Beacons, the annual peer-reviewed publication of the American Translators Association (ATA), was created in 1992 through collaboration between members of the ATA's Literary Division, including renowned literary translator Alexis Levitin. The title of the journal derives from editor Cliff Landers' metaphor of a beacon that "communicates from afar, as do these voices as distant in space as Japan, as remote in time as sixth century Arabia." In addition to the editorial board, one guest editor was selected every year to curate the translated literary texts published in each issue. The final issue of the journal was published in 2007.

Editor and creator Alexis Levitin, 1942-, is a professor of English at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh and a prolific and award-winning translator of Portuguese literature.