Carmen Acevedo Butcher

On Best Books of 2022 List by Spirituality & Practice, Carmen's translation of Brother Lawrence's Practice of the Presence is the first complete offering of this spiritual classic for a wide-ranging audience. Dr. Martin Laird recommends it as "the new standard by which other translations will be measured." Also the first translated by a woman of color, this accurate translation is the first to use inclusive language and non-binary pronouns for the Divinity, honoring the friar's lived trinitarian theology and inviting all into its kind, loving wisdom. Practice of the Presence is also an Audible book narrated by Joana Garcia. Winner of a 46th Georgia Author of the Year Award (GAYA), Carmen's translation of The Cloud of Unknowing is praised by Dr. Cynthia Bourgeault for its “spark,” readability, and closeness to the original: "I recommend this book hands down for its sheer immediacy—almost as if ‘Anonymous’ . . . is sitting right there in the room with you—and for its fabulous way of conveying the energy of the medieval original.” Her Cloud of Unknowing is also a 2018 Shambhala Pocket Series book and an Audible book narrated by James Patrick Cronin. You can hear Carmen on the radio and on podcasts, including on the BBC's The Compass in the series "The Future of English," NPR's Morning Edition, Dante's Old South Radio Show, Things Not Seen, and Georgia Gazette, as well as the Abbey of the Arts Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color, Contemplify, UK's Nomad, Deacons Pod, Encountering Silence, Off the Page by Spirituality & Practice, Messy Jesus Business, Homebrewed, Wisdom's Table, In Search Of, (Re)Thinking Faith, The Church Needs Therapy, and many others. Carmen teaches in the College Writing Programs at the University of California, Berkeley. Carmen received a Spotlight Teaching Award at Berkeley, Carnegie Professor of the Year Award for Georgia, and the President's Award for Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship at Shorter College. She was a Fulbright Senior Lecturer at Sogang University in Seoul, South Korea, supervising master's theses and teaching graduates and undergraduates for two semesters. At the University of Georgia, Carmen graduated with a Ph.D. Phi Beta Kappa, and she researched medieval and Old English literature. Carmen studied at the University of London as a Fulbright Scholar for a year and a half, and at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg for a year as a Rotary International Graduate Scholar. She has published numerous books and articles in medieval studies and linguistics with Cambridge University Press, Parabola, Mercer University Press, Cengage Learning, Shambala, Broadleaf Books, Paraclete Press, and others. Carmen leads workshops on contemplation, and she is a frequent speaker at universities, colleges, and community venues, internationally and in the U.S. She and her husband met in London during her first Fulbright grant.