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A black-and-white portrait of Mosab Abu Toha

The City and the Writer: In Gaza with Mosab Abu Toha

Mosab Abu Toha talks with Nathalie Handal about hope, reconstruction, and poetry in Gaza.
Emiliano Zapata on horseback, scene from the Mexican Revolution
"Emiliano Zapata on horseback, scene from the Mexican Revolution," José Guadalupe Posada (Mexican, 1851–1913), ca. 1911. Public domain. Gift of Jean Charlot, 1930.
Unspeakable Fermentations: Putrefaction and Social Revolt in Paris and Mexico City
By Diego Rodríguez Landeros
Essayist Diego Rodríguez Landeros sniffs out the relationship between populist revolutions and foul-smelling metropolises, namely Paris and Mexico City.
Translated from Spanish by Robin Myers
The covers of the six books featured in the Watchlist: Buland Al-Haidari and Modern Iraqi Poetry,...
The Watchlist: May 2023
By Tobias Carroll
Tobias Carroll recommends new fiction, poetry, and nonfiction from Argentina, Germany, Iraq, Italy, and South Korea.
Read the World
Travel through Literature

Latest

A row of violins
Photo by Umutcan Günüç on Unsplash
Strands
By Verena Rossbacher
As he obsesses over his interpretation of Schubert, a man collects strands of hair he finds around his apartment in an excerpt from Verena Rossbacher's novel Verlangen nach Drachen.
Translated from German by Anne Posten
A pile of cucumbers
Photo by Mohammadreza Ghasemian on Unsplash
Gastarbeiter
By Martin Karbowski
Bulgarian journalist Martin Karbowski harvests cucumbers and comedy in this essay translated by International Booker winner Angela Rodel.
Translated from Bulgarian by Angela Rodel

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Fiction
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learning with global literature

WWB Campus connects students and educators to eye-opening global literature
A rebozo photographed in black and white.

By Mónica Morales. License: CC by 2.0 Access at: https://flic.kr/p/rP5TJ

Purépecha Mother
By Gilberto Jerónimo Mateo
This poem from an indigenous Purépecha author celebrates the heroism of a seemingly ordinary woman.
Translated from Spanish by Earl Shorris & Sylvia Sasson Shorris
Learn
A white chick.
Photo by Osman Kahraman on Unsplash.
It’s a Chick, Not a Dog
By Jar al-Nabi al-Hilw
My mother knew he was walking after her. Almost certainly she knew. Do you want me to tell you why?
Translated from Arabic by Marilyn Booth
Learn
L Blog Post Dominican Self Portrait Graffiti Featured Image
A Dominican “Self-Portrait” to Inspire Students’ Self-Reflections
By Nadia Kalman
Which experiences have a greater influence on us—our successes, or the times when we've been hurt?
Find global literature and multimedia learning resources for your students.
Search Learning Resources

REGISTER TO ACCESS hundreds of teaching ideas, discussion questions, and assignment prompts.
DISCOVER MORE about the WWB Learn program.

