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Asymptote

The World's Literature. Fresh.

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Asymptote

Asymptote

Asymptote

Asymptote

Asymptote

The World's Literature. Fresh.

The World's Literature. Fresh.

The World's Literature. Fresh.

The World's Literature. Fresh.

Eric M. B. Becker
Eric M. B. Becker
Eric M. B. Becker
Eric M. B. Becker
1 Campaign |
New York, United States
$25,276 USD 287 backers
101% of $25,000 Flexible Goal Flexible Goal

We reached our goal! But you can still contribute...

We’re thrilled to have reached our $25,000 goal, and our profoundest thanks go out to the 287 donors that stepped up before our deadline. This incredible show of generosity blew us away, and we extend our deepest gratitude to all who contributed.

When the good people at Indiegogo suggested we should reignite this campaign, we immediately realized that this could be a great thing: not only would it allow folks who’d only just heard of us to contribute, it could be a point of entry for all those good souls wanting to contribute in their own way to the ongoing business of running a free online journal with global ambition and reach.

Keeping this page open also allows us to offer you some of the same awesome perks received by campaign donors: books autographed by Susan Bernofsky and Reif Larsen, a "Gateway to Singaporean Literature" package donated by Singaporean writers Desmond Kon and Christine Chia, and of course our exclusive AsympTOTE bags, bookmarks, postcards, and posters.

Run by volunteers and big-hearted translators, Asymptote needs all the donations it can get, so, if you like what we’ve been doing, do give what you can in order to keep reading, hearing, and seeing more from us!

We Need Diverse Literature!

We are Asymptote, a truly international journal presenting the very best literature from all corners of the globe.

In a literary world characterized more and more by a lack of diversity, as well as by an increasingly English-centered flow of information, we bring more voices—speaking more languages—into an ever-expanding global conversation.

Hailing from 27 countries, our 70 team members collaborate digitally to search out and commission the finest writing from all corners of the world, with accompanying artwork, audio and video—all for free. 


Issue after issue, we’ve brought you never-before-published work by the best writers and translators of our time. This year alone, Nobel laureates J.M. Coetzee and Herta Müller appeared alongside 2014 Singapore Literature Prize-winner Amanda Lee Koe and 2013 EU Prize-winner Faruk Šehić. We’ve conducted exclusive interviews with acclaimed writers and artists such as Can Xue and Yoshitomo Nara in their native languages, which we then translated into English just for our readers. In our four years, we’ve presented the best stories, essays, poetry, drama, reviews and conversations from 95 countries and 67 languages.


Some Background

Last year, your overwhelmingly positive support gave us $20,184 to keep us going. In return, we delivered on our promises and brought you even more, including:

  A clickable map allowing the reader to navigate our extensive archives by country;

  A daily blog providing a window into the latest in world literature;

  ‘Close Approximations,’ our contest for emerging translators, judged by Eliot Weinberger and Howard Goldblatt, awarding a total of $3,000 in prize money;

  14 events on 4 continents (bringing our global conversation, for the first time, to Boston, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Sydney, Shanghai and Zagreb).


It's been a great year, full of excitement, and, despite significant overhead costs, we remain committed to providing our readers unlimited access to our ad-free pages.


Why We Need Your Help Today

Although our mission is simple—to discover and promote the very best in international literature—achieving it isn’t. We are unaffiliated with any institution or university, too geographically dispersed to qualify for most funding options.

The situation is urgent. Our commitment to dialogue, diversity, and access comes at a significant cost. For years, this burden has been shouldered out of pocket, simply because we believe so strongly in the importance of our project, but we’re running out of funds.

And so, we're reaching out to you again. We’re reaching out because we suspect you care just as much. If you too believe in the intrinsic value of literary translation and the free exchange of ideas between cultures around the world, and if we’ve supplied you with even just one exciting longread or devastating poem, please donate today.

