Executive Overview

In the contemporary literary landscape, the machinery of independent publishing often functions as an invisible scaffolding, propped up by the quiet labor of operations managers, financial strategists, and logistical architects. Yet, the appointment of Alicia Lim as the Finance and Operations Manager at Words Without Borders (WWB)—the premier international platform dedicated to translated literature—signals a profound intersection between organizational stewardship and deep literary curation. Lim arrives at WWB following high-profile tenures at Brooklyn’s Greenlight Bookstore and the storied Feminist Press. Her transition to WWB represents more than a routine administrative hire; it highlights a growing trend within indie publishing where institutional operators are themselves deeply embedded in the aesthetics, politics, and communities of global letters.

Lim’s journey into the heart of translated literature is as much personal as it is professional. Growing up as a third-generation Chinese and Mexican American in Oakland, California, within an exclusively English-speaking household, she experienced the lingering generational impacts of systemic mid-century assimilationist pressures. This early linguistic confinement steered her away from traditional text and toward visual arts—a background that continues to inform her unique perspective on language, storytelling, and ceramics. Today, as she oversees the financial, administrative, and human resources frameworks that keep WWB solvent and expanding, Lim brings a holistic, reader-first sensibility shaped by years on the frontlines of independent bookselling and mission-driven publishing.

This profile explores Lim’s trajectory, examining how her background in studio art and indie retail informs her administrative philosophy, her voracious appetite for international horror and translated memoirs, and her vision for the future of global literature in translation.

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Detailed Chronology and Formative Experiences

Linguistic Erasure and the Turn to Visual Art

Alicia Lim’s relationship with language was forged in the crucible of generational assimilation. Growing up in Oakland in the 1980s and 1990s, her household was strictly monolingual. On both sides of her family, her Chinese and Mexican grandparents had navigated severe institutional and social discrimination upon arriving in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s—facing redlining, denied services, and relentless pressure to drop their native tongues in favor of English. Consequently, Lim’s parents were steered away from bilingualism, leaving Lim without direct access to ancestral languages or diasporic storytelling traditions.

This early absence of linguistic multiplicity left a profound psychological mark. Lim recognized early on that language establishes the parameters of human comprehension, essentially drawing the boundaries around what an individual is permitted to imagine. Feeling hemmed in by these monolingual confines, and lacking immediate alternatives, she gravitated away from the written word. Instead, she found solace and expression in visual art, eventually pursuing formal studies in studio art at the college level. Painting, drawing, and spatial creation provided an escape hatch from the rigid boundaries of a single tongue, allowing her to formulate thoughts and emotions that defied literal verbal transcription.

Entering the Literary Ecosystem: Greenlight Bookstore and Feminist Press

Though she was not an avid reader in her youth, adulthood catalyzed a literary awakening. As Lim began reading purely for pleasure, her tastes organically crystallized around global stories, international cinema, and translated texts. This personal passion soon bled into her professional life, leading her to Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn. Working on the retail frontlines of an independent bookstore provided Lim with an invaluable, high-altitude view of the contemporary literary market. She interacted directly with readers, observed shifting consumer trends, and honed deep confidence in her own critical reading tastes.

From Greenlight, Lim transitioned to the Feminist Press (FP), one of the oldest feminist publishing houses in the world. Although her official title placed her within the operations department, the collaborative and democratic operational culture of FP permitted her to contribute meaningfully to editorial conversations. Armed with a sophisticated knowledge of international literature, Lim emerged as a passionate internal champion for translated works. She threw her institutional weight behind vital global authors such as María Fernanda Ampuero, Violette Leduc, and Balsam Karam. Furthermore, her time at FP allowed her to master the complex mechanics of publishing finance, enterprise software onboarding, and organizational scaling—skills that directly prepared her for her current leadership role at Words Without Borders.

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Supporting Context & Metrics: The Aesthetic Universe of Alicia Lim

Lim’s literary and artistic tastes defy monolithic categorization, favoring hybridity, visceral intensity, and cross-genre experimentation. Her reading diet serves as a masterclass in contemporary international translation, reflecting an appetite for texts that destabilize comfort and expand the horizons of empathy.

A Masterclass in Global Horror and Devastating Memoirs

Among her current literary obsessions, Lim highlights works that lean heavily into the uncanny, the macabre, and the psychological. Her recent reading list features:

• Silencio by Clyo Mendoza, translated by Christina MacSweeney
• The Wax Child by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken
• Restoration by Ave Barrera, translated by Ellen Jones and Robin Myers
• The Simple Art of Killing a Woman by Patrícia Melo, translated by Sophie Lewis

In memoirs, Lim admits a predilection for emotional devastation, praising works such as Cockroaches by Scholastique Mukasonga (translated by Jordan Stump) and Sad Tiger by Neige Sinno (translated by Natasha Lehrer). She is equally drawn to experimental and hybrid forms, citing Lars Horn’s Voice of the Fish and Brandon Shimoda’s The Grave on the Wall as touchstones of genre-bending brilliance.

