PARTICIPANTS - NEW YORK
THE TEAM
Esther Allen is a writer and translator. She is a professor at Baruch College and in the Ph.D. Programs in Comparative Literature, French and in Latin American, Iberian and Latino Cultures at CUNY. Allen is a two-time recipient of National Endowment for the Arts Translation Fellowships. Her translation of Zama, by Antonio Di Benedetto, won the 2017 National Translation Award. In 2018-2019, she was a Guggenheim Fellow. Her most recent translation is Antonio Di Benedetto’s The Suicides. She is the co-founder of the PEN World Voices Festival. In 2006, the French government named her a Chevalier de l’ordre des arts et des lettres.
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Suzanne Jill Levine is a poet and translator. Her poetry chapbook Reckoning (2012) combines her original poetry with her translations of the work of Octavio Paz, Alejandra Pizarnik, and Severo Sarduy. She is also the author of the literary biography Manuel Puig and the Spider Woman and the critical work The Subversive Scribe: Translating Latin American Fiction. As a translator, Levine has been awarded grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and a PEN American Award for Career Achievement in Hispanic Studies. She has translated the works of Guillermo Cabrera Infante and Manuel Puig. She and teaches translation studies and in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
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Jaime Manrique is a bilingual Colombian American novelist, poet, essayist, educator, and translator. His work is a representation of his cultural upbringing and heritage mixed with the flavors of his education in English.
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Luisa Valenzuela is a prominent Argentine author known for her novels, short stories, and essays. She's a leading voice in Latin American literature, particularly recognized for her critical perspective on Argentine society, especially during the military dictatorship of the 1970s. Her work often explores themes of violence, political repression, gender roles, and the impact of these issues on individuals and society.
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Marguerite Feitlowitz is the author of A Lexicon of Terror: Argentina and The Legacies of Torture, a New York Times Notable Book and Finalist for the PEN New England-L.L. Winship Prize. Her fiction, poetry, essays, art criticism, and translations have appeared in BOMB, Tri-Quarterly, Agni, Salmagundi, Les temps modernes, El Viejo topo, in volumes published by the major museums, including The Museum of Modern Art, and in many other journals and anthologies. Since 2002, Marguerite Feitlowitz has been a professor of literature at Bennington College. She is currently working on an original novel.
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Marialena Carr is a writer, translator, and photographer. She was a research scientist for 20 years. Her stories include weavers, spies, and ghosts. She lives outside NYC.
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Stephanie Malak serves as the translations editor for The Common, an award-winning print and digital literary journal published biannually whose mission is to deepen our individual and collective sense of place.
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Ara H. Merjian is Associate Professor of Italian Studies and an affiliate of the Institute of Fine Arts and the Department of Art History, New York University. He is the author of Giorgio de Chirico and the Metaphysical City: Nietzsche, Paris, Modernism (Yale University Press, 2014). Forthcoming from the University of Chicago Press in 2019, and funded by a Creative Capital/Andy Warhol Foundation Art Writers Grant, is the new volume, Against the Avant-Garde: Pier Paolo Pasolini, Contemporary Art and Neocapitalism, 1960-1975. He is at work on a new book titled "The Mimesis of the Gaze" – a theoretical examination of shared vision and intersubjectivity in modernist painting.
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Aurélie Vialette joins the FAS as Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese. Her research areas are working-class culture, popular music, social movements, gender studies, prison reform, slavery networks, and disability studies. She has published Intellectual Philanthropy: The Seduction of the Masses (2018), recipient of the 2019 North American Catalan Society book award; Dissonances of Modernity: Music, Text, and Performance in Modern Spain (co-edited with Irene Gómez-Catellanos) and The Legacies of Slavery in Modern Iberia (co-edited with Akiko Tsuchiya), forthcoming 2025. She is preparing a special issue on Disability Studies and Iberian Studies, for Hispanic Review. She is the managing editor of Catalan Review.
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Kate Deimling is a poet, writer, and French translator. Her poems have appeared in Slant, Notre Dame Review, Tar River Poetry, Naugatuck River Review, The Midwest Quarterly, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Plainsongs, and other magazines. She lives in Brooklyn, New York and is an associate poetry editor for Bracken.
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Gary J. Racz is the editor for Translation Review and as a past president of the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA). Gary primarily translates Span-ish-language poetry, both peninsular and Latin American, as well as drama. A special interest in meter and rhyme has led him to translate works dating: from the sixteenth century to the present. Gary is also Professor of English, Philosophy and Languages at LIU Brooklyn.
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Julia Sanches is a literary translator working from Portuguese, Spanish, and Catalan into English. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, she has spent extended periods of time in the United States, Mexico, Switzerland, Scotland, and Catalonia, giving her an intimate knowledge of the languages, cultures, and literatures she works in. She is a founding member of Cedilla & Co., a collective of translators committed to making international voices heard in English, and chair of the Translators Group of the Authors Guild.
