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Contributor

Tobias Carroll

Tobias-Carroll-cr-Jason-Rice

Credit: Jason Rice

Contributor

Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll is the author of the short story collection Transitory (Civil Coping Mechanisms) and the novel Reel (Rare Bird).

Articles by Tobias Carroll

The covers of the six books featured in the Watchlist on a peach background in a 2x3 grid: Muybridge,...

The Watchlist: April 2025

By Tobias Carroll

A dystopian novel from Hong Kong, Canadian graphic nonfiction, new poetry from Palestine, and more: Tobias Carroll on this month's notable releases in translation.

The covers of the six books featured in the Watchlist: Hunchback, Nadaismo, The Tokyo Suite, The...

The Watchlist: March 2025

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll rounds up the latest in international literature, from Saou Ichikawa's novel of disability and sex to Tierno Monénembo's story of a Guinean woman in exile.

The covers of the six books shortlisted for the 2024 Gregg Barrios Prize on a juniper background:...

The National Book Critics Circle Appreciations for the 2024 Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize

By Tobias Carroll, Mandana Chaffa, Rebecca Hussey, Alina Stefanescu, Hannah Weber & Liz Wood

Six judges of the 2024 National Book Critics Circle's Gregg Barrios Book in Translation Prize share their appreciations of the six shortlisted titles.

The covers of the six books featured in the Watchlist in a 2x3 grid: Ugliness, Honey Hunger, Adam...

The Watchlist: February 2025

By Tobias Carroll

New fiction and poetry from Hong Kong, Oman, Portugal, and more: Tobias Carroll recommends this month's standout reads in translation.

The covers of the six books featured in the Watchlist in a 2x3 grid on a sand-colored background:...

The Watchlist: January 2025

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll kicks off 2025 with recommendations of six new titles in translation, from Japanese mystery-horror to Cuban prose poetry to a classic Vietnamese novel.

The covers of the six books featured in the Watchlist on a tan background

The Watchlist: December 2024

By Tobias Carroll

In his last Watchlist of 2024, Tobias Carroll recommends poetry from Puerto Rico, memoirs of imprisonment from Tunisia, contemporary Brazilian short stories, and more.

The covers of the five books featured in the Watchlist on a peach-colored background: Unlove Story,...

The Watchlist: November 2024

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll on the five books in translation that should be on your radar this month, from Egypt, India, Poland, and more.

The covers of the six books featured in the Watchlist in a 2 x 3 grid: Clean, The Light That Burns...

The Watchlist: October 2024

By Tobias Carroll

Stuck in a reading slump? Check out Tobias Carroll's recommendations of six new books of fiction, poetry, and graphic lit to read now, translated from Greek, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, and more.

The covers of the six books featured in the Watchlist on a yellow background

The Watchlist: September 2024

By Tobias Carroll

From an anthology of Yazidi poetry to Scholastique Mukasonga's latest novel, Tobias Carroll recommends September's must-reads in translation.

The covers of the six books featured in the Watchlist in a 2x3 grid: Where We Stand, Mammoth, Mina's...

The Watchlist: August 2024

By Tobias Carroll

In this special #WITMonth edition of the Watchlist, Tobias Carroll recommends poetry from Tunisia, unsettling fiction from Japan, feminist nonfiction from Brazil, and much more.

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist in a 2x3 grid: Mourning a Breast, Elevator in...

The Watchlist: July 2024

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll on six summer reads you won't want to miss, from a detective thriller banned in Vietnam to a collection of speculative stories from Egypt.

The covers of the five books featured in the Watchlist: The Tyranny of the Flies, Purity, The Emperor,...

The Watchlist: June 2024

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends five new books in translation from Cuba, Germany, Haiti, Spain, and Sweden, ranging from unsettling short stories to atmospheric prose poetry.

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist: Bad Seed, The Joyful Song of the Partridge,...

The Watchlist: May 2024

By Tobias Carroll

Icelandic dystopia. A Quebecois graphic novel. Queer short stories from Puerto Rico. Tobias Carroll recommends all this and more in his May Watchlist.

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist in a 2x6 grid: Chronicles of a Village, The Mystery...

The Watchlist: April 2024

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll ranges far and wide in this month's Watchlist, recommending a memoir by Palestinian writer Nasser Abu Srour, Astrid Roemer's novel of mid-century Suriname, newly translated essays by Dubravka Ugrešic, and more.

A two-by-six grid of the covers of the six books in the Watchlist: Reinbou, A Whale Is a Country,...

The Watchlist: March 2024

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends six new books in translation you won't want to miss this month, from Bengali science fiction to an early novel by renowned Polish writer Witold Gombrowicz.

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist: Aya: Claws Come Out; The Djinn's Apple; Blue...

