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Canada

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 thirteen books featured in the list arranged in three rows and overlapping slightly
Foodie World Kid Lit: Food and Eating in International Children’s and YA Literature
By Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
Join Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp on a mouth-watering tour of four continents through thirteen picture books, middle grade and YA fiction, and graphic novels.
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.
Two unlit lantern holders sit on a lake in blue dusk light.
An autumn evening at West Lake in Hangzhou, China. Photo credit: Jeff Chenqinyi, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons.
Dear Qiu Jin: “To Meet a Kindred Spirit Who Cherishes the Same Songs”
By Yilin Wang
The autumn moon is a common motif within Chinese poetry, shining often upon geographies of homesickness and longing.
A thick mist over the woods
Photo by Artem Sapegin on Unsplash
Ruins
By Mélodie Joseph
For just a moment, in the darkness of the swamp, her sunken eyes glinted with a bloodshot sparkle.
Translated from French by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch
Sunlight illuminates a forest
Photo by Jan Huber on Unsplash
Welcome, Alyson
By J. D. Kurtness
When Bastien reported his mother missing on June 13, the investigator who received his complaint by phone assured him that there was nothing to worry about.
Translated from French by Hannah Allen-Shim
Multimedia
A close-up image of a rusty wire fence
Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash
Resurgence
By Ayavi Lake
Reflexively, she shakes the grating as if to convince herself that no beastly strength could tear it loose and free the horde.
Translated from French by H Felix Chau Bradley
A waterfront cityscape with a magenta glow
Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash
Chlorosis
By Ariane Gélinas
Taking painkillers is for cowards. It’s time for you to think about your first extraction, Clément.
Translated from French by Remy Attig
Multimedia
Frozen reeds extend out of a semi-frozen body of water in Montreal
Photo by Nunzio Guerrera on Unsplash
Thriving on Indiscipline: An Introduction to Quebec’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Scene
By Hannah Allen-Shim
Hannah Allen-Shim takes us on a tour of Quebec’s science fiction and fantasy scene, from its beginnings in the 1970s to its expansion and diversification in recent years.
A slice of lemon floating in gin and tonic served in a glass
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
Specimen
By Joyce Baker
Ophélie smiles idly, everything spins, the air stops, space-time tears, clocks grind.
Translated from French by E. S. Taillon
Multimedia
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.
Rivière Péribonka
Johny-le-cowboy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The Indian
By Michel Jean
With no one around me but people who were prisoners of their land, I had suddenly come across someone who was free.
Translated from French by Susan Ouriou
The covers of the books featured in the list
World Kid Lit: The Best of 2022
By Jackie Friedman Mighdoll, Johanna McCalmont & Claire Storey
Join the editors of the World Kid Lit blog on a tour of their favorite international children's books of 2022, from picture books to YA fiction and graphic novels.
A person pours tea into cups alongside pastries on a table
Photo copyright © Darren Byler
Translation as Transgression: Bringing the Uyghur Novel The Backstreets into English
By Darren Byler
In 2014, translating Uyghur knowledge into English felt like a subversive act in itself.
Portraits of Pablo Strauss and Stéphane Larue, translator and author, respectively, of The Dishwasher.
Pablo Strauss (left) and Stéphane Larue (photo © Hani Ferland).
Conjuring Up a Nocturnal Montreal: Stéphane Larue and Pablo Strauss on Translating “The Dishwasher”
By Pablo Strauss & Stéphane Larue
A lot of readers really appreciated seeing a novel set in a kitchen, seeing their own experience depicted.
Translated by Pablo Strauss
Framing the Story: Six Graphic Narratives
By Susan Harris
These artists capture both words and images to convey narratives individual and collective.
Contacts
By Mélanie Leclerc
It's as if my childhood was preparing me for the camera, the photo, the image, and the documentary.
Translated by Sean Gasper Bye
Condolences
By Mishka Lavigne
Gabrielle Sauriol lies in the Pacific Ocean now.
Translated from French by Neil Blackadder
Honor Thy Father and Mother: In Mourning
By Susan Harris
All people mourn in their own ways.
Mustard Flowers
By Ajmer Rode
Morning starts / when lights turn green.
Translated from Punjabi by the author
Vi
By Kim Thuy
The realities of life in Indochina had nothing in common with those of France.
Translated from French by Sheila Fischman
Wounds
By Ying Chen
He knew he was a tyrant in his own way.
Translated from French by Pamela Casey
Incidents at the Evangelista Lighthouse
By Sergio Kokis
They stared hard at one another for a time, overcome with fear and doubt.
