Yvette Neisser Moreno 1
Yvette Neisser Moreno
13602 Cedar Creek Lane•Silver Spring, Maryland 20904• USA
Home: 1.301.879.1959 •Cell: 1.240.462.6458•
Translator/Interpreter,Poet, Writer, Editor
Language services: Translation from Arabic, Hebrew, and Spanish to English;Spanish-Englishconsecutive interpretation; English writing and editing; Spanish proofreading.
Education
MFA, Creative Writing, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2000
BA, English and Middle East Studies, TuftsUniversity, Medford, MA, 1995
Study Abroad:
Center for Arabic Studies Abroad, AmericanUniversity in Cairo, Egypt, 1999
The HebrewUniversity in Jerusalem, Israel, 1993
Employment History
Freelance Writer/Editor/Translator2002-Present
Lecturer, Creative Writing, The George Washington University2011-Present
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Writing, University of Maryland University College2010-Present
Lecturer, Spanish and Islamic World Studies, The Catholic University of America2012
Bilingual Writer and Editor, Links Media 2008-2009
Editor, InterMedia Survey Institute2000-2001
Instructional Facilitator,CapeFearCommunity College, The Learning Lab1998-2000
Program Associate, Search for Common Ground, Middle East Media Project1996-1997
Research Assistant, Project Nishma [now Israel Policy Forum]1995
Professional Experience
Selected Translation Experience
Spanish-English interpretation for medical appointments, for AccessOnTime, 2009-Present.
Translation of course materials from Spanish to English, for Catholic University Dept. of Modern Languages, 2012.
Translated book of poetry by María Teresa Ogliastri from Spanish to English: South Pole/Polo Sur, 2011.
Translation and review of financial documents from Hebrew to English, for PCAOB, 2011.
Translation of U.S. government sensitive documents from Hebrew to English, for Aset International, 2011.
Spanish-English interpretation for school meetings, Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools, 2009-2011.
Translated segment of book from Arabic to English: The Palestinians in Israel: The Politics of the Indigenous Minority in the EthnicStateby Dr. As’ad Ghanem and Mohanad Mustafa, 2010.
Edited English translations of various Arabic documents for U.S. (2005) and foreign governments (2010).
Translated from Spanish and edited Difficult Beauty: Selected Poems, by Luis Alberto Ambroggio, 2009.
Translated newspaper articles, reports, presentations, and other documents from Spanish to English, for USAID health communication programs, 2007-2009.
Transcribed video materials and translated written materials from Spanish to English; wrote English reports on media use in Colombia for BBC and Voice of America management, 2007.
Translated news articles, research studies, and government documents from Hebrew to English for Project Nishma, 1995.
Selected Writing/Editorial Experience
Wrote a series of reports evaluating the Department of State’s journalism and media exchange programs, based on quantitative and qualitative research data, 2011.
Review of Arabic literary analysis written in English, for private client, 2011.
Edited novel manuscript for private client, 2011.
Wrote and edited over 100 audience research reports (in English) for international broadcasters such as Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, and the BBC, 2000-2011.
Reviewed, revised, and edited tools (in English and Spanish) written by expert authors for Surviving a Pandemic, a toolkit for municipal leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean, on behalf of USAID, 2009.
Developed editorial process, including editorial work flow, style guide, and document templates for InterMedia (2001) and Links Media (2009).
Researched and annotated materials for, and edited, the 4th and 5th editions (in English and Spanish) of Communication Resources for Avian and Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response for distribution in Latin America, on behalf of USAID, 2008-2009.
Summarized (in English) over 50 Spanish and English documents for annotated bibliography of USAID multinational public health program, 2008.
Program Development/Management Experience
Hired and coordinated a team of freelance writers for InterMedia, 2001-2002.
Coordinated two international meetings of Middle Eastern editors and journalists, for Search for Common Ground, 1996-1997.
Assisted in developing and implementing collaborative activities among Middle Eastern editors and journalists, for Search for Common Ground, 1996-1997.
Teaching Experience
Instructor, The Writer’s Center, Bethesda, MD, 2006-Present. Teachesliterary translation.
Lecturer, The George Washington University, English Department, 2011-Present. Teaches creative writing.
Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Maryland University College, 2010-Present. Teaches composition and professional writing.
Lecturer, The Catholic University of America, Department of Modern Languages, 2012. Designed and taught new course on Muslims and Arabs in Latin America (in Spanish and English).
Substitute Teacher, Carlos Rosario International School, Washington, DC, 2009-2011. Taught all levels of English as a Second Language to adults.
Poetry Educator, Folger Poetry in the Schools Program, Washington, DC, 2008. Led series of six workshops in Spanish to teenaged immigrants at the Next Step Charter School, culminating in bilingual anthology of student poems and public reading at Folger Shakespeare Library.
Courses Taught
Spanish-English Literary Translation.
Advanced Poetry Translation: Translating Local Latino Poets.
Poetry Translation.
Introduction to Poetry Writing.
Introduction to Creative Writing.
