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Contributor

Jessie Chaffee

Contributor

Jessie Chaffee

Jessie Chaffee is the editor of WWB Daily and the author of the debut novel Florence in Ecstasy (Unnamed Press, 2017), which is forthcoming in translation in Italy, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Turkey, and Romania. She received a Fulbright Grant in Creative Writing to Italy to research and complete the novel. Her fiction has been published in Literary Hub, The Rumpus, Electric Literature, and Global City Review, among others, and she has been granted fellowships by the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Ox-Bow, and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. She earned her BA in the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University and her MFA in fiction at the City College of New York.

Articles by Jessie Chaffee

Tilted Axis’s “Translating Feminisms” Chapbook Series
By Jessie Chaffee
We spoke with Esther Kim, marketing and publicity manager of Tilted Axis, about the press’s recently released chapbook series, Translating Feminisms, which features translated poetry by women writers…
Linguistic Slapstick, Brutal Joy, and Profane Parrots: 18 Translators on Translating Humor
By Jessie Chaffee
In celebration of this month’s issue of International Humor, we asked top translators to share stories about the joys and challenges of translating humor, from puns to satire to creative curses. Alta…
What the Mountains Remember: An Interview with Paolo Cognetti
By Francesca Pellas
WWB contributing writer Francesca Pellas spoke with Italian writer Paolo Cognetti about his novel The Eight Mountains, translated by Simon Carnell and Erica Segre and published this year by Atria Books.…
Translated by Jessie Chaffee
The Translator Relay: Ellen Cassedy
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator every other month. The current month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question.…
The Ubud Writers & Readers Festival: An Interview with Janet DeNeefe
By Jessie Chaffee
We spoke with Janet DeNeefe, founder and director of the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival. Now in its fifteenth year, the festival will occur October 24–28 in Ubud, Bali. Check back on WWB Daily…
The Translator Relay: Laura Esther Wolfson
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question.September’s…
JLF at New York: An Interview with Sanjoy K. Roy
By Jessie Chaffee
On September 20, JLF at New York will bring together acclaimed authors and thinkers at the Asia Society in New York City. We spoke with Sanjoy K. Roy, managing director of Teamwork Arts and festival producer,…
31 Recent Works by Women Writers to Read for #WITMonth
By Jessie Chaffee
As we celebrate Women in Translation Month, we’re looking back at exciting works by women writers from around the world published this past year. Here are 31 to add to your reading…
An Interview with Petra Hůlová
By Jessie Chaffee
We spoke with Czech author Petra Hůlová about her novel Three Plastic Rooms (trans. Alex Zucker, Jantar Publishing, 2017), which received a PEN Translates award from English PEN and…
Rosie Goldsmith on the Inaugural EBRD Literature Prize
By Jessie Chaffee
The winner of the inaugural EBRD Literature Prize will be announced on Tuesday, April 10 in London. Launched by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in partnership with the…
The Translator Relay: Chet Wiener
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question.For February’s installment,…
5 Erotic International Reads That Will Make You Blush This Valentine’s Day
By Jessie Chaffee
In honor of Valentine’s Day, we’re dipping into stories about love’s agonies and ecstasies from our archives. From secret fantasies to the body of the beloved to the feeling of…
The Translator Relay: Samuel Rochery
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question.For January’s installment,…
The Translator Relay: Simon Brown
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question.For December’s…
The Translator Relay: Steve Savage
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question.For November’s…
The Translator Relay: Daniel Canty
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question.For October’s…
The Translator Relay: Oana Avasilichioaei
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question.For September’s…
Magdalena Mullek & Julia Sherwood Shine a Spotlight on Slovak Fiction
By Jessie Chaffee
Magdalena Mullek and Julia Sherwood are the editors and translators of the recently released anthology of contemporary Slovak fiction Into the Spotlight. They spoke with WWB about the anthology’s…
Women in Translation: An Interview with Margaret Carson & Alta L. Price
By Jessie Chaffee
Translators Margaret Carson and Alta L. Price cofounded the Women in Translation tumblr in 2015. We spoke with them about the evolution of the #womenintranslation movement, how things…
The Translator Relay: Erín Moure
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question.For July’s…
Bringing a Palestinian Poet’s Story to the Stage: An Interview with Amer Hlehel
By Jessie Chaffee
Amer Hlehel is the author and performer of the play Taha, which tells the story of the celebrated Palestinian poet Taha Muhammad Ali. Adapted from Adina Hoffman’s biography My Happiness Bears No…
25 Recent Works by Women Writers to Read for #WITmonth
By Jessie Chaffee
As we celebrate Women in Translation month, we’re looking back at exciting works by women writers from around the world published this past year. Here are 25 to add to your reading list for…
The Translator Relay: Katrina Dodson
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question.For July’s…
The Translator Relay: Kira Josefsson
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question. For…
Interview with the “Florentine Literary Review” Editor Alessandro Raveggi
By Jessie Chaffee
We spoke with Alessandro Raveggi, editor of The Florentine Literary Review, a new bilingual literary magazine (in Italian with English translations) published in Florence, Italy.Congratulations…
The Translator Relay: María José Giménez
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question. For…
The Translator Relay: Corine Tachtiris
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question. For…
The Translator Relay: Jennifer Croft
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question. For…
