First Read Archives - Page 2 of 10 - Words Without Borders

First Read—From “Querido Pablito / Julissimo Querido: Selected Correspondence, 1950–1971”

By Paul Blackburn and Julio Cortázar

Edited and Translated by Ammiel Alcalay, Jacqueline Cornetta, Alison Macomber, and Alexander SoriaThe following is excerpted from Querido Pablito / Julissimo Querido: Selected Correspondence, 1950–1971,…

First Read—From “The Endless Summer”

By Madame Nielsen

Madame Nielsen’s The Endless Summer is a passionate love story about a Danish woman and a much younger Portuguese artist. Translated from the Danish by Gaye Kynoch and forthcoming from Open Letter…

Translated by Gaye Kynoch

First Read—From “Transit Comet Eclipse”

By Muharem Bazdulj

The following is excerpted from the opening of Muharem Bazdulj’s Transit Comet Eclipse, three subtly linked novellas that take the reader across several centuries of Yugoslav history. Translated…

Translated by Nataša Milas

First Read—From “Chintungo: The Story of Someone Else”

By Soledad Marambio

The following poems are excerpted from Soledad Marambio’s Chintungo: The Story of Someone Else, translated by K.T. Billey and recently published in a bilingual edition by Ugly…

Translated by K.T. Billey

First Read—From “Translation as Transhumance”

By Mireille Gansel

The following is excerpted from Translation as Transhumance, Mireille Gansel’s humanist meditation on translation, translated into English by Ros Schwartz and forthcoming from the Feminist…

Translated by Ros Schwartz

First Read—From “Old Demons, New Deities”

By Pema Tsewang Shastri

The following story appears in Old Demons, New Deities, a collection of twenty-one short stories from Tibet, edited by Tenzin Dickie and forthcoming from OR Books.The Flight of the Wind…

Translated by Tenzin Dickie & Pema Tsewang Shastri

First Read—From “Swallowing Mercury”

By Wioletta Greg

In Wioletta Greg’s Swallowing Mercury, translated by Eliza Marciniak and out now from Transit Books, Wiola looks back on her youth in a close-knit, agricultural community in 1980s Poland. Swallowing…

Translated by Eliza Marciniak

First Read—From “Croatian War Nocturnal”

By Spomenka Štimec

Spomenka Štimec’s Croatian War Nocturnal, translated from the Esperanto by Sebastian Schulman and published by Phoneme Media, is a fictionalized memoir of the wars in former Yugoslavia…

Translated by Sebastian Schulman

First Read—From “I Hear Your Voice”

By Young-ha Kim

In Young-ha Kim’s I Hear Your Voice, translated by Krys Lee and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the narrator, Donggyu, and his friend Jae grow up on the streets of Seoul and seek friendship,…

Translated by Krys Lee

First Read—From “Adua”

By Igiaba Scego

Igiaba Scego’s Adua, translated by Jamie Richards, is out now from New Vessel Press. Adua emigrates from Somalia to Italy to escape an oppressive regime, and dreams of becoming a film star. After…

Translated by Jamie Richards

First Read—From “Rhapsody in Quebec” by Akos Verboczy

By Akos Verboczy

Casey Roberts’s translation of Akos Verboczy’s Rhapsody in Quebec, On the Path of an Immigrant Child was recently published by Baraka Books. “The Dreams of My Mother” is one of…

Translated by Casey Roberts

First Read—From “Literature Class”

By Julio Cortázar

Julio Cortázar’s Literature Class, from the lectures the Argentine writer delivered at UC Berkeley in 1980, will be published by New Directions on March 28, edited by Carles Álvarez…

Translated by Katherine Silver

First Read—From “Camanchaca” by Diego Zúñiga

By Diego Zúñiga

Diego Zúñiga’s Camanchaca, translated by Megan McDowell and out March 7 from Coffee House Press, follows a young man on a long, near-silent drive with his father across Chile’s…

Translated by Megan McDowell

First Read—From “The Gringo Champion” by Aura Xilonen

By Aura Xilonen and Andrea Rosenberg

And to think I swore I’d stay out of trouble on this side of the world.

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First Read—From “The Tongue of Adam” by Abdelfattah Kilito

By Abdelfattah Kilito

How, from Babel onward, can we explain the plurality of language? In The Tongue of Adam, translated from the French by Robyn Creswell and forthcoming from New Directions, Moroccan writer Abdelfattah Kilito…

Translated by Robyn Creswell

First Read: From “Landing”

By Laia Fàbregas & Samantha Schnee

Image: From the cover of Landing (Hispabooks).Landing, by Laia Fàbregas and translated by Samantha Schnee, is forthcoming from Hispabooks (September, 13, 2016).He died while we were landing.During…

First Read: From “Instructions Within” by Ashraf Fayadh

By Mona Kareem & The Operating System

Image: Cropping of the cover of Instructions Within by Ashraf Fayadh (The Operating System, 2016).The following poems, translated from the Arabic by Mona Kareem, are excerpted from Ashraf…

First Read: From “Istanbul Istanbul”

By Burhan Sönmez & Ümit Hussein

Image: From the cover of Istanbul Istanbul (OR Books)Istanbul Istanbul, by Burhan Sönmez and translated by Ümit Hussein, is forthcoming from OR Books. Burhan Sönmez…

First Read: “Performing Writers”

By Alek Popov & Angela Rodel

For Rob ListIn the story I am about to tell, three Bulgarian writers have been invited to a literary reading in a small English city with notable architecture and an unpronounceable name that begins with…

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First Read

First Read—From “Come to Me”

First Read—From “Return to the Enchanted Island”

First Read—from “Celestial Bodies”

First Read—from “The Collector of Leftover Souls”

First Read—From “History. A Mess.”

First Read—From “Among the Lost”

First Read—“Knowingly Willingly,” from “A New Divan”

First Read—From “Curl”

First Read—From “Camouflage”

First Read—From “The White Book”

First Read: From “Incomprehensible Lesson”

First Read—From “Away! Away!”

First Read—From “Stone Dreams”

First Read—From “Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl”

First Read—From “What We Owe”

First Read—From “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead”

From “Pretty Things”

First Read—From “Poso Wells”

First Read—From “The Hospital”

First Read—From “The Baghdad Clock”

First Read—From “Lion Cross Point”

First Read—From “Querido Pablito / Julissimo Querido: Selected Correspondence, 1950–1971”

First Read—From “The Endless Summer”

First Read—From “Transit Comet Eclipse”

First Read—From “Chintungo: The Story of Someone Else”

First Read—From “Translation as Transhumance”

First Read—From “Old Demons, New Deities”

First Read—From “Swallowing Mercury”

First Read—From “Croatian War Nocturnal”

First Read—From “I Hear Your Voice”

First Read—From “Adua”

First Read—From “Rhapsody in Quebec” by Akos Verboczy

First Read—From “Literature Class”

First Read—From “Camanchaca” by Diego Zúñiga

First Read—From “The Gringo Champion” by Aura Xilonen

First Read—From “The Tongue of Adam” by Abdelfattah Kilito

First Read: From “Landing”

First Read: From “Instructions Within” by Ashraf Fayadh

First Read: From “Istanbul Istanbul”

First Read: “Performing Writers”