****MESSAGE BOARD 2013

We don't seem to have one yet . . .

In any case, wandering_star has set up the April-June Southeast Asia theme read thread.

I just found this interesting thread on books by female authors in translation.

SassyLassy and Steven have done a fabulous job in setting up the thread for the fourth quarter South American theme read.

Today only Archipelago Books is having a 50% off sale. As their promotional e-mail said:

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At checkout, use Coupon Code: ITD2013

Established in 1953 by the International Federation of Translators, International Translation Day falls on September 30th, the feast day of St. Jerome, translator of the Bible and patron saint of translators. In celebration, consider hunting for international literature on our website -- and receive 50% off!"

Visit them at www.archipelagobooks.org.

This month's Words without Borders issue focuses on African women writing in indigenous languages, http://wordswithoutborders.org/current-issue/.

Don't know if anyone reads this message board, since I seem to be the only poster to it (!), but I've started a thread asking for your thoughts on making theme reads even better in 2014.

I look! I just don't say anything. (Until now!)

Me too. I "star" the message boards for each group I belong to and always go there first when there's a message. So please keep on using them, especially to announce new threads which would otherwise be easy to overlook.

I've posted the thread for suggesting themes for next year. Let's hear everybody's ideas!

The 2014 theme read voting thread is OPEN

Come on over and cast your vote!

There are two days left to vote for next year's theme reads! If you haven't done so already, please come over to the voting thread and let your voice be counted!

And today is the last day to vote for next year's theme reads! If you haven't done so already, please come to the voting thread and cast your votes!

The results are in! Please go to this post on the voting thread to see them and to comment on the suggestions.

We still need volunteers to lead the 2014 Central American read and postwar Germany read and I would like to wrap this by the end of the weekend so the first quarter leader can start planning. We definitely need someone who can lead one of these in the fourth quarter, but I can juggle the other quarters a little bit. There were 21 of you who voted "yes" for each of these reads, so there must be someone who can volunteer to lead them!

Thanks again to Rhonda for volunteering to lead the sub-Saharan Africa read and lilisin for volunteering to lead the travelogue read.

Please come to the voting thread to volunteer.

Thanks!

StevenTX has now generously agreed to lead the Central America and Mexico read in the third quarter, so we are all set for 2014.

First quarter Sub-Saharan Africa, led by banjo/Rhonda
Second quarter Travelogues, led by lilisin
Third quarter Central America and Mexico led by StevenTX
Fourth quarter Post-war Germany led by RidgewayGirl

Thank you all! I for one am looking forward to another great year of reading globally!

Very busy week, but I hope to post the reads on the group page over the weekend.

I have started the thread for the Sub-Saharan Africa read. This is a work in progress, but I am excited about it and looking forward to some really thought-provoking reading and discussion.

The Sub-Saharan African thread Rhonda started is here!. I'll add a link to the group page in the next day or two.

The second quarter theme read thread on Travel Writing and Travelogues is up! Thank you, lilisin!