33 International Women Writers Who Are Bold for Change
By Jessie Chaffee
In celebration of International Women’s Day, we’re reading work by women whose writing and lives epitomize this year’s theme: “be bold for change.” Here’s our recommended…
An Interview with Elizabeth Kostova
By Jessie Chaffee
This month’s issue features Bulgarian literature, and we were fortunate to speak with one of its champions, Elizabeth Kostova, founder of the Elizabeth Kostova Foundation. Now celebrating…
An Interview with Festival Neue Literatur’s Peter Blackstock
By Jessie Chaffee
Words Without Borders spoke with Festival Neue Literatur curator Peter Blackstock about FNL’s eight annual celebration of German-language literature from Austria, Germany, and…
The Translator Relay: Emma Ramadan
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question. For…
Writing Like Breathing: An Interview with Dacia Maraini
By Jessie Chaffee
Dacia Maraini is a renowned Italian novelist, essayist, playwright, and social activist. Tonight at the Italian Cultural Institute in New York City she will discuss, with Professor Jane…
Tipping the Scales: WWB’s Conversation on Women in Translation at AWP
By Jessie Chaffee
Last week, WWB was in Washington DC for the annual Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference, where executive director Karen Phillips moderated the panel “Tipping the Scales:…
An Interview with City of Asylum Books, Pittsburgh’s New Bookstore of International Literature
By Jessie Chaffee
City of Asylum, a nonprofit organization in Pittsburgh that offers sanctuary for exiled writers and literary programming, recently opened City of Asylum Books, a bookstore specializing…
The Translator Relay: Robyn Creswell
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question. For…
The Translator Relay: Peter Cole
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question. For…
The Translator Relay: Vivek Narayanan
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question. For…
Defamiliarizing the Familiar: An Interview with Mauro Javier Cardenas
By Jessie Chaffee
Mauro Javier Cardenas’s debut novel, The Revolutionaries Try Again, was recently published by Coffee House Press. An experimental, modernist work, the novel is told in a multitude of voices, styles,…
Deciphering the Past Through Fiction: An Interview with Tomáš Zmeškal
By Jessie Chaffee
Set in Czechoslovakia between the 1940s and the 1990s, Tomáš Zmeškal’s Love Letter in Cuneiform (Yale University Press, 2016), translated into English by Alex Zucker, follows one…
The Translator Relay: Jeffrey Yang
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question. For…
36 Metaphors for Translation
By Jessie Chaffee
Image: Tunnel of Books in the Prague Municipal Library. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.In anticipation of International Translation Day, some of our favorite translators and writers share metaphors…
The Translator Relay: Kareem James Abu-Zeid
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question. For…
The Translator Relay: Ming Di
By Jessie Chaffee
Image: Poet and translator Ming Di. WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding…
Unsilenced Texts: Mona Kareem Translates Ashraf Fayadh
By Jessie Chaffee
Image: Poet Ashfraf Fayadh and translator Mona Kareem.Palestinian poet, artist, and curator Ashraf Fayadh is currently imprisoned in Saudi Arabia on charges of renouncing Islam. Words Without Borders…
A Language Is a Window: An Interview with Krys Lee
By Jessie Chaffee
Image: Krys Lee. Photograph by Matt Douma.Words Without Borders caught up with writer and translator Krys Lee. Her novel How I Became a North Korean was just published by Viking/Penguin Random House.Words…
The Borders of Language: An Interview with Etgar Keret
By Jessie Chaffee
Image: Etgar Keret in Florence, Italy, 2016. Photograph by Jessie Chaffee.Etgar Keret is a fiction and nonfiction writer, graphic novelist, and playwright from Israel. He is the author of several…
The Translator Relay: Mihaela Moscaliuc
By Jessie Chaffee
Image: Mihaela Moscaliuc.WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator each month. This month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different,…
Dispatches from the Festival degli Scrittori, Florence, Italy
By Jessie Chaffee
Image: Dany Laferrière (center) and Alba Donati (right) at the 2016 Festival degli Scrittori at Palazzo Strozzi.On June 6-8, writers, translators, and publishers from around the world gathered…
An Interview with Dany Laferrière
By Jessie Chaffee
Image: Dany Laferrière during the 2016 Festival degli Scrittori. Photo by Jessie Chaffee.Dany Laferrière’s novel The World is Moving Around Me was a finalist for the 2016 Gregor von…
An Interview with Mircea Cărtărescu
By Jessie Chaffee
Image: Mircea Cărtărescu. Photo by Jessie Chaffee.Romanian poet, fiction writer, and journalist Mircea Cărtărescu was awarded the 2016 Premio Gregor von Rezzori for his trilogy…
The Translator Relay: Sholeh Wolpé
By Jessie Chaffee
Image: Photo of Sholeh Wolpé by Bonnie PerkinsonWWB’s Translator Relay series is back! The Translator Relay features a new interview each month. This month’s translator will choose…
Our PEN World Voices Festival Itinerary
By Jessie Chaffee
Photo: Beowulf Sheehan/PEN Word Voices Festival of International Literature, 2015The 12th edition of the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature will take place from…
WWB at AWP
By Jessie Chaffee
WWB's panel at AWP: Karen Emmerich and Kareem James Abu-Zeid (top photo);Edward Gauvin, Shabnam Nadiya, and Susan Harris (bottom photo)Last week, WWB was in Los Angeles for the annual Association…
An Interview with Najat El Hachmi
By Jessie Chaffee
Words Without Borders speaks with Moroccan-Catalan writer Najat El Hachmi about language, identity, and the possibilities and limits of translation.Writer Najat El Hachmi (left) and her novel La…
An Interview with Fouad Laroui
By Jessie Chaffee
Words Without Borders caught up with Fouad Laroui, whose Prix Goncourt-winning story was published in WWB's Moroccan literature issue. We spoke about creativity, dislocation, the…
Q&A with Festival Neue Literatur’s Ross Benjamin
By Jessie Chaffee
Words without Borders spoke with Festival Neue Literatur curator Ross Benjamin about FNL’s seventh annual celebration of German-language literature from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, which…