The Watchlist: February 2024

By Tobias Carroll

From an Ivorian graphic novel to a historical murder mystery from Algeria, Tobias Carroll recommends five new books in translation to read this month.

The covers of the six books featured in the Watchlist: The Murderer's Mother, Forgottenness, The...

The Watchlist: January 2024

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends six books to start off the new year, from a classic of Danish science fiction to Álvaro Enrigue's reimagining of sixteenth-century Mexico.

The covers of the books in the December Watchlist: Glossolalia, On the Isle of Antioch, The Archive...

The Watchlist: December 2023

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends six new books you won't want to miss this month, from a Brazilian crime novel to poetry translated from Filipino and Serbian.

A tile cover of the books in the November Watchlist: Pedro and Marques Take Stock, Strangers in...

The Watchlist: November 2023

By Tobias Carroll

New this month: Tobias Carroll recommends eco-dystopia, a modern picaresque, innovative autofiction, and more, translated from Arabic, Armenian, Hebrew, Italian, Korean, and Portuguese.

The covers of the five books featured in the Watchlist: Standing Heavy, Antologaia, A Cha Chaan...

The Watchlist: October 2023

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends a satirical French graphic novel, poetry from Hong Kong, novels from Côte d’Ivoire and Mexico, and a trans memoir from Italy.

The covers of the five books featured in the Watchlist: Dandelion Daughter, The Stone Breakers,...

The Watchlist: September 2023

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends new books in translation you won't want to miss from Canada, Colombia, France, the Republic of the Congo, and Russia.

The covers of the books featured in the August Watchlist: The Details, Lojman, Wenling's, A Practical...

The Watchlist: August 2023

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends new and exciting reads from Angola, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey.

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist: Offshore Lightning, The Country of Too, No One...

The Watchlist: July 2023

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends new and forthcoming books translated from Arabic, French, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish.

The covers of the six titles featured in the Watchlist: Beijing Sprawl, Happy Stories, Mostly,...

The Watchlist: June 2023

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends new and forthcoming books in translation from Bolivia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Norway, and Poalnd.

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.

The covers of Macunaíma, Hit Parade of Tears, The Red Book of Farewells, Work-Life Balance, Historiae,...

The Watchlist: April 2023

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends exciting new books in translation from Brazil, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Sudan.

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist: Walking Practice, Banzeiro Okoto, As We Exist,...

The Watchlist: March 2023

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends new books you won't want to miss translated from Korean, French, Esperanto, Japanese, and Portuguese.

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist: Sweetlust, Stravaging Strange, Black Foam, and...

The Watchlist: February 2023

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends exciting new books translated from Arabic, Croatian, Spanish, and Russian.

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist

The Watchlist: January 2023

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends exciting new books translated from Arabic, Kalmyk, Spanish, and Italian.

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist

The Watchlist: December 2022

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends exciting new books in translation from Mauritius, Romania, Japan, Spain, Germany, and Puerto Rico.

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist

The Watchlist: November 2022

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends exciting new books in translation from Denmark, Argentina, Palestine, Mexico, and Poland.

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist

The Watchlist: October 2022

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends noteworthy new books in translation from Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Colombia, South Korea, and Norway.

The covers of the five books featured in the Watchlist

The Watchlist: September 2022

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends new and exciting books in translation from Sudan, Belgium, Haiti, France, and South Korea.

The covers of The King of India, Dogs of Summer, Yoga, Three Streets, Boulder, and A Summer Day...

The Watchlist: August 2022

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends new and exciting books in translation from Lebanon, China, Spain, Japan, and France.

The covers of the books featured in the Watchlist: The Blunder, Carnality, Of Saints and Miracles,...

The Watchlist: July 2022

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends exciting new books from Cameroon, Mexico, Japan, Spain, Sweden, and Kazakhstan.

The book covers of Animals in Our Days, Brisbane, Flowers of Lhasa, Radio Siga, Linea Nigra, and...

The Watchlist: May/June 2022

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends noteworthy new books translated from Tibetan, Vietnamese, Arabic, Russian, Spanish, and Croatian.

The book covers of At the Edge of the Woods, When Women Kill, People from Bloomington, Let Us Believe...

The Watchlist: April 2022

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends noteworthy new books translated from Ukrainian, Indonesian, Persian, Japanese, and Spanish.

The book covers of Policing the City, Scattered All Over the Earth, Palestine +100, The Way Spring...

The Watchlist: March 2022

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends noteworthy new books translated from Arabic, Chinese, Danish, French, and Japanese.

The covers of the six books featured in the article: Solitaire, I'd Like to Say Sorry But There's...

The Watchlist: February 2022

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends exciting new books in translation from Morocco, Argentina, Poland, Chile, Sweden, and Tunisia.

The Watchlist: January 2022

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends exciting new books in translation from Mexico, Norway, Haiti, Argentina, and Japan.

