Esther Allen (born June 29, 1962) is a writer, professor, and translator of French-language and Spanish-language literature into English. She is on the faculties of

Baruch College Baruch College (officially the Bernard M. Baruch College) is a public college in New York City. It is a constituent college of the City University of New York system. Named for financier and statesman Bernard M. Baruch, the college operates und ...

(Department of Modern Languages & Comparative Literature) and the

Graduate Center, CUNY The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the C ...

(Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Ph.D. Program; French Ph.D. Program). Allen co-founded

PEN World Voices The PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature is an annual week-long literary festival held in New York City and Los Angeles. The festival was founded by Salman Rushdie, Esther Allen, and Michael Roberts and was launched in 2005. The fes ...

: the New York Festival of International Literature (2004), and worked with

PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants The PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants were established in 2003 by PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) following a gift of $730,000 by Michael Henry Heim, a noted literary translator. Heim believed that there was a 'dismayingly low number of ...

from their inception in 2003 to 2010. Allen heads the Development Committee of the

American Literary Translators Association The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) is an organization in the United States dedicated to literary translation. ALTA promotes literary translation through its annual conference, which draws hundreds of translators and literary profes ...

, and serves on the board of Writers Omi, part of

Omi International Arts Center Art Omi, formerly Omi International Arts Center, is a non-profit international arts organization located in Columbia County in Ghent, New York. The organization provides residencies for writers, artists, architects, musicians, dancers and chor ...

, on the Advisory Council to the Spanish-language program at the

CUNY Graduate School of Journalism The Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York is a public graduate journalism school located in New York City. One of the 24 institutions comprising the City University of New York, or CUNY, the school opened ...

, and on the Selection Committee for the French Voices translation subvention program of the Services culturels français.

Selected works

Selected translations

* '' Zama'', introduction and first English-language translation of 1956 Spanish-language novel by

Antonio di Benedetto Antonio di Benedetto (2 November 1922 – 10 October 1986) was an Argentine novelist, short story writer and journalist. Career Di Benedetto began writing and publishing stories in his adolescence, inspired by the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky an ...

. * ''

José Martí José Julián Martí Pérez (; January 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895) was a Cuban nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in the libera ...

Selected Writings (Penguin Classics)'', editor and translator. * ''Dancing with Cuba: A Memoir of the Revolution'', English-language translation of Spanish-language manuscript by

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. Guillermoprieto wrote in the book's Acknowledgements: Esther Allen "turned my stammering Spanish-language manuscript into an English text far more beautiful and assured than I could have written." * ''In Her Absence'', English-language translation of 2001 Spanish-language novel by

Antonio Muñoz Molina Antonio Muñoz Molina (born 10 January 1956) is a Spanish writer and, since 8 June 1995, a full member of the Royal Spanish Academy. He received the 1991 Premio Planeta, the 2013 Jerusalem Prize, and the 2013 Prince of Asturias Award for lit ...

. Reviewer Michael Kern Johnson called the work "an assured translation from Esther Allen that captures beautifully the shifting subtleties of tone and mood... satirical, and even very funny ... touching and painful." * ''Borges: Selected Non-Fictions (Penguin)'', English-language translation of Spanish-language works by

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

. Edited by

Eliot Weinberger Eliot Weinberger (born 6 February 1949 in New York City) is a contemporary American literature, American writer, essayist, editing, editor, and translation, translator. He is primarily known for his literary writings (essays) and political articles ...

and co-translated with Weinberger and

Suzanne Jill Levine Suzanne Jill Levine is an American writer, poet, literary translator and scholar. Levine was born in New York City where she studied piano at Juilliard and went to Music & Art High School. She earned a BA at Vassar College in 1967, an MA at ...

. * ''The Book of Lamentations (Classic, 20th-Century, Penguin)'', English-language translation of 1962 Spanish-language novel by

Rosario Castellanos Rosario Castellanos Figueroa (; 25 May 1925 – 7 August 1974) was a Mexican poet and author. She was one of Mexico's most important literary voices in the last century. Throughout her life, she wrote eloquently about issues of cultural and gend ...

. Translation originally published 1996 by Marsilio Publishers. * ''Dark Back of Time (Vintage International)'', English-language translation of Spanish-language novel by

Javier Marías Javier Marías Franco (20 September 1951 – 11 September 2022) was a Spanish author, translator, and columnist. Marías published fifteen novels, including '' A Heart So White'' (''Corazón tan blanco,'' 1992'')'' and '' Tomorrow in the Battle ...

. Translation originally published 2001. * ''The Tale of the Rose: The Love Story Behind The Little Prince'', English-language translation of French-language memoir by Consuelo de Saint Exupéry published post-humously in France in 2000.

Selected other

* Co-edited with

Susan Bernofsky Susan Bernofsky (born 1966) is an American translator of German-language literature and author. She is best known for bringing the Swiss writer Robert Walser to the attention of the English-speaking world, translating many of his books and writi ...

. * Co-edited with Sean Cotter and

Russell Scott Valentino Russell Scott Valentino (born 1962) is an American author, literary scholar, translator, and editor. Currently, he is a professor of Slavic and comparative literature, and serves as chair of thDepartment of Slavic and East European Languages and C ...

. ''The Man Between: Michael Henry Heim and a Life in Translation'', co-editor and contributor. Tribute to

Michael Henry Heim Michael Henry Heim (January 21, 1943 – September 29, 2012) was a professor of Slavic languages at the University of California at Los Angeles. He was an active and prolific translator, and was fluent in Czech, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Hung ...

. * ''Editor, To Be Translated or Not To Be'', published in English, Catalan and German and distributed at the 2007 Frankfurt Book Fair. Commissioned by

PEN International PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

and the

Institut Ramon Llull The Institut Ramon Llull (English: Ramon Llull Institute) is a consortium consisting of the Generalitat de Catalunya, (Catalan Government), the Govern de les Illes Balears (Government of the Balearic Islands) and the Ajuntament de Barcelona (Barc ...

Awards and fellowships

* Fellow, Guggenheim Foundation, 2018. * 2017

National Translation Award The National Translation Award is awarded annually by the American Literary Translators Association for literary translators who have made an outstanding contribution to literature in English by masterfully recreating the artistic force of a book of ...

of the

for English-language translation of '' Zama'', published by

New York Review Books New York Review Books (NYRB) is the publishing division of ''The New York Review of Books''. Its imprints are New York Review Books Classics, New York Review Books Collections, The New York Review Children's Collection, New York Review Comics, N ...

. * Biography Fellow, Leon Levy Center for Biography, 2014-2015. * Awardee, Feliks Gross Awards,

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...

Academy for the Arts and Sciences, 2012. * Fellow, Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

, 2009-2010. * Chevalier,

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...

, 2006. * Translation Fellowship,

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

, 1995 and 2010.

References

External links

Esther Allen
official website.
Esther Allen citations index
from ''

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes p ...

''
Esther Allen article archive
from ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

''
Esther Allen article archive
from ''

Words Without Borders ''Words Without Borders'' (''WWB'') is an international magazine open to international exchange through translation, publication, and promotion of the world's best writing and authors who are not easily accessible to English-speaking readers. The ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Esther 1962 births Living people Spanish–English translators French–English translators Baruch College faculty Graduate Center, CUNY faculty Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Literary translators