Harold Augenbraum

Harold Augenbraum (born New York City March 31, 1953) is an American writer, editor, and translator. He is currently Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, member of the Board of Trustees of the Asian American Writers Workshop, and former vice chair of the New York Council for the Humanities. Before taking up his current position in November 2004, for fifteen years Augenbraum was Director of The Mercantile Library of New York, where he established the Center for World Literature, the New York Festival of Mystery, the Clifton Fadiman Medal, and the Proust Society of America. He has been awarded eight grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, received a Raven Award from the Mystery Writers of America for distinguished service to the mystery field, and coordinated the national celebration of the John Steinbeck Centennial.

Augenbraum has published six books on Latino literature of the United States and translations of Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca’s Chronicle of the Narváez Expedition and the Filipino novelist José Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere for Penguin Classics.

Noli in Australia

Rizal was not only an eye surgeon, linguist, and world traveler, but also, a famous novelist, who authored Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not) and El Filibusterismo (The Subversive). His life and execution or martyrdom created an indellible mark in Philippines art and politics. On August 21, 2007, Rizal's 480-page english translation of Noli Me Tangere (published by Penguin Books Classics) hit major Australian book shelves. The Australian edition of Noli was translated by Harold Augenbraum, the American writer, presently the executive director of the National Book Foundation and the National Book Awards, who first read Noli in 1992. Rizal has a total of six landmarks in Australia - 3 Rizal Parks are in Campbelltown and Blacktown in the State of New South Wales and in the City of Ballarat in the State of Victoria. Rizal also has a bust in Sydney’s Central Train Station, a statue in Ashfield and a street named in honor of him in Campbelltown.

Full Length Books by edited and translated by Harold Augenbraum

• 2006 -- Lengua Fresca: Latinos on the Edge edited with Ilan Stavans
• 2006 -- José Rizal, Noli Me Tangere translation
• 2002 -- Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Chronicle of the Narváez Expedition revised translation
• 2002 -- How to Organize a Steinbeck Book or Film Discussion Group with Susan Shillinglaw
• 2000 -- U.S. Latino Literature: A Critical Guide for Students and Teachers edited with Margarite Fernandez-Olmos
• 1997 -- The Latino Reader: An American Literary Tradition from 1542 to the Present Day edited with Margarite Fernandez Olmos
• 1993 -- Growing Up Latino: Memoirs and Stories with Ilan Stavans
• 1993 -- Bendíceme, América with Terry Quinn and Ilan Stavan
• 1992 -- Latinos in English: A Selected Bibliography of Latino Fiction Writers of the United States

Sources

• Contemporary Authors (Gale Research)
• Penguin Classics author biography

Links

• [1]National Book Foundation Official Site
• [2] Augenbraum's web site