Michael Holtmann

Gadabout. Book person. President of @CATranslation and its imprint @TwoLinesPress. (Image: “The Door to Revolution” detail, Odili Donald Odita.)

[(((David Naimon))) @DavidNaimon]

Don't miss this tribute to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o from publisher of @seagullbooks Naveen Kishore. A wonderful glimpse into their friendship and correspondence. "A friendship built on words can’t help but endure."
https://t.co/62pdBXWyUq

[Razia Iqbal @raziaiqbal]

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, giant of African literature, dies aged 87 such a shame the Nobel Committee over looked him for the prize. https://t.co/zMhfp5Go2N

[Called to witness 🇰🇪 🇸🇬 @Samlankoi]

RIP 🪦 Ngugi wa thiongo

[Namwali @namwalien]

Honored to have had the chance to spend time and share words with this literary genius and revolutionary before his passing.

https://t.co/vi7rSg0wLS

[Alina Stefanescu @aliner]

I could write a (probably not very good) book about Paul Celan's letters. Instead, I am grateful to have an essay in @airlight_mag that is dedicated to the memory of Pierre Joris, whose love for Paul Celan is an eternity in language. 🖤

https://t.co/Rjh54y6lXW

[Anne Milano Appel @AnneMilanoAppel]

@michaelholtmann wrote “this administration is actively trying to silence those of us who believe the world is large and our shared humanity is more wild and beautiful than one narrow-minded agenda.” The funding crisis for the arts is making it harder. .. 1/2

[(((David Naimon))) @DavidNaimon]

Hey, it's my birthday!🪩🌍 I'd love it if you'd share a link to a particularly memorable conversation on the show &/or who you would most like to see in the future. The conversation with Nikky Finney is forever etched in my heart. & I dream of Anne Carson
https://t.co/JsQM7gVRqQ

[ArabLit & ArabLit Quarterly @arablit.bsky.social @arablit]

Back in 2011, Pierre Joris wrote us these "Seven Minutes on Translation."

So grateful for all of his work.

https://t.co/6HhJ05MC3m

[Sana Goyal Kotecha @SansyG]

A Booker dozen // a baker’s dozen — a literary feast for your senses. A long list that – we hope – leans into discovery, defies expectations, delights and challenges as it details the world we live in.

@TheBookerPrizes

[María A. @zarandillo]

Etel Adnan: Mount Tamalpais, 2000. (Callicoon Fine Arts, New York)

"I write what I see, paint what I am."

[Michael Holtmann @michaelholtmann]

Right?

[kavanorama @kavanorama]

ok maybe I’m most annoyed at ‘brodernism’ because it invents the idea that women are excluded from literary translation, while also implying that challenging avant garde literature is somehow beyond our reach as readers or writers

[Michael Holtmann @michaelholtmann]

True!

And yet the “translation bro” is absolutely a type.

[Brandy Jensen @BrandyLJensen]

“brodernism” is a truly ghastly portmanteau. just try saying it out loud. like imagine you were having a real conversation with other people

[Michael Holtmann @michaelholtmann]

@HamiltonCain Ha! Preach!

[Michael Holtmann @michaelholtmann]

Hmm. “High literary” vs.—“commercial”? Maybe. But as someone who oversees a press that exclusively publishes lit in translation—w/ an emphasis on women & writers of color—I feel like there’s a different conversation to be had. Isn’t the most interesting work from the margins?

[Sarah Brouillette @brouillettese]

three tiny questions (1) has lit-in-translation become one the last strongholds of the high literary (which has, historically, often been strongly coded "male"), protected by the Nobel and other institutions?

[Michael Holtmann @michaelholtmann]

@HamiltonCain Of course. A publisher must have an editorial sensibility. But a “body of work” can be challenging metric for a debut writer, even a writer making their debut in English (who has perhaps published several books in another language).

[Michael Holtmann @michaelholtmann]

@pourfairelevide There’s a new translation forthcoming from NYRB this June.

[Alina Stefanescu @aliner]

Not a single elected official in the state of Alabama has the courage of the high school student who, in trembling voice, recited her Dreamer/DACA poem at Poetry Out Loud yesterday. Not a single one.

[Alina Stefanescu @aliner]

Schoenberg's archives are gone too. 💔

[Michael Holtmann @michaelholtmann]

Coming soon!

[محمد خير Mohamed Kheir @mohamedkheir]

Sleep phase / مرحلة النوم
Mohamed Kheir
13 May 2025
The Center for the Art of Translation
@RobinMoger @TwoLinesPress
@Kotobkhan