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Immigration

November 2008

An Exchange on Nation and Exile

By Paul Celan & Yehuda Amichai

“Perhaps I am one of the last who must live out to the end the destiny of the Jewish spirit in Europe.”

Translated from German by John Felstiner

Scheherazade, C’est Moi? An Interview with Amara Lakhous

By Suzanne Ruta

Algeria was imploding into civil war in 1993 when Amara Lakhous, born in 1970 in Algiers, wrote his first novel.

Translated from Italian by the author

The Truth According to Parviz Mansoor Samadi

By Amara Lakhous

I still remember the first time I saw him.

Translated from Italian by Ann Goldstein

Brazilian Arabesques

By Milton Hatoum

Eight years later, he returned to Beirut with pictures and stories about the Amazon region, which he passed along to his children and relatives.

Translated from Portuguese by Clifford E. Landers

Out of Sight

A new publicity campaign called Colombia is Passion hopes to soothe travelers with an unlikely promise: “Colombia, the only risk is wanting to stay.” A couple of months ago, the Huffington…

Ballad of Aunt Else’s Refugees

By Lidija Dimkovska

It’s cold in Schlossberg. The stoves are full / of our nails and hairs.

Translated from Macedonian by Peggy Reid & Ljubica Arsovska

A Swiss Army knife

Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash

Translating to and from a Native Language

By Alexei Bayer

In this essay, Alexei Bayer writes about his first and second languages, translating into English, and being translated into his native Russian.

Sebastiano

By Sebastiano Vassalli

What time was it? Who was that out there, and why were they continuing to ring my doorbell?

Translated from Italian by Gregory Conti

Three Myths of Immigrant Writing: A View from Germany

By Saša Stanišiç

An “immigrant background” has become a symptom of today’s world, a world suffering from ADHD and a persistent pattern of hyperactivity, as well as from impulsiveness and anger.

Translated from German by the author