamed narrator thinks about his walk, about his new book (which isn’t getting very good reviews), and about his life (his birthday is a few days away).

Chejfec and Carson will discuss this novel, literature, and the process of translation.

(Sponsored by The Dept. of Rare Books, Special Collections & Preservation)

Visit this event on Facebook

(This event is presented by Open Letter and University of Rochester Arts & Sciences. It is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.)

Here’s the full video of our “Reading the World Conversation Series” event featuring three authors and translators in residence at Ledig House. (Full description of the event and guests is below)

October, 25 2011 – Ledig House is home to one of the nation’s only international writers’ residencies. Every year, two dozen critically acclaimed writers and translators from around the world visit the Ledig House, where they work on their individual projects and learn from their fellow writers. And for the past three years, we’ve been privileged to have some of their residents visit Rochester and read from their work.

This year’s event includes: Mads Mygind (Denmark), author of several poetry collections and the founder of the Verbale Pupiller poetry festival; Chika Unigwe (Nigeria/Belgium), a former Rockefeller Foundation Fellow and author of “On Black Sisters Street”; and Anna Mioni (Italy), translator of more than fifty novels and works of non-ficiton.

(This event is presented by Open Letter and University of Rochester Arts & Sciences. It is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts.)

“My Two Worlds is a text that has no desire to remain, to leave a trace. I want readers to remember these scenes, those shifting environments, as one limitless thought.” . . .

The Carmen García and Craig Epplin’s full review is available over at Guernica Magazine.

And you can read more about Sergio Chejfec’s My Two Worlds right here.

“Chinese writer Can Xue’s short story collection Vertical Motion captures dream/nightscapes like Steven Milhauser and the surreal like Japanese writer Haruki Murakami. . . . This extraordinary, imaginative collection of stories has that message: Mystery lives in the midst of our lives.”

The Olive Mullet’s full review is available over at NewPages.

And you can read more about Can Xue’s Vertical Motion right here.