With your support we will continue providing readers with free online access to all of our content, and do even more, such as:

•   Bring you more in-depth coverage of world literature, with our Danish Fiction Feature in January, and, in April, our Vietnamese Diaspora Feature, which will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. Via new partnerships with the best journals in Romania (Steaua) and Thailand (Writer), you’ll also enjoy a front-row seat to these countries’ thriving literary scenes;



•   Develop an educational arm so that teachers around the world can incorporate Asymptote into their lesson plans and cultivate a love for world literature in the next generation of readers;  



•   Support our awesome new podcast, which will go live on 8 December and makes it possible for you to take us on the road (or to the gym);



•   Organize more events around the globe to promote world literature and translation. Next year, on 19 January, we will be joined in New York by award-winning translators Edith Grossman, Damion Searls, and 2014 Guggenheim Fellow Susan Bernofsky. On 21 January, Granta Best Young British Novelist Adam Thirlwell, and celebrated translators Daniel Hahn, Rosalind Harvey, and Stefan Tobler will commemorate our anniversary in London. At least eight other anniversary events are in the works.



•   And only if we reach our target, we'll hold a second edition of “Close Approximations,” our translation contest, with a new ‘nonfiction’ category to look for the greatest essayists from outside the Anglophone world (the next Sebald!). This means that we will be looking to give out a total of $4,500 in prizes to the best emerging translators worldwide.




What You Get

Be a part of our future today by contributing what you can. You won’t just support great international writing with your donation—you’ll also get the chance to receive a range of exciting perks, too. 

To express our gratitude, we’ll give away tickets to our anniversary events, bookmarks based on the first lines of classic books, postcards featuring the gorgeous covers of our guest artists, new posters designed by Nerys Hudson based on some of our favorite first pages by Franz Kafka, Gabriel García Márquez, and Eileen Chang, as well as handy AsympTOTES created just for this campaign by our graphic designer, Berny Tan. 

After last year’s popular demand, we’ll also bring back the literary care packages from our editors—stuffed with goodies both edible and legible, just for you or your dearest during this holiday season.

If you or your organization would like to sponsor an anniversary event or contest, we’ll happily acknowledge you in all the related publicity materials and at the events themselves.

Finally, if you live in the US, we have good news for you: your contribution is completely tax-deductible!

Do your bit for world literature. Donate to Asymptote today!



Some FAQs

Q: Who makes up your team?

A: Asymptote’s far-flung team includes Howard Goldblatt, translator of Nobel laureate Mo Yan. Our editor-in-chief is Lee Yew Leong, a Taiwan-based Singaporean writer and translator. Also associated with multiple countries are our drama editor, Obie winner Caridad Svich, born in the US to Cuban-Argentine-Spanish-Croatian parents, and UK-based contributing editor Aamer Hussein, an acclaimed short story writer of Pakistani descent.

This past year, we’ve added editors-at-large from Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador, Indonesia, Mexico, Romania, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. 

Our international network of local experts sets us apart from other magazines: we’re the only journal devoted to world literature put together by such a far-flung team of editors.  


Q: Your magazine is primarily in English, it seems. How are you purporting to disrupt the English-centered flow of information? 


A: We actively seek to translate pieces into other languages than English, and our team members and our own network of volunteer translators have made it possible to do this quite often, especially in Spanish and Chinese. Our Jonas Hassen Khemiri Project, for example, invited translators from every language we could reach to work on JHK’s fantastic send-up of racial profiling. It's currently available on our website in twenty different languages. More recently, to communicate Mexico’s rallying cry for change and justice, we published David Herta's poem, "Ayotzinapa," in twenty languages as well—most of them with foreign language recordings—along with an introduction by "5 under 35" author Valeria Luiselli. Oh, and it's worth mentioning here that we have cultivated social media platforms in Spanish and Chinese, all the better to spread the word of our magazine (and our cause!) to Spanish and Chinese communities. Our ambition is to expand to the point where every piece we publish might be translated into another language besides English.
 



