My wife and I were sitting on our porch when a man engulfed in flames entered our garden.

The Cultural Revolution created two extremes for China.

Then, for the first time, the strange thought occurred to me that our carpet frame had become a gallows.

There is indeed no place like China–but that isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Finally they dismembered him and hung his head on the city walls for a week.

Our “Translator Relay” series features a new interview each month. This month's translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a different, sixth question. This month, Erica Mena…

A few years ago, I began translating from Polish in earnest, trying my hand at classic short stories and chapters of contemporary novels here and there. But as much as I liked what I was doing, I felt…

GO what: Ilan Stavans presents “South of the Border: the Jews of Latin America” a 2-day program at the Yiddish Book Center when: November 2-4 where: Amherst, MA more info: http://ow.ly/eQOuK…

READ Honors and Awards Congratulations to Hilary Mantel, who was just awarded the Man Booker prize for the second time! Check out the 2013 DSC South Asian Prize longlist, which includes two books…

Yasmina Khadra is the pen name of Mohammed Moulessehoul, who was born in 1955 in the Algerian desert town of Kenadsa. His novels The Swallows of Kabul (2006) and The Attack (2008) were each shortlisted…

GO what: 2012 PEN Literary Awards Ceremony when: Tuesday, October 23, 6:30pm where: Proshansky Auditorium, The City University of New York more info: http://ow.ly/eEu3U what: The Bridge: Passageways…

READ Honors and Awards Congratulations to the recipient of the 2013 Newman Prize for Chinese Literature, Taiwonese poet Yang Mu! The 2012 National Book Award finalists were revealed this week. Interviews,…

I grew up in Israel to bilingual parents. My father was born and raised in Philadelphia. My mother was born in New York City to Israeli parents. When my father speaks Hebrew he still has an accent. His…

The Consul General’s Wife is the second novel from author and screenwriter Aliefka Bijlsma, now available in a sensitive translation from the Dutch by Kate Brown. The sad and tragi-comic tale of…

GO what: 2012 Garden City Literary Festival when: opens October 15 where: Port Harcourt, Nigeria more info: http://ow.ly/et5Co what: Manchester Literature Festival when: October 8-23 where: Manchester,…

READ Honors and Awards This year's Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Chinese writer Mo Yan, whose novel Big Breasts & Wide Hips (translated by Howard Goldblatt) was reviewed by…

The Nobel Prize in literature goes to Chinese writer Mo Yan. From the citation: “Through a mixture of fantasy and reality, historical and social perspectives, Mo Yan has created a world reminiscent…

The poems in Scorched by the Sun, a collection from Israeli writer Moshe Dor, reveal a lyrical author who writes passionately and beautifully about love, nature, national identity, and war. The poems…

We're down to the wire. The Academy has confirmed that the Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced Thursday, and the speculation, oddly muted to date, has picked up a tad. Ladbrokes continues…

GO what: Festival de la Palabra in NY when: Thursday, October 11, 7pm where: Queen Sofia Spanish Institute/684 Park Ave at 68th street/New York, NY admission fee: FREE for Americas Society and Queen Sofia…

READ Honors and Awards Congratulations to the 2012 ALTA Fellows: Janet Kim Ha, Hai-Dang Phan, Claire Van Winkle, Alexandra Berlina, and WWB contributor Joshua Daniel Edwin! Interiews, Articles, Reviews…

GO what: 15-stop book tour for poets and WWB contributors Ghassan Zaqtan and Fady Joudah when: October 1-October 29 where: venues across the U.S. more info: http://ow.ly/e6xSc what: Istanbul…

“Cities of Salt” was no more about oil than “The Godfather” was about olive oil.

For the last thirty years, good geology has led to bad politics.

From the heavens black gold pours down.

We have nations that we don't want.

Perhaps I will poison a petrol engineer’s coffee.

No one seriously considered the idea that the world’s oil deposits might be limited.

After a while you reach a dazed state, a stupor in the face of nothing in particular.

“If one of those things explodes, the city’ll blow up too.”