Words Without Borders

Words Without Borders (WWB) is an international magazine opened to international exchange through translation, publication, and promotion of the world’s best writing and authors (most of which usually are not easily accessible to English-speaking readers).

Translation and knowledge

"Words Without Borders" publishes selected prose and poetry on the web and organizes stages special events that connect foreign writers to the public; it develops also materials for high school teachers and is interested to build an "online resource center" for contemporary global writing. [ [http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/?lab=AboutUs WWB, about us] ] Partner of the "Center for Literary Translation" at Columbia University, it’s supported also by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities. The founding editor is Alane Salierno Mason, translator of Elio Vittorini. [Elio Vittorini, "Conversations in Sicily (Conversazione in Sicilia)," (intr. by Ernest Hemingway), translat. by Alane Salierno Mason, Cannongate 2003 (ISBN 1841954500)] She decided to found WWB after the suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States: it was necessary a "cultural intervention" to know better the other countries' cultures and literatures, especially from the "Axis of Evil" (the US enemy nations) [ [http://www.writerscenter.org/wordswithoutborders.html "Literature from the "Axis of Evil", " WWB on The Hudson Valley Writers' Center] ] and generally from Europe, Asia and Africa. [Gianni Riotta, "Parole senza frontiere..." IoDonna (Corriere della Sera), 2003]

David Orr, on The New York Times, remembers the "intelligence and idealism" of WWB as site devoted to revealing a lot of special forms of foreign literatures. [ [http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/pdf/NYTBRabbrev.pdf D.Orr, New York Times Book Review: "The Widening Web of Digital Lit", 2004] ]

References

Books

"Words Without Borders: The World Through the Eyes of Writers" (An Anthology), by Alane Salierno Mason, Dedi Felman, Samantha Schnee, Knopf Publishing Group, ISBN 1400079756 (1-4000-7975-6)

External links

* [http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/index.php WWB’s site]
*American Literary Translators Association
*International Federation of Translators
* [http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/pdf/NYT.pdf|The New York Times: "Online Magazine Removes Cultural Blinders", by Julie Salamon (February 18, 2004)]