Translated from French by Hugh Hazelton
Cock-a-doodle-do
By Pan Bouyoucas
“Why didn’t you tell her about the rooster?”
Translated from French by Éric Fontaine & Rachel Morgenstern-Clarren
The Vagaries of Exile: Migrant Literature from Quebec
By Rachel Morgenstern-Clarren
The four writers featured in this portfolio are all celebrated contemporary novelists born outside of Canada but who publish in French, their second language.
People Behaving Badly
By Susan Harris
Many greet the clean slate of a new year by pledging to chalk up only virtue and moderation.
Plamondon Metro
By Alejandro Saravia
drawn by the myth of the streets of gold / Santiago Nasar arrives on rue Barclay and becomes a pusher
Translated from Spanish by María José Giménez
Multilingual
Bridging Distances: Three Hispanic Canadian Authors
By María José Giménez
Writing by authors of Latin American descent living in Canada is seldom read, taught, or reviewed beyond the country’s borders.
Trilingual Day of Rain
By Alejandro Saravia
it’s still raining / as it did at the beginning of time
Translated from Spanish by María José Giménez
The Flowers of War
By Alejandro Saravia
the flowers of war / open at night / on boulevard Saint-Laurent
Translated from Spanish by María José Giménez
The God of Tar and Bone
By Alejandro Saravia
a man standing on the tracks / stares at a train as it advances / with a moan of metal and night
Translated from Spanish by María José Giménez
María Times Seven
By Martha Batiz
It was by accident that Doña Toña decided to sell her daughters’ tears.
Translated from Spanish by the author
The Right Path
By Diego Creimer
They blamed the phenomenon on the machinery of the heavens, and not on the machinations of man.
Translated from French by María José Giménez
In Search of the End of the World
By Michel Noël
I was brought into the world on a day of black misery.
Translated from French by JC Sutcliffe
The Sex Life of the Writer
By Nadine Bismuth
The more a man cultivates the arts the less he fornicates.
Translated from French by Alison Strayer
Multilingual
In Praise of the Margins
By Elsa Pépin
After a long period during which, following the example of many other minority literatures, it consolidated its national identity,  Quebec literature has slowly moved away from collective concerns, and opened itself up to the world.
Translated from French by Donald Winkler
Multilingual
The Zacharias Ascaris Affair
By Nicolas Dickner
At daybreak on a rainy November 1st humanity sank into a great prehistoric silence
Translated from French by Lazer Lederhendler
Multilingual
Welcome to the Club
By Nadine Bismuth
Clutched to her chest was a huge pot of stewed pig's feet she’d made the day before.
Translated from French by Alison Strayer
April 2011 Writing From Quebec From Reunion Pascal Girard Page Thumbnail
From “Reunion”
By Pascal Girard
Translated from French by Helge Dascher
Unagi
By Dominique Fortier
The circular shape etched by the heat of the lightning was still visible
Translated from French by Paloma Vita
Multilingual
Two Faces
By Sylvain Trudel
An instant later a blaze shot up just above the ground, a live torch–a big cat in flames.
Translated from French by Sheila Fischman
Dolorès
By Christine Germain
Where hard veins wake up on a mattress of abandonment.
Translated from French by Jonathan Kaplansky
Multilingual
From “The Window of Time”
By Hélène Dorion
Shadows crash across the flesh of houses
Translated from French by Jonathan Kaplansky
Multilingual
Gandhi’s Admirer
By Pan Bouyoucas
And I'm supposed to become an accomplice to these Frankensteins!
Translated from French by Paul Curtis Daw
(Bleep), You (Bleeping) (Bleep): Dubbing American Films into Canadian French
By Robert Paquin
There are two mortal sins in film dubbing.
From “Gombrowicz in Argentina”
By Rita Gombrowicz
He could have written a book on the art of falling into disgrace.
Translated from French by Lauren Dubowski
From “Ru”
By Kim Thuy
I came into the world early in the Year of the Monkey, during the Tet Offensive
Translated from French by Nigel Spencer
Layout 1
Kaspar
By Diane Obomsawin
Translated from French by Helge Dascher
Heading South
By Dany Laferrière
At the age of twelve I realized that I could do whatever I wanted with women.
Translated from French by Tanyika Carey
Learning Cyrillic
By David Albahari
Fridays I go to church. I do not go to pray.
Translated from Serbian by Ellen Elias-Bursać
My Mother’s Garage Sale
By Daniel Laverdure
You might say my mother loves simple things. But the real point is that she's certain she isn't wrong.
Translated from French by Lawrence Venuti