Skip to main content
Outdated Browser

For the best experience using our website, we recommend upgrading your browser to a newer version or switching to a supported browser.

More Information

All Articles

A black-and-white portrait of Mosab Abu Toha
The City and the Writer: In Gaza with Mosab Abu Toha
By Nathalie Handal
Mosab Abu Toha talks with Nathalie Handal about hope, reconstruction, and poetry in Gaza.
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
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.
Cobwebs outside of a house
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
Family in a tunnel
Photo by Lute on Unsplash
Because of a Woman: Two Poems
By Babeth Fonchie Fotchind
Dutch poet Babeth Fonchie Fotchind remembers the women in her family and evokes her family's immigration from Cameroon to the Netherlands in these two poems.
Translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison
Portrait of author Karim Kattan
Photo: R Topakian
The City and the Writer: In Jericho with Karim Kattan
By Nathalie Handal
Karim Kattan talks with Nathalie Handal about borders, oral storytelling, and tropicality in Jericho.
Person in front of a blue city
Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash
The March 4th Incident
By Sabda Armandio
In this excerpt of Sabda Armandio's futuristic crime novel 24 Hours with Gaspar, a writer begins investigating a mysterious criminal named Gaspar.
Translated from Indonesian by Lara Norgaard
Shadows in a dark room
Photo by Parker Coffman on Unsplash
Ancestors: Two Poems
By Alfred Schaffer
Dutch poet Alfred Schaffer remembers his parents and evokes his Aruban ancestors in these two poems.
Translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison
MultimediaMultilingual
The Rahue River winding through lush greenery
Manuel cossu, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Reductions
By Jaime Huenún Villa
Jaime Huenún Villa remembers his Huilliche-Mapuche ancestors and their wise way of being in the territory.
Translated from Spanish by Cynthia Steele
Multilingual
Empty train tracks disappearing into the horizon in a dry landscape
Photo by Robert Linder on Unsplash
The Kettledrum
By Siddique Alam
An Adivasi widow is forced to join her son and daughter-in-law in the city in this excerpt from Siddique Alam's collection The Kettledrum.
Translated from Urdu by Musharraf Ali Farooqi
A row of building windows facing another row of windows in front of it
Photo by Sabri Tuzcu on Unsplash
Parentheses
By Felipe Franco Munhoz
Felipe Franco Munhoz follows two pandemic-bound neighbors seeking connection through a window in this installment of our Time Signatures series.
Translated from Portuguese by Alison Entrekin
An incomplete drawing of an elephant. Only the head and trunk are fully filled in.
"Elephant and Rider," attributed to Hashim, circa 1640. Public domain. The Met Museum, Purchase, Friends of Islamic Art Gifts, 2010.
Naima’s Elephant
By Shalash
In this excerpt from a serialized novel by pseudonymous Iraqi author Shalash, a woman's beloved elephant catches the attention of Iraq's political elites for its potential applications during wartime.
Translated from Arabic by Luke Leafgren
A dark kitchen table and chairs seen through a doorway with a single light above them
Photo by Ehud Neuhaus on Unsplash
Anna and Her Daughter’s Partner
By Laksmi Pamuntjak
A neglected wife and mother has an unexpected reaction to her daughter’s partner in this story by Indonesian writer Laksmi Pamuntjak.
Translated from Indonesian by Annie Tucker
MultimediaMultilingual
A flowering wisteria branch
Photo by Owen Yin 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
A portrait of Senegalese American writer Baba Badji
The City and the Writer: In Ziguinchor, Senegal, with Baba Badji
By Nathalie Handal
Baba Badji tells Nathalie Handal about the literary (and not-so-literary) highlights of Ziguinchor, Senegal, from the city's beloved authors and libraries to its late-night eateries.
A yak stands on a snowy hill
Alexandr Frolov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Man Who Can Never Go Home
By Lhashamgyal
In this essay excerpted from the forthcoming The Penguin Book of Modern Tibetan Essays, Lhashamgyal grapples with questions of belonging, identity, and exile.
Translated from Tibetan by Tenzin Dickie & Pema Tsewang Shastri
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.
From left to right, a collage of photos of Merve Emre, Agnes Ahlander Turner, and Enid Prasad
Three New Members Join WWB Board of Directors
By Words Without Borders
Words Without Borders is pleased to announce the election of three new members to its Board of Directors this spring: Agnes Ahlander Turner, Merve Emre, and Enid Prasad.
A portrait of Will Forrester
Photo credit: Grace Hutchison
Fostering Bibliodiversity: English PEN’s Will Forrester on the Goals of the PEN Presents Program
By Samantha Schnee
WWB’s Samantha Schnee speaks with Will Forrester of English PEN about the goals of the PEN Presents program and its impact on the international literary landscape thus far.
A tall foye tree trunk shot from below, surrounded by leaves
Patricio Novoa Quezada, CC BY-NC 2.0, via Flickr
Letters Drawn from Foye Bark
By Adriana Paredes Pinda
Adriana Paredes Pinda considers the power and implications of writing, what it means to exist between languages, and the lasting effects of colonialism on the Mapuche people.
Translated from Spanish by Arthur Malcolm Dixon
Multilingual
A portrait of writer Edvige Giunta
Photo © Joshua Fausty
The City and the Writer: In Gela, Sicily, with Edvige Giunta
By Nathalie Handal
In the final installment of the special Sicily series of the City and the Writer, Edvige Giunta talks with Nathalie Handal about environmental destruction and the many layers of history—literary and otherwise—in Gela.
An overhead shot of an empty brick elevator shaft
Paul Sableman, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr
vox
By Iryna Shuvalova
Speech and solitude intertwine in this poem by Ukraine's Iryna Shuvalova.
Translated from Ukrainian by Uilleam Blacker
Multilingual
A dark window at twilight
Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash
The Guest
By Fatma Shafii
In this story by Fatma Shafii, a woman grows increasingly anxious as she awaits her lover, who is supposed to meet her parents for the first time.
Translated from Swahili by Hassan Kassim
A photo of Daniel Hahn. He is seated on a bench inside an art gallery, and turns to the left to...
Copyright (c) John Lawrence.
Daniel Hahn to Receive 2023 Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature
By Words Without Borders
WWB's annual award for the promotion of international literature will go to Daniel Hahn this year.
black and white drawing of a boy with smoke coming up behind him floating over a red mound
Julia Griffin, "Smoke." Copyright Julia Griffin
Three Poems
By Imran Sada’i
Three short poems by Uyghur poet Imran Sada'i consider how our thoughts and emotions inhabit the world around us.
Translated from Uyghur by Joshua L. Freeman
MultimediaMultilingual
A loom with Mapuche textiles
Marco Antonio Correa Flores, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Following Luminous Traces
By Daniela Catrileo
Daniela Catrileo reaffirms the existence of Mapuche literature—historically considered static or even nonexistent—as a vital, diverse, and growing body of work.
Translated from Spanish by Edith Adams
Multilingual
A portrait of writer Giusy Sciacca.
Photo credit: Marcello Bianca.
The City and the Writer: In Siracusa with Giusy Sciacca
By Nathalie Handal
Literature and, inevitably, theater, have belonged to Siracusa since its Greek colonization.
Portrait of author Dubravka Ugrešic
Photo: Judith Jockel
Dubravka Ugrešic’s Postcard
By Chad W. Post
She was golden. As was her writing, which will live on forever.
Portrait of translator and editorial fellow Isabella Corletto
Introducing WWB’s Editorial Fellow, Isabella Corletto
By Words Without Borders
Everyone around me spoke both languages and we could move back and forth between them almost unconsciously, which is why I often say that my real first language is Spanglish.