Two years ago, a new generation of situationists anonymously penned a manifesto, L’insurrection qui vient (The Coming Insurrection). The text has been anonymously translated from the French, and an illegal book party was held yesterday at the Barnes and Noble in Union Square, NYC to mark the occasion. Book Bench has more on the history of the text and the associated leftist group, the Tarnac9. Here’s a link to their U.S. “support committee,” for those who wish to further decipher their message: Support the Tarnac9.

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Lebanese author Hanan al-Shaykh’s story íA Beauty Parlour for Swansë (in Arabic íSaaloon Tajmeel Lil-Baja”) is one of eight stories recently commissioned by The Royal Parks of London, and is currently for sale as a bilingual pamphlet in Kensington Gardens, where the story is set. Saudi Gazette has the full report.

Here is al-Shaykh’s story,“God, It’s as Though You’re Sewing a Dress For a Flea,” translated from the Arabic by Randa Jarrar.

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The Observer Translation Project is in the process of compiling a “Translators’ Hit List,” a catalog of their multinational translators’ achievements.

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James Marcus’s May edition of NBCC Reads, a survey of writers and the books in translation that have been most influential to them, will continue with a series of highlights over the summer. The extension began yesterday with author Roxana Robinson and associate director of Dalkey Archive Martin Riker on Chekhov and Perec.