The Center for the Art of Translation is getting a permanent home in San Francisco.

Yesterday, the Center for the Art of Translation announced plans to open a permanent location in downtown San Francisco.

Founded in 2000 in the living room of translator Olivia Sears, the Center has long been a nomadic institution with no static address. But the mission has been stalwart. For 26 years, the Center has championed global literature through its award-winning publisher, Two Lines Press, its Poetry Inside Out educational programs, and hundreds of public events. 

The team behind these wonderful resources has now secured $13.3 million (78% of their goal) to renovate a historic building steps from the Transamerica Pyramid. Funds came from a mix of individual donors and philanthropic partners.

The new space will open to the public in 2027, with an aim of creating a physical and cultural infrastructure for literary translators, and the readers who support their work.

According to Paul Yamazaki, a Principal Buyer at City Lights, the city is more than ready for a new literary hub. (Hehe.) “To have this in the same neighborhood is going to be a gravitational pull—not just for City Lights and the Center, but for readers and writers,” he told the architects. 

Michael Holtmann, current president of the Center, also noted the benefits of a meat-space location. In a press release, he said the new location will create a “cultural anchor for a city that desperately needs places where people can gather around ideas, not algorithms.”

A rendering of the space TK, c/o Jensen Architects.

The Center is also keen to cross-pollinate with like-minded local institutions. Visitors will be able to enjoy venue access to other literary and arts organizations around San Francisco. The new hub will host programs year round, and abet the educational mission via hands-on translation workshops. 

Jazmina Barrera, a Two Lines Press author and National Book Award finalist, emphasized the project’s timeliness.

“At a time when the funds for literature, for translation, for humanities all around the country are being cut and disappearing, what would it look like to have a space where people can meet around books, translations, authors, languages?” she told organizers. “I see the Center for the Art of Translation as a refuge, but it is also a lighthouse.”

It’s a nice day to be a worldly reader in San Francisco. Find out more about this exciting project here.

Images via Jensen Architects