Featured Collections

"I Will Regard These Two People with Amazement": Dutch Poets on Their Immigrant Parents
Photo by Liam McGarry on Unsplash
Black and White: Three Poems
By Nisrine Mbarki
In these three poems, Nisrine Mbarki contemplates her parents' life as immigrants in the Netherlands and their tumultuous relationship.
Translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison
Multilingual
Ancestors: Two Poems
By Alfred Schaffer
Translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison
MultimediaMultilingual
Because of a Woman: Two Poems
By Babeth Fonchie Fotchind
Translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison
Browse the Collection
From the Edges of Europe: New Bulgarian Literature
Image: Anastas Petkov, The Bridge in Burgas, Bulgaria 2012.
Make Bulgaria Great Again
By Svetlozar Zhelev & Angela Rodel
Just like every other literature and viewpoint, Bulgarian literature has important contributions to make.
Invisible Crises
By Georgi Gospodinov
Translated from Bulgarian by Angela Rodel
Adriana
By Theodora Dimova
Translated from Bulgarian by Angela Rodel
Multilingual
Browse the Collection
Movement and Multiplicity: Writing from Mauritania
Image: Maouya Azziz, Untitled. Courtesy of Imago Mundi.
Outsider Mode
By Ahmed Isselmou
“The central server is under attack and receiving commands to self-destruct.”
Translated from Arabic by Katharine Halls
The Forsaken
By Aichetou
Translated from French by Edward Gauvin
Adabai
By Cheikh Nouh
Translated from Arabic by Sawad Hussain
Browse the Collection
Recent
Photo by Pierre Bamin on Unsplash
Morning Procession
By Amit Dutta
A dreamy, bookish boy tries to make sense of his surroundings with the help of words and storytelling in Amit Dutta's novel, a finalist for the Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation.
Translated from Hindi by Vaibhav Sharma
Because of a Woman: Two Poems
By Babeth Fonchie Fotchind
Translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison
The City and the Writer: In Jericho with Karim Kattan
By Nathalie Handal
Browse the Collection
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Featured Contributors

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Portrait of author Nisrine Mbarki
Nisrine Mbarki

Nisrine Mbarki is a Dutch writer and literary translator of Moroccan descent.

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Portait of translator Martin Aitken
Martin Aitken

Martin Aitken has translated numerous novels from Danish and Norwegian.

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Portrait of author Varsha Adalja
Varsha Adalja

Varsha Adalja is one of the foremost contemporary Gujarati writers in India.

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Portrait of Oksana Maksymchuk
Oksana Maksymchuk

Oksana Maksymchuk is a poet and translator working in the Ukrainian language.

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Portrait of translator Anne Posten
Anne Posten

Anne Posten translates prose, poetry, and drama from German and lives in Berlin.

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Portrait of author Nisrine Mbarki
Nisrine Mbarki

Nisrine Mbarki is a Dutch writer and literary translator of Moroccan descent.

MORE
Portait of translator Martin Aitken
Martin Aitken

Martin Aitken has translated numerous novels from Danish and Norwegian.

MORE
Portrait of author Varsha Adalja
Varsha Adalja

Varsha Adalja is one of the foremost contemporary Gujarati writers in India.

MORE
Portrait of Oksana Maksymchuk
Oksana Maksymchuk

Oksana Maksymchuk is a poet and translator working in the Ukrainian language.

MORE
Portrait of translator Anne Posten
Anne Posten

Anne Posten translates prose, poetry, and drama from German and lives in Berlin.

MORE

Book Reviews

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Cover of I Went to See My Father by Kyung-Sook Shin, translated by Anton Hur
Understanding Humanity through Books: Kyung-Sook Shin’s “I Went to See My Father”
By David Vogel
Cover of David Harsent's A Broken Man in Flower: Versions of Yannis Ritsos
“A Broken Man in Flower, Versions of Yannis Ritsos”: A Poetics of Isolation and Spirited Resistance for the Twenty-First Century
By Suzana Vuljevic
Cover of Battle Songs by Daša Drndić, translated by Celia Hawkesworth
Darkness and Refuge in Canada: Daša Drndić’s “Battle Songs”
By Ben Goldman
Cover of I Went to See My Father by Kyung-Sook Shin, translated by Anton Hur
Understanding Humanity through Books: Kyung-Sook Shin’s “I Went to See My Father”
By David Vogel
Cover of David Harsent's A Broken Man in Flower: Versions of Yannis Ritsos
“A Broken Man in Flower, Versions of Yannis Ritsos”: A Poetics of Isolation and Spirited Resistance for the Twenty-First Century
By Suzana Vuljevic
Cover of Battle Songs by Daša Drndić, translated by Celia Hawkesworth
Darkness and Refuge in Canada: Daša Drndić’s “Battle Songs”
By Ben Goldman