Q: I want to support your magazine! How can I help?

A: The best way to help us right now is support us with a donation! We also welcome help in many other ways as well:

  1. Share this page with your family and friends, including a personal message describing why the campaign is important to you!

  2. Submit pictures to our Twitter or Tumblr that show why you #SupportAsymptote. The photos with the most retweets or reblogs will win a literary care package, a perk that we give away at the $125 tier. You can also send us a video endorsement!

  3. Follow us on Facebook,  Twitter and Tumblr, and use the #SupportAsymptote hashtag to spread the word about our campaign!

Q: What if I want to donate but don't want a perk?

A: We appreciate your support for our campaign and we welcome your donation even if you do not wish to pick a perk. That just means 100% of your donation will go directly to Asymptote

Q: Can I donate via check?

A: Yes! If you're in the US, please make your check out to "Fractured Atlas," so that your gift will be tax deductible. In the memo line of your check, please write "Asymptote Journal" so that Fractured Atlas will direct your money to our campaign. Our address in the US is:

Asymptote Journal,
40 Butler St,
Apt 3, Brooklyn 11231,
NY, USA

If you're based outside of the US, please make out your check to "Asymptote Journal Pte. Ltd.", and send it to our editor-in-chief either at

Asymptote Journal,
21, Newton Road,
#07-01, 
Singapore 307954
SINGAPORE

or

Asymptote Journal,
No. 84, Section 1, 
Zhongshan North Road, #13 – 7 
Taipei City 10444
TAIWAN

Thank you!

We appreciate your support so much. Your donation will secure our future beyond 2015 and allow us to bring you even more great issues!




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Choose your Perk

featured

Asymptote Lover

$125 USD
"Pick me! Pick me!" says this perk. You'll receive a literary care package, filled with choice surprises such as autographed books from the team and goodies selected just for you or a loved one!
26 out of 100 of claimed

Sunny Weather Special (NEW!)

$5 USD
One complimentary ticket to see Edith Grossman, Damion Searls and Susan Bernofsky at Tishman Auditorium, 66W 12 St, New York, on Saturday evening, Jan 17, 2015!
24 out of 30 of claimed

I Heart Asymptote

$10 USD
Receive an Asymptote postcard, a bookmark or simply a thank you from an editor (your choice)!
Estimated Shipping
January 2015
21 claimed

Asymptote Reader

$20 USD
Receive the complete set of four bookmarks and ten commemorative Asymptote postcards in the mail!
Estimated Shipping
January 2015
23 claimed

Soothe My Cares Away

$30 USD
Is being glued to the screen getting to you? This self-operated Asymptote massager will cure you of all your headaches! (And it also looks like our logo!)
Estimated Shipping
January 2015
5 claimed

Asymptote Fan

$40 USD
Receive a specially designed AsympTOTE bag along with a complete set of 4 Asymptote bookmarks and ten commemorative postcards in the mail!
Estimated Shipping
January 2015
41 claimed

Date with the Stars

$50 USD
Specially designed for the campaign, this poster will charm you off your feet. OR: receive two tickets to see Edith Grossman, Damion Searls and Susan Bernofsky at Tishman Auditorium, 66W 12 St, New York, on Saturday evening, Jan 17, 2015!
Estimated Shipping
February 2015
3 out of 150 of claimed

Asymptote Friend

$75 USD
Why, thank you! For your friendship, we'll send you a complete set of Asymptote bookmarks, ten commemorative postcards, a massager, a tote bag, and written thanks from our editor-in-chief himself! OR: you can choose to receive two complimentary tickets to our New York event, on Saturday evening, 17 January, 2015, featuring Edith Grossman, Damion Searls and Susan Bernofsky; you'll get two complimentary AsympTOTEs too!
Estimated Shipping
January 2015
8 out of 150 of claimed

Reif Larsen Fan (NEW!)