Advanced Business Writing.
Introduction to Research Writing.
Introduction to Writing.
Muslims and Arabs in Latin America: Intersecting Cultures.
The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict through Literature.
Publications
BOOKS:
Moreno, Yvette Neisser. Grip. Arlington, VA: Gival Press, 2012 (forthcoming). Winner of the Gival Press Poetry Award.
Ogliastri, María Teresa. South Pole/Polo Sur. Trans. Yvette Neisser Moreno and Patricia Bejarano Fisher. Arlington, VA: Settlement House, 2011.
Ambroggio, Luis Alberto.Difficult Beauty: Selected Poems (1987-2006). Ed./trans. Yvette Neisser Moreno.New York: Cross-Cultural Communications, 2009.
ARTICLES AND REPORTS:
Evaluation of ECA’s Professional Journalism and Media Exchange Programs. Written on behalf of InterMedia for the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (March 2012):
“Our Faces Coated with History: A Review of Tocqueville, by Khaled Mattawa.” Blog This Rock (March 2012):
“One Poet, Two Translators: Toward a Single Voice.” Source 53 (Fall 2011).
“Plural Like the Universe: Jenny Browne’s The Second Reason.” POST NO ILLS (May 2011):
Review of La musa lunática/The Lunatic Muse, by Rafael Jesús González. The Montserrat Review (Apr. 2010):
“The Joys and Challenges of Translating Poetry.” First Person Plural (May 2009):
“Flying the Flag for Arabic” (co-authored with Bette Stallman Brown). Language Magazine (Jan. 2009): 22-24.
“The Dialogue of Poetry: Palestinian and Israeli Poets Writing Through Conflict and Peace.” Palestine-Israel Journal 7.1 (2000): 158-175. Available at Includes translations of poems from Arabic and Hebrew.
SELECTED POEMS:
“The Shape of Faith.” The New Promised Land: An Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poets.Ed. Deborah Ager and Matthew Silverman. Continuum, 2013 (forthcoming).
“A Question of Friendship.” Foreign Policy in Focus (29 Jul. 2011):
“After a Funeral.” Loch Raven Review (Summer 2011):
“Night in the Desert,” “Mantra to Untwist Language from My Dreams.” The Seventh Quarry 14 (Summer 2011).
“Nocturnal Life,” “Mockingbird,” “Connecting the Dots,” and “My Son, Asleep.” Beltway Poetry Quarterly 12.2 (Spring 2011):
“A Deluge of Script,” “The Valley of the Kings.”Poetic Voices Without Borders 2. Ed. Robert L. Giron. Arlington, VA: Gival Press, 2009: 49, 88.
“Languages I Have Learned.”Gargoyle 53 (2008).
“Before Dusk, The Pond in Fog.” Potomac Review 40 (Fall/Winter 2005-06).
“Dusk on the Ridge.” Poetic Voices Without Borders. Ed. Robert L. Giron. Arlington, VA: Gival Press, 2005: 89.
“Now, Anything Can Quicken Your Heartbeat.” September Eleven: Maryland Voices. Riderwood, MD:9/11 Project of Baltimore Writers’ Alliance, 2002: 278.
“Out of the Water.” North Carolina Literary Review11 (2002).
“Eighth Grade,” “Shades of Dawn.”Virginia Quarterly Review76.1 (Winter 2000).
TRANSLATED POEMS:
“Water That Burns,” “Gargoyle on a Branch” by María Teresa Ogliastri (co-translated with Patricia Bejarano Fisher). Innisfree Poetry Journal 13 (Fall 2011):
“Over the Rivers,” “Telemachus,” “Odysseus, Son of Laertes,” “I Am the Voice of Fear” by María Teresa Ogliastri (co-translated with Patricia Bejarano Fisher). Loch Raven Review VII.1 (Spring 2011):
“To the Poet Who Survives” by Luis Alberto Ambroggio. Beltway 12.1 Langston Hughes Tribute Issue (Winter 2011):
“Anything to Tell Me I’m Near” by María Teresa Ogliastri (co-translated with Patricia Bejarano Fisher). A River & Sound Review 3 (Summer 2010):
“Three Blue Movements” by Luis Alberto Ambroggio. The Seventh Quarry (Summer 2009).
“Appointment with the Critic,”“Legend of Dryope,”“The Album,”“Their Dove-Song Hurts,”“The Weight of the Bodies” by Luis Alberto Ambroggio. Other Voices 24 (2007):
“Dialogue,” “Light at the End,” “Their Dove-Song Hurts,” and “I Am a Victim of Happiness.” Passport: The Arkansas Review of Literary Translation (Spring 2006).
“The Weight of the Bodies.” Beltway Poetry Quarterly7.2 The Wartime Issue (Spring 2006).
“The Album” by Luis Alberto Ambroggio. Tigertail: A South Florida Poetry Annual (2006).
“Altar of Mirrors,” “Ars Poetica I” by Luis Alberto Ambroggio. International Poetry Review 31.1 (Spring 2005).