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Emma Ramadan is a literary translator and recipient of the PEN Translation Prize, the Albertine Prize, and an NEA Translation Fellowship. Her translations include Anne Garréta’s Sphinx, Virginie Despentes’s Pretty Things, Kamel Daoud’s Zabor, or the Psalms, and Abdellah Taïa’s A Country for Dying.
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Cécile Wajsbrot, born on June 21, 1954 as the daughter of Polish Jews in Paris, is one of France’s most important writers. Her family fled from the Nazis to France, from where her grandfather was deported and later murdered in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Her mother and grandmother narrowly escaped a roundup. Wajsbrot is the author of numerous novels, essays, radio plays, and translations of literary works from English and German. She lives in Paris and Berlin.
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Mary Ann Newman translates from Catalan and, occasionally, Spanish. She has done fiction by Quim Monzó and Josep Maria de Sagarra, essay by Xavier Rubert de Ventós, poetry by Josep Carner, Maria Callís, Àngels Gregori, and now a snippet from Eugeni d’Ors. Newman has received the Creu de Sant Jordi (1998), the J-B. Cendrós Award (2016), the NACS Award for Catalan Studies (2017), and the Fundació Ramon Llull Award (2022) for her work as a translator and advocate for Catalan culture. She is currently working on Sebastià Alzamora’s Rage and Àngels Gregori’s Great Trees Fall. For fun, she curates Sant Jordi festivals.
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Jaume Biarnés is a chef from Barcelona. After 5 years working at the acclaimed restaurant elBulli, he became culinary director of the Alícia Foundation leading a cross functional team of chefs and scientists in culinary R+D projects. Chef Jaume is the director of Yondu Culinary Studio in NYC. He is currently President of the Catalan Institute of America.
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Laia Cabrera is an award-winning filmmaker and video artist based in New York, working in the fields of art Installations-new cinema. Her wide range of artworks, from traditional and experimental filmmaking, visual poetry, interactive art and immersive projection mapping installations, has been commissioned by major institutions and presented worldwide in leading venues, art galleries and festivals. Identity and consciousness have been constant themes in her work, exploring concepts of otherness, symbolism, and hope, the art of seeing and the nature of belonging.
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Isabelle Duverger is an award-winning French painter and installation artist based in New York. Her work includes paintings, public art, immersive interactive video installations, video-art and animation. Her work is focused on the relationship between emotions and body language, the observation of patterns, imaginary landscapes and how the human presence interacts in it, and the pursuit of new languages through technology.
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Originally born in Spain, Ignacio Garcia-Bustelo is a New York based actor and stage director. As an actor, he has worked for the National Theater; here in the US he has performed at La MaMa ETC, The Theatre Project, Olney Theater Center, Theater for the New City. Off-Broadway directing credits: Wearing Lorca’s Bowtie, The Dark Stone, and the devised opera Signora Rossini. He serves as the Artistic Director of AENY - Spanish Artists in New York; he is a Fulbright Scholar, and holds a BFA from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in Madrid, and a MFA from The New School for Drama in NYC.
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Marta Guitart arrived in New York in 1999 and soon became involved with Friends of Catalonia (now the Catalan Institute of America), where she has helped promote traditions like the Tió and Sant Jordi. A multimedia artist and educator, she is currently pursuing an MFA in Integrated Media Arts at Hunter College, where she also teaches. She lives in Manhattan with her family, all passionate about art, music, and culture.
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Originally from Barcelona and based in New York City with his wife and daughter, Raimond Pinto Estrada runs a design studio specializing in narrative-driven spaces and artworks for architecture, with a strong focus on health and well-being. With one foot on each side of the Atlantic, he enjoys supporting cultural and community projects such as Sant Jordi NYC through his involvement with CIofA.
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Txell Sugranyes is an international business consultant, specializing in global market entry strategies for European companies. Originally from Barcelona, she has been in New York since 2021, where she joined the board of the Catalan Institute and loves everything about this beautiful city.
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Rosa Godia Cabrera is a graduate of Media Studies and Journalism, as well as a specialist in Social Media and Visual Communication, with an extensive portfolio in video and web platforms. She is also a professional dancer, performer, and multimedia creator.
Eva Sala Amoravieta, originally from Castellar del Vallès near Barcelona, has supported Catalan communities in Washington DC, Miami, and New York for over 20 years. She began on the board of Friends of Catalonia and now continues with the Catalan Institute of America. Eva is SVP Media at SOLVE(D) IPG and lives in Brooklyn with her daughter Júlia.
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Originally from Banyoles, Pere Sanchez Frigola moved to New York City 12 years ago. He now lives in Connecticut with his wife, son and two stepdaughters. Pere is in the hotel industry and currently runs a hotel in Tribeca. He is deeply involved with the Catalan community, having served as President of the CIOFA and now as a member of its board.
