Author: Jubal Current

The Neurosurgeon by Michel Estrada, translated by Jon Jaramillo, is now available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble

/ Jubal Current / Leave a comment
Book cover

You can find the book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble for $17.95 and there is a Kindle Version of the book available as well.

Here is what the book is about: Michael the protagonist, who is both a neurosurgeon and a family man with a beautiful, supportive wife and a typical athletic son with aspirations of being a baseball player, has devised a way to annihilate degenerative neurons using nanotechnology, potentially providing relief from the disease of addiction for millions of people. However, major power brokers around the world will stop at nothing to either prevent him from realizing his capitalist endeavor with a philanthropic aim or seize his knowledge for their own nefarious purposes. This is a story destined for the big screen because its narrative mirrors the rotten core at the heart of the false dichotomy of extreme left and right political and economic interests. It shows us how even the most altruistic and best intentions can produce devastating consequences when pride blinds us from seeing that family is more important than monetary pursuits, fortune or even being a hero. How do we create justice and ensure peace when so many forces conspire to deny its materialization, when drug trafficking continues to be a cancer that eats away at our security, and exacerbates an already volatile world facing terrorism? Would you sacrifice your loved ones to save the world?

My Main Photo
Author: Michel Estrada in Cuba
Translator: Jon Dell Jaramillo

Queering Translation Caucus Spring Roundup set for May 23rd at 1pm PST

/ Jubal Current / Leave a comment

You are invited to the Queering Translation Caucus Spring Zoom Roundup!

For security purposes, if you wish to attend, please contact Jon Jaramillo at jonj@uoregon.edu to be put on the guest list and given the Zoom link and passcode.

Please join us on Zoom to catch up with fellow translators who you met at last summer’s ALTA 43’s Queer Translation Caucus and build on the success of our first meeting. We would like to continue to build our queer(ing) translation community and tell you about some exciting initiatives in the works. We look forward to your comments and suggestions about:

  1. organizing a queering translation colloquium where translators and academics can present projects
  2. creating a directory of queer(ing) translator profiles, with a list of publications, languages they translate, generic specialties, and contact information (we need to decide where to host the directory)
  3. growing the non-profit Queer Translation Collective by establishing a board of directors, an editorial board, and laying the groundwork for the publishing of a biannual digital zine on queering translation

Your input will help us build consensus and make decisions. We will have two breakout room sessions: the first will be a more intimate meet and greet and brainstorming about the colloquium, the second (optional) session will be devoted to business related to the QT Collective. In both sessions we will have shared document links posted so you can share your ideas. Those with the link and passcode can attend. We will use a waiting room for security.

Queering Translation Caucus Meetup

/ Jubal Current / Leave a comment

We would like to invite you to fill out a survey. We are planning a virtual meetup for May 2021. Your response to the survey will help us determine what day to hold the event.

I have been busy with my dissertation and the start of a new trimester. I am sorry for the delay in getting back to you. 
We are planning an online Zoom meeting in May 2021. If you would like to attend and meet other queer translators, this would be a great opportunity. Here is a link to a quick survey to establish a date for the meetup. I hope that at this next meeting we can begin the process of establishing a board of directors and an editorial board so we can publish a biannual digital publication. 


Survey link: https://forms.office.com/r/cWgR1FwzLV

I look forward to meeting you and getting to know you.

Best,

Jon Dell Jaramillo

Queer Translation Caucus at ALTA 43

/ Jubal Current / Leave a comment

The QT caucus at ALTA 43 was a tremendous success. We had 39 folks in attendance at the meeting. Many incredible ideas were discussed. Here is a link to the closed captioning from the meeting. You will be able to read what was discussed at the caucus. https://recapd.com/w-Q_8QE2/5bf032d08a968a1831777a516b0ed0/

The Slack we created can be found at QT Caucus ALTA at https://slack.com/your-workspaces#/ I would like to recommend that we not use this site moving forward, as the basic free site is very limited and we cannot access everyone’s email addresses. The site requires a minimum payment of $8 per user per month. This is too much money for any most of us. This WordPress site and the G-Suite costs a total of $200 per year and we can have as many members as we want. The annual costs includes the domain, the WordPress site, and the G-Suite with 30gb of cloud storage.

We are very interested in expanding this collective, taking it to the next level, and including all those from the caucus, should they wish to become members. If you are interested in becoming contributors or editors or even administrators please let us know.

Victoria Caudle has generously offered to become an admin and she can be reached at victoria@queertranslationcollective.org, whereas myself, Jon Jaramillo, can be reached at jonj@queertranslationcollective.org.

Admins would be in charge of communications and making major design changes to the site.

Contributors and editors would contribute original articles, translations that can be published here without infringing copyrights, and to raise questions for discussion by the community about queer translation issues.

The general members can be commentators on the posts, to help keep the energy going.

We would like to form a board of directors for the Queer Translation Collective and an Editorial Board.

What we have envisioned in the long term are the following initiatives, and anyone who is interested can be part of a working group:

1. regular publication of articles and sample translations;

2. organizing virtual get togethers every two months;

3. creating a mentoring space where those who want to mentor can connect with those who want to be mentored (specifically with queer translation issues);

4. creating a queer(ing) peer-reviewed translation journal that publishes two issues a year;

5. planning a queer(ing) translation conference, and colloquia/seminar/workshops for some time in the future (question: should these events be under the ALTA umbrella or independent?);

6. the formation of a well organized cloud storage space in the G-Suite (we have 30gb available at the current level) where hard to find articles, bibliography, and resources can be shared among community members;

7. a profile section where translators can be listed by specialty and to let those looking for translators who specialize in queer translation can be contacted/consulted/hired

Please feel free to comment below about any of the ideas proposed.

The Neurosurgeon

/ Jubal Current / 2 Comments

Hello everyone, I am pleased to announce the upcoming publication of my first book in translation. The Neurosurgeon by Cuban author Michel Estrada will be published by Floricanto Press in October 2020.

Cuban author Michel Estrada, from the countryside of Pinar del Rio, has a tremendous imagination and strong determination. Despite admittedly being an academic “disaster” in his formative years as a student who struggled with arts and letters—gravitating instead towards mathematics and computer technology at Havana University—he has become quite a prolific author. After becoming disappointed with his chosen path, he decided to expand his limited transnational cultural awareness beyond the boundaries of the island nation and spread the tentacles of his imagination through literature. His quixotic literary odyssey began as he feasted on a delicious array of the world’s most memorable works of fiction. Inspired with what he encountered; he began to write. His first three novels did not satisfy the expectations of publishers in Cuba. They told him he still had much to learn. Nevertheless, Estrada remained undaunted and kept writing. After six novels and many rejections abroad, Latina Instinct became his first international success. He has since written a movie script. His latest novel, The Neurosurgeon, is a testament to the power of an imaginative desire which materializes through diligence and perseverance. Estrada’s narratives not only stimulate the mind’s ear, but its visual cortex as well.