“Undesirable Things” by Luis Alberto Ambroggio. Poetic Voices Without Borders. Ed. Robert L. Giron. Arlington, VA: Gival Press, 2005: 16.
Lectures and Presentations
Split This Rock Poetry Festival. Washington, DC. Splitting the Language Barrier: A Conversation about Translation, with María Teresa Ogliastri and Patricia Bejarano Fisher. March 2012.
Association of Writers & Writing Programs Annual Conference. Chicago, IL. Telling It Slant: Measures, Meaning and Music in Translating Poetry (Panel). 1 March 2012.
American Literary Translators’ Association Annual Conference. Kansas City, MO. Interacting with Authors: How Does It Affect the Translation? (Panel) and Learning By Heart: A Memorization Workshop.18-19 Nov. 2011.
GeorgetownUniversity. Guest lecture and poetry translationworkshop, in Introduction to Comparative Literature, taught by Emily Francomano. 30 Nov. 2010.
Folger Shakespeare Library. O.B. Hardison Poetry Series 2010/11. Introduction and moderation of discussion with Russian poet Vera Pavlova and translator Steven Seymour. Washington, DC. 8 Nov. 2010.
American Literary Translators’ Association conference. “Translations from María Teresa Ogliastri’s Polo Sur” (with co-translator Patricia Bejarano Fisher). Philadelphia, PA.22 Oct. 2010.
Embassy of Argentina. Diálogo entre culturas en la obra de Luis Alberto Ambroggio (Panel: Intercultural Dialogue in the Work of Luis Alberto Ambroggio). “La reencarnación en inglés: La antología bilingüe Difficult Beauty” (Reincarnation in English: The Bilingual Anthology Difficult Beauty).Washington, DC. 12 Nov. 2009.
The Writer’s Center. Introduction of and Spanish interpretation for visiting Mexican poets. “A Reading from Reverso Literary Magazine.” 23 Oct. 2009.
Library of Congress. Cross Cultural Communications: U.S. Writers Translating Hispanic Writers (Panel). “The Satisfactions and Challenges of Translating Luis Alberto Ambroggio’s Difficult Beauty.” Videotaped for Library web archives. 25 Sep. 2009.
Fall for the Book. Literary translation panel.GeorgeMasonUniversity. Fairfax, VA.23 Sep. 2009.
The Writer’s Center. Literary translation panel. Bethesda, MD.Feb. 2006.
John MiltonMemorial Celebration of Poets & Poetry. The Multicultural Experience of Poetry (Panel). Milton, DE. 10 Dec. 2004.
Martin Luther King Public Library. Interpreted from Spanish to English for panel:Exploring Latino Poets.Washington, DC.3 Nov. 2004.
Interviews
Gray, Joshua. “Portrait of a DC Poet: Yvette Neisser Moreno.” Examiner.com. 11 October 2011:
Cavalieri, Grace. The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress. Public radio program distributed nationwide. 2008. Available at
Semmel, Kyle. “The Difficult Beauty of Translation: An Interview with Yvette Neisser Moreno.” First Person Plural(blog of The Writer’s Center). 4 Feb. 2010:
Literary Activities
Programming Committee, Split This Rock Poetry Festival, Washington, DC, 2011-Present.
Coordinator, “More Poetry in Book Reviews of Major Newspapers” Campaign, Split This Rock Poetry Festival, Washington, DC, 2011-Present.
Co-Coordinator, Poetry Discussion Series, Split This Rock Poetry Festival, Washington, DC,
2009-Present.
Judge, Undiscovered Voices Fellowship, The Writer’s Center, Bethesda, MD, 2010.
Judge, Moving Words Student Poetry Competition, ArlingtonCounty, VA, 2007.
Co-Director, Café Muse Literary Series,Chevy Chase, MD, 2005.
Awards and Honors
First Runner-up, Maureen Egen Writers Exchange Award, Poets & Writers, 2012.
Gival Press Poetry Award, 2011.
Finalist, Washington Writers’ Publishing House poetry book competition, 2011.
Nomination for Pushcart Prize for translation of “Their Dove-Song Hurts” by Luis Alberto Ambroggio, 2010.
Finalist, Moving Words Poetry Competition, Arlington, VA, 2009.
Finalist, Gival Press Poetry Award, 2005.
Semi-Finalist, “Discovery”/The Nation Poetry Contest, 1999.
UNCW Graduate Research Award, 1998.
Professional Associations
Founder and Coordinator, DC-Area Literary Translators Network (DC-ALT)
Member, National Capital Area Translators Association (NCATA)
Member, American Literary Translators Association (ALTA)
Member, Proz.com
Professional Training
Curso de Corrección de Textos en Español [Spanish Proofreading Course], Proz.com: The Translation Workplace, 2010.
Teaching with WebTycho [training course for teaching online], Center for Teaching and Learning, University of Maryland University College, 2010.
Intensive Introduction to Copyediting, EEI Communications, Silver Spring, MD, 2000.