The Alan Cheuse International Writers Center, in conjunction with Sixth & I Synagogue and Politics and Prose Bookstore, welcomes acclaimed writer Amy Tan. Amy will be in conversation with Deborah Tannen about her new book, Where the Past Begins.

THIS WEEK: The Alan Cheuse International Writers Center is pleased to welcome our first writer in residence, Catalan writer Toni Sala. Join him September 20 to learn more about the upcoming Catalan independence vote.

Our second inaugural Cheuse Center grant recipient Sam describes his adventures in French cuisine training as a chef in Provence and digging into what killed French food as we know it.

One of the two inaugural Cheuse Center grant recipients Liesel reports back from Germany with a new perspective on her grandmother's life, her homeland of Silesia, and her evolving thoughts on memory.

The founding director of The Alan Cheuse International Writers Center has been following the Gallaudet University football team, the world's only college football team for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, for the past three years. The culmination of this effort is featured in The Atlantic this month.

The Alan Cheuse International Writers Center at George Mason University will present an evening with acclaimed American novelist Richard Ford. One of the preeminent writers working in the United States, Ford will be in conversation with Maureen Corrigan of NPR's "Fresh Air" about his new memoir Between Them.

The Cheuse Center and The Spanish Cultural Center will present Spanish writer Andrés Barba at Upshur Street Books in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C. There Andrés will talk about his latest novel "Such Small Hands."

The Cheuse Center, in partnership with the Center for the Art of Translation in San Francisco, will be holding a Day of Translation to discuss the art and issues of literary translation.

Holding a Giving Day expresses our belief in the power of broad-based support, especially from alumni. It's also a reminder that each and every person who sees the promise of George Mason University, its amazing faculty and enterprising students, can be a donor.

MFA students, Sam Ashworth and Liesel Hamilton, will each receive $5,000 to conduct research abroad for their current creative projects in fiction and nonfiction.