The Watchlist: December 2021

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll recommends exciting new books translated from Maltese, Mè’phàà, German, Spanish, Arabic, and Greek.

The Watchlist: November 2021

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. This month’s selection includes books translated…

The Watchlist: October 2021

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. This month's selection includes books translated…

The Watchlist: September 2021

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. This month's selection includes books translated…

The Watchlist: August 2021

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. This special #WITMonth selection includes books by women translated…

The Watchlist: July 2021

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. This month's selection includes books translated from…

The Watchlist: June 2021

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. This month's selection includes translated books from Haiti,…

The Watchlist: May 2021

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. This month's selection includes books translated from…

The Watchlist: April 2021

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. This month's selection includes books translated from…

The Watchlist: March 2021

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. This month's selection includes translated books from…

The Watchlist: February 2021

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. February's selection includes books translated from…

The Watchlist: January 2021

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. January's selection includes books translated from Danish,…

The Watchlist: December 2020

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. From Tilted Axis Press | Strange Beasts of China by…

The Watchlist: November 2020

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. From Comma Press | God 99 by Hassan Blasim, translated…

The Watchlist: October 2020

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. From Valancourt Books | The Valancourt Book of World…

The Watchlist: September 2020

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. From Open Letter Books | The Clerk by Guillermo Saccomanno,…

The Watchlist: August 2020

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. From Seven Stories Press | Bezoar: And Other Unsettling…

The Watchlist: July 2020

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. From Open Letter Books | This Could Have Become Ramayan…

The Watchlist: June 2020

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. From Milkweed Editions | The Blue Sky by Galsan Tschinag,…

The Watchlist: May 2020

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. From Open Letter | Four By Four by Sara Mesa, translated…

The Watchlist: April 2020

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. From Seven Stories Press | No-Signal Area by Robert…

The Watchlist: March 2020

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Milkweed Editions | When the Whales Leave by Yuri Rytkheu,…

The Watchlist: February 2020

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Two Lines Press | b, Book, and Me by Kim Sagwa, translated…

The Watchlist: January 2020

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Europa Editions | The Enlightenment of the Greengage…

The Watchlist: December 2019

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Grove Atlantic | The Story of a Goat by Perumal…

The Watchlist: November 2019

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Feminist Press | The Living Days by Ananda Devi, translated…

The Watchlist: October 2019

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Other Press | I Will Never See the World Again: The…

The Watchlist: September 2019

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Coffee House Press | When Death Takes Something from…

The Watchlist: August 2019

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Open Letter | The Translator’s Bride by…

The Watchlist: July 2019

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Counterpoint Press | Inhabitation by Teru…

The Watchlist: June 2019

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Seagull Books | Ice by Sonallah Ibrahim,…

The Watchlist: May 2019

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From World Editions | A Devil Comes to Town by…

The Watchlist: April 2019

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Soho Press | Dark Constellations by Pola Oloixarac,…

The Watchlist: March 2019

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From the Feminist Press | Mars by Asja Bakić, translated…

The Watchlist: February 2019

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Death Is Hard Work…

The Watchlist: January 2019

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From And Other Stories | Tentacle by Rita Indiana, translated…

The Watchlist: December 2018

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Archipelago Books | The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique…

“The Anarchist Who Shared My Name,” the Oulipo, and Contemporary Nonfiction

By Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll explores Pablo Martín Sánchez’s recently released The Anarchist Who Shared My Name (tr. Jeffrey Diteman, Deep Vellum Publishing) within the context of the Oulipo collective…

The Watchlist: November 2018

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Semiotext(e) | Seasonal Associate by Heike Geissler,…

The Watchlist: October 2018

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Dorothy, a publishing project | The Taiga Syndrome…

The Watchlist: September 2018

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Coffee House Press | After the Winter by Guadalupe…

The Watchlist: August 2018

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Riverhead | Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, translated…

The Watchlist: July 2018

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Coffee House Press | Comemadre by Roque Larraquy,…

The Watchlist: June 2018

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Liveright | The Collected Stories of Machado de…

The Watchlist: May 2018

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Scribe US | Familiar Things by Hwang So-Yong, translated…

The Watchlist: April 2018

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Biblioasis | Transparent City by Ondjaki, translated…

The Watchlist: March 2018

By Tobias Carroll

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.From Alfred A. Knopf | Aetherial Worlds by Tatyana Tolstaya,…

The Watchlist: February 2018

By Tobias Carroll

We are pleased to welcome Tobias Carroll as the new curator of WWB’s Watchlist. Each month, Tobias will share a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s…

Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel on “The Gurugu Pledge” and Diversity in the Narrative Voice

By Tobias Carroll

The Gurugu Pledge (And Other Stories, 2017) is Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel’s second novel to be translated into English. It takes as its subject a real-life setting: specifically,…

Translated by Jethro Soutar