WORDS WITHOUT BORDERS

This morning's Christian Science Monitor includes an article called " World literature: Found in translation". It points out that we keep ourselves in intelluctual isolation. Only 3% of materials printed in other languages are ever translated into English. We really don't know what the rest of the world is saying or thinking.

There is an organization called WORDS WITHOUT BORDERS . This organization was "originally conceived as a resource for publishing professionals....to become exposed to international authors, and has since evolved to serve a larger purpose connecting the public directly to the hearts and minds of people beyond American shores."

The founding editor, Alane Saliemo Mason said "It was clear that Americans did need and want to know more about the realities of the rest of the world, not just the abstractions that are flung around in political discourse."

The nonprofit site, now in its fourth year, offers contemporary writing from places such as Argentina, China, Italy, and Pakistan, often for the first time in English. Last fall, the organization published its first print anthology of works from Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.

Check it out at www.wordswithoutborders.org