Words Without Borders partnered with the New York Foundation for the Arts’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program (IAP) on the following series, which features essays by current and former IAP literary artists discussing their relationship with language, along with excerpts of their creative work.

Mimi Mondal 
“On Translating the Stories Yet Unwritten: A Dalit Perspective from India”
From Other People

Saïkou Yaya Baldé
“Living and Writing on the Colonizer’s Soil”
Two Poems

Joni Cham
“Owning a Borrowed Language”
From In My Mother’s House

Ge Gao
“Why I Write in English”
From Speaking English Is Like

Kátia Bandeira de Mello-Gerlach
“On the Singularity of Aerial Roots”
From A Bestiary in Particles (translated by Ana Fletcher)

Meg Kaizu
“Writing behind Language”
Two Poems

NYFA’s Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program pairs immigrant artists working in all disciplines with artist mentors who provide one-on-one support for their mentee, guiding them to achieve specific goals and providing them with broader access to urban cultural centers through an exchange of ideas, resources, and experiences. The program, which was founded in 2007 and has provided close to 200 NYC-based immigrants with mentorship, community, and exposure for their work, is expanding to Newark, NJ; San Antonio, TX; Oakland, CA; and Detroit, MI with funding from Ford Foundation. Details here.