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Canada

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.
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
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
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
Wounds
By Ying Chen
He knew he was a tyrant in his own way.
Translated from French by Pamela Casey
Vi
By Kim Thuy
The realities of life in Indochina had nothing in common with those of France.
Translated from French by Sheila Fischman
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
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
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