$75 USD
Reif Larsen is known for 'The Selected Works of T.S Spivet,' and has been a proud supporter of Asymptote over the years. Join in his support by donating, and receive an extra-special edition of Larsen’s new novel 'I Am Radar.' Reif will personalise each copy with a note and diagram, and we’ll throw in an AsympTOTE, a set of ten commemorative postcards, bookmarks, plus special thanks from the EiC!
Estimated Shipping
March 2015
4 out of 10 of claimed

Susan Bernofsky Fan (NEW!)

$75 USD
Receive Jenny Erpenbeck’s ‘profound and exhilarating’ new novel 'The End of Days,' signed by acclaimed translator Susan Bernofsky herself, and reviewed by Boyd Tonkin in our January 2015 issue. Bernofsky has also translated Franz Kafka, Robert Walser, and Hermann Hesse. You’ll also receive a designer AsympTOTE and a set of four bookmarks, in addition to special thanks from our EiC. Please add $20 for international shipping.
Estimated Shipping
March 2015
3 out of 5 of claimed

Gateway to Singapore Lit (NEW)

$88 USD
Don’t know Singapore Literature? Allow us to introduce you! You’ll get 1 autographed title by Singaporean frequent contributor Desmond Kon, whose 'Singular Acts of Endearments' was our EiC’s pick for Singaporean book of the year, 1 personalized copy of Singaporean poet Christine Chia’s 'A Separation,' ten commemorative Asymptote postcards and four bookmarks, plus special thanks from the EiC! Please add $20 for international shipping.
Estimated Shipping
March 2015
1 out of 8 of claimed

Posterholic

$100 USD
Receive a set of three posters designed especially for the campaign itself, an attractive AsympTOTE, and special thanks from our editor-in-chief!
4 out of 200 of claimed

I HEART ASYMPTOTE EVEN MORE

$250 USD
Receive a literary care package, all the goodies mentioned above (including 2 complimentary tickets to our New York event), and the full set of 6 posters designed just for the campaign.
4 out of 40 of claimed

Asymptote Champion

$500 USD
Wow! We'll put your money toward organizing an event promoting world literature, and acknowledge you in all related publicity materials and at the event itself. On top of this, you'll receive a literary care package, and all goodies mentioned above!
1 out of 20 of claimed

Asymptote Patron

$1,000 USD
How can we thank you enough? Your generosity is truly wonderful. We'll put your $1,000 toward supporting and promoting new initiatives such as our podcast and our educational arm. You'll receive a literary care package, and all the goodies mentioned above. OR: you can choose to dine with an editor (in select cities only).
4 out of 10 of claimed

Asymptote Contest Sponsor

$2,500 USD
You've knocked us off our feet with your kindness! Your $2,500 will go toward a second contest for emerging translators where we hope to add a new nonfiction category and give away a total of $4,500 in prize money. On top of sending you a literary package and all the goodies mentioned above, we'll make sure to acknowledge you in all the relevant publicity materials.
0 out of 4 of claimed

Asymptote God

$5,000 USD
You're clairvoyant. You see into our past (our journey hasn't been easy) as well as our future (where even more exciting projects await). You give us your support so that we can concentrate on what we do best: stimulating the transmission of literature. For this, we give you our utmost gratitude (and any combination of goodies listed above).
0 out of 4 of claimed

Asymptote Awesome

$10,000 USD
An asymptote is the dotted line on a graph that a mathematical function may tend towards but never reach. That, at least, was the case until you came along. You've taken us to the limit, you! For your incredible generosity we'll acknowledge you prominently in all future print anthologies (which you'll automatically receive). As well, we'll send you a limited edition signed artist print, a literary care package and any combination of goodies listed above.
0 out of 4 of claimed
sold out

Adam Thirlwell Fan (NEW!)

$50 USD
Estimated Shipping
March 2015
5 out of 5 of claimed
sold out

Korean Lit Lover (NEW!)

$50 USD
Estimated Shipping
March 2015
5 out of 5 of claimed

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