Beyond human drama, Lim maintains a deep affinity for literature concerning animals, ecology, and the natural world. She frequently champions Marlen Haushofer’s The Wall (translated by Shaun Whiteside), Sabrina Imbler’s Dyke (Geology), and Robert Macfarlane’s Underland, alongside graphic nonfiction like Tessa Hulls’s Feeding Ghosts. Her perennial literary heroes include Cristina Rivera Garza, Octavia Butler, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Vigdis Hjorth, and Christina Sharpe, while she routinely reads any work touched by master translators Megan McDowell, Francis Riddle, and Sarah Booker.

Beyond the Page: International Cinema, Ceramics, and Urban Wildlife

Lim’s creative life extends far beyond the printed page. As a visual artist, she maintains an active studio practice. While she began with a foundation in traditional painting and drawing, her recent years have been completely consumed by ceramics. Working extensively with clay, she sculpts animal and monster figures, builds ceramic paintings, and experiments with the sculptural crafting of handmade ceramic books.

This visual sensibility mirrors her cinematic tastes. True to her literary preferences, Lim is an avid devotee of international cinema and global horror. Her recent cinematic touchstones include You Won’t Be Alone (2022), Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s psychological thriller Cure (1997), and Mārama (2025). To deepen her critical engagement with the genre, she periodically takes specialized courses at The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies.

Based in New York City, Lim also maintains a fierce dedication to observing urban wildlife. Eschewing the stereotype of New York as a concrete jungle devoid of nature, she actively tracks local biodiversity. From watching birds and bats in city parks and Green-Wood Cemetery to embarking on her inaugural whale-watching excursion out of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn—where she observed humpback whales and dolphins within city limits—Lim finds endless inspiration in the wild margins of the metropolis.

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Official Statements and Institutional Philosophy

Bridging Operations and Editorial Mission

In her role as Finance and Operations Manager, Lim’s responsibilities encompass the administrative backbone of Words Without Borders. She oversees budgeting, human resources, administrative systems, and institutional workflows, acting as a structural anchor for the organization’s staff and leadership. Rather than viewing operations as entirely divorced from the literary art, Lim views her administrative duties as a direct extension of WWB’s overarching mission: giving a platform to global voices, debut authors, and emerging translators.

"I see my role as a support structure for staff and a bridge across the organization, connecting teams and enabling them to do their best work, while making sure everything at the organization runs smoothly and is mission-aligned," Lim explains. "Having a sense of the larger literary ecosystem and why we’re all doing the work we do connects me back to our impact and grounds my work."

This holistic viewpoint was forged during her transition from the retail-facing environment of Greenlight Bookstore to the behind-the-scenes editorial spaces of Feminist Press. By understanding both the end consumer—the reader browsing bookstore shelves—and the complex financial and logistical negotiations required to bring a translated book into existence, Lim brings an acute commercial and ethical awareness to her operational oversight.

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Future Outlook: Gaps in the Market and the Next Horizon for Translation

As Words Without Borders enters a new phase of organizational growth, Lim’s vision for the future of translation in English is both ambitious and corrective. She is particularly vocal about the persistent geographic and cultural blind spots within the anglophone publishing market, identifying several areas ripe for expansion.

Championing Translated Graphic Literature and Underrepresented Geographies

Lim is eager to see a massive influx of translated graphic literature entering the English-language market, noting that sequential art remains vastly underrepresented in the translation sector. Furthermore, she advocates for increased investment in literature originating from countries that rarely penetrate western publishing markets, with a specific emphasis on queer and intersectional feminist texts.

To illustrate this gap, Lim points to her experience reading La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono, translated by Lawrence Schimel and published by Feminist Press (a text originally excerpted and published by Words Without Borders in its landmark 2017 Queer Issue). The book sparked an intense desire to read more contemporary queer literature from Equatorial Guinea—a search that quickly revealed just how scarce such translations are in English.

For Lim, the mission of Words Without Borders directly remedies this scarcity. By offering a digital platform where debut translators and international authors can launch excerpts of groundbreaking work, WWB acts as an incubator for books that might otherwise never find an American publisher. As Lim steps into her operational leadership role, her mandate is clear: to ensure that the organizational foundations of WWB remain robust, scalable, and deeply responsive to the evolving landscape of global literature, paving the way for more voices to cross borders and reshape our collective imagination.