Posts filed under 'Recruitment drive'

Good News: We’re Expanding!

Come join us behind the scenes!

The sentiment with which he studied the maps came from his ambition to travel: He opened them with careful longing, as though he were unfolding the writings of a personal religion.

In his short story “The Foreigner” (first published in our Spring 2019 edition), Sergio Chejfec gives us an unforgettable portrait of a man who dedicates his whole life to anticipating his travels abroad—but, consumed by maps, never even succeeds in leaving the city before he dies.

At Asymptote, we take it for granted that there are no known lands, for even the familiar—let alone the vast expanse of underrepresented countries and languages—deserves to be explored with fresh eyes! Now you too can join our team of intrepid explorers without leaving your home: Just apply to our mid-year recruitment drive.

Read the testimonials by some former staff below, before checking out our newly advertised openings ranging from social media manager and marketing manager to copy editor and editor-at-large! But hurry! The deadline to send in an application is two Thursdays from now, July 1st. 

“Asymptote is the only literary magazine I’ve ever worked for or heard about that has the editorial brain-power and resource of generous and highly-talented translators to pull off a 20-language project in 10 days. This is what we did with our Mexican poetry project, which, thanks to the on-hand blog, graphic and social media team, caught the wave of worldwide solidarity for the victims of the Ayotzinapa massacre in September 2014 and the subsequent protests. It was shared in its thousands, including retweets by organizations like English PEN, Words Without Borders and Granta Magazine. I put the call out for translators for the project on a Wednesday and that same day received an offer of an introduction from NY-based Mexican author Valeria Luiselli and 9 offers of translators. One of the first messages came from our Israel editor-at-large, saying: “We all do our tiny little part in the world: mine is translating.” Asymptote does not only have impeccable taste in global literature (from ancient to contemporary), it also continues to prove, in a very tangible way, that translation is not tiny; it is a vital force for good in the world. I’m very proud to be editor-at-large for Mexico and can’t wait to see what we at Asymptote do next.”

Sophie Hughes, former Editor-at-Large, Mexico

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Behind the Scenes with Barbara Halla

There is happiness in sharing the struggles and successes of translation with a community of readers.

Enjoying our latest issue? You can be a part of the next one if you apply to our recruitment drive. (Just bear in mind that the application deadline is just two days away!) Some of you may wonder what drives us to do what we do, so today, in a special post, we are sharing a testimonial by Editor-at-large Barbara Halla, who tells us why she decided to take the leap and send us her application in September 2017.

121A few months ago, I was discussing a pitch for an essay with one of the blog editors at Asymptote. The idea was to explore the way Albania—almost thirty years after the fall of Communism—is trying to preserve the memory of life under the dictatorial regime through interactive museums and privately-owned hipster cafés. The issue at hand is this: to understand how we might be able to translate memory into a physical space, and in doing so preserve the past. I had began listing all the resources I was going to use—historical books on the nature of memory, space, and the ever-present danger of glorifying dictatorships.

In fact, I had barely hit “Send” for my latest email on the topic when I received in my inbox our Fortnightly Airmail. Included in the “In Transit” section for this issue was a recommendation for Karl Schögel’s In Space We Read Time translated by Gerrit Jackson, a book on the materiality of space. I keep thinking now that even if I had done extensive research for weeks I might have never stumbled on this book that may as well have been tailor-made to help solve the issue I was wrestling with.

This is not the first time that working for Asymptote has serendipitously led me to sources and people who could help me better understand and serve in my role as an editor. Often, I will write about something for the blog and be contacted by another editor who is working on a similar topic, or knows about a book or article I might be interested in. Our community of editors and translators feels at times like a physical extension of my own mind.

All these advantages are the lucky by-product of my joining Asymptote back in October. What led me here was another experience all-together. The final impetus for my decision to apply was a visit in June 2017 to Daunt Books, a landmark bookstore in London known for its collection of titles from all over the world. At Daunt, despite said extensive collection, I could find no books about Albania or by Albanian writers. There is a good reason for that: beyond Kadare and some sporadic voices here and there, few Albanian writers are actually translated into English.

Working as an Editor-at-Large for Albania, I am slowly making my way through a list of voices I hope to feature in future issues, to bridge this gap. This has led me to venture into the world of literary translation myself. Through translation, I am re-discovering, after years of living through and studying in other languages, the beauty and singularity of my own native tongue. It is frightening to realize the struggles and limitations that underpin the work of a translator. I often find it very frustrating, how incredibly difficult it is to properly transmit into English the history that lends colour to our words and phrases. But there is happiness there, too, in sharing the struggles and successes of translation with a community of readers. It is their interest, their support, that ultimately makes the work worthwhile.

If you’re inspired to join our team after reading Barbara’s essay, check out some newly available openings (including Editor-at-Large) at our Recruitment page here. We look forward to receiving your application!

The Asymptote Blog Wants You!

We're looking for someone to join our blog team! Could it be you?

The Asymptote blog is the journal‘s hyper on-the-pulse younger brother:

Showcasing new translations and daily writings on world literature and culture, it is on the constant look out for voice, probing analysis, and topicality in our postings. We have published pieces on topics ranging from pop music and children’s books to political calls-to-action. Apart from essays, we run dispatches from international literary events, interviews, weekly new translations, book reviews, and more. All that we do we do to connect writers from all over the world to readers like you.

If you have what it takes to bring us to the next level, and would like to be a part of an exciting, dynamic blog team (working with our wider volunteer team, whose members are based across six continents), check out our final recruitment call of the year! Although the call’s stated deadline is 11 Sep 2017, we will extend it by one week to 18 Sep 2017 just for our blog readers.

So don’t wait, send in your application today! We look forward to hearing from you.

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