Ryan Brooks is a Director of Photography, 1st Assistant Director, and Digital Imaging Technician with credits across feature films, music videos, and short-form projects. His recent work includes a live recording of “Giselle: NPR Tiny Desk Contest”, feature-film “Chilltown”, and shot-film “Burning Virtue". Ryan’s dual background allows him to support bold, original storytelling both creatively and strategically.
Rob Moreland is a produced screenwriter and animation-focused producer who also composes original music. He’s scored series, commercial projects, and releases work on Spotify. Now in his sixth year creating music for Sant Jordi’s online program, he continues to blend storytelling and sound across formats.
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PARTNERS AND ORGANIZERS
The Farragut Fund for Catalan Culture in the U.S. is an American not-for-profit organization (501(c)3) that serves as a catalyst for Catalan cultural initiatives in the U.S. and a vehicle for meaningful artistic exchange between American and Catalan cultures. The Farragut Fund seeks a strong, visible, and permanent presence for Catalan culture in the great mosaic of American cultures.
West Village Business Improvement District (BID) supports the cultural and commercial vitality of one of New York City’s most iconic neighborhoods. Through placemaking, streetscape improvements, marketing, and business support, the BID fosters a vibrant, welcoming environment for residents, businesses, and visitors while ensuring the neighborhood’s distinctive character thrives for generations to come.
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The Catalan Institute of America is an independent, not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to promoting Catalan culture, language, and heritage in New York. Building on a Catalan presence in NYC since 1920, the institute fosters cultural exchange and community through its programs and activities.
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Laia Cabrera & Co. is an award-winning multimedia studio co-founded by filmmaker and video artist Laia Cabrera and visual artist and animator Isabelle Duverger. Based in New York, the studio creates a diverse range of works, including traditional and experimental filmmaking, site-specific projection mapping, visual poetry, and immersive interactive art installations. Their work has been commissioned and presented across Europe, the United States, Asia, and Latin America.
Tess Lewis is a translator from French and German. Her translations include works by Peter Handke, Philippe Jaccottet, and Christine Angot, and a collection of essays by Walter Benjamin for NYRB Classics. She is a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow and a 2022 Berlin Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin.
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PARTICIPANTS - Saturday 26th Christopher St Street Fair
Barcelona-born and Brooklyn-based Alexis Cuadrado is an accomplished producer, bassist, composer, bandleader, and musician.
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Pyeng Threadgill is an American blues, jazz and soul blues singer, songwriter, and record producer.
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Nana Simopoulos is considered one of the foremost composers of world fusion music. She artfully blends sounds and textures from around the world.
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Gisela Fullà-Silvestre makes music as NOIA, is a Barcelona-born Brooklyn-based musician and sound designer
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Sarah Prager, author of A Child’s Introduction to Pride, Queer There and Everywhere, and Rainbow Revolutionaries, is dedicated to raising awareness of LGBTQ+ history through writing, speaking, and other projects.
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Ross Perlin is the author of Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York.
Peter Carlaftes is a New York-based performance artist, playwright, fiction author, actor, and poet,
Kat Georges is an internationally known poet and playwright, who cofounded San Francisco's Marilyn Monroe Memorial Theater in 1992.
Poet Andrei Codrescu, born in Romania, an immigrant to the US, is an American novelist, essayist, poet and film maker.
Jane LeCroy is a NYC based poet, singer, performance artist, and home-birthing mother of 3, who serves the poetry gods.
Sophie Malleret is a poet, actor and film producer in NYC. She writes and performs in English and French.
Jill Schoolman is the founder and publisher of Archipelago Books, an award-winning, not-for-profit press devoted to devoted to publishing excellent translations of classic and contemporary world literature.
Sarah Arvio is an American poet, essayist and translator. She is the author of Visits from the Seventh, Sono: cantos, and night thoughts.
Stine An is a technical writer, content manager, literary translator, poet, and performer based in Queens, New York.
Jennifer Shyue is a translator from Spanish focusing on contemporary Cuban and Asian-Peruvian writers.
Kira Josefsson is a writer, editor, and translator working between Swedish and English.
Silvia Albert Sopale is a groundbreaking Afro-Spanish actress and playwright, the founder of Hibiscus, the Assoc. of AfroSpanish and Afrodescendents and director of the Black Barcelona Festival.
Kirmen Uribe is a Basque Language writer, and one of the most relevant writers of his generation in Spain. He won the National Prize for Literature in Spain in 2009 for his first novel Bilbao-New York-Bilbao.
Elizabeth Macklin is the author of the poetry collections A Woman Kneeling in the Big City and You’ve Just Been Told, and is the translator of the Basque poet Kirmen Uribe’s Meanwhile Take My Hand, among other works.
Martí Sales i Sariola is a writer, translator, musician and cultural critic. He has written a number of works of narrative, poetry and essays and has translated over thirty works from English to Catalan.