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Motherhood

A white mug spilling milk onto an ochre mug, which is tilted towards a black mug.

Photo by Claudia Carbungco from Unsplash. Public domain.

Nameless

An expectant mother finds herself nurtured, then threatened by a circle of women in this short story by Jordan’s Rema Hmoud.

Translated from Arabic by Ibrahim Fawzy

Multilingual

Left, a black-and-white portrait of Kate Briggs; right, the cover of her novel The Long Form

“A Hidden but Necessary Labor”: Kate Briggs on Translation and Parenthood

By Lauren Goldenberg

Mothering and translating get described in similar ways; they are often devalued in similar ways.

Breathtaking image of a temple in Nepal with snowy mountains in the background

Photo by Sebastian Pena Lambarri on Unsplash

Nepal

By Marina Gudelj

“Mom was like, ‘The Himalayas? She’s never even climbed the Mosor, right here on her doorstep.’”

Translated from Croatian by Ena Selimović

MultimediaMultilingual

Princess

By Marta Orriols

A headband, you say? You’re ridiculous.

Translated from Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem

A hand hovering over a pill organizer filled with multicolored pills

Photo by Laurynas Mereckas on Unsplash

Boulder

By Eva Baltasar

Having a kid is the same as enrolling in a lifetime plan of suffering.

Translated from Catalan by Julia Sanches

A pile of large chunks of rubble in a field of dirt

Photo by Bournes Senruob on Unsplash

From I Am Alive

The family no longer knew Alexandre, lost for so long in his illness.

Translated from French by Nathan H. Dize

[My mother works in a cannery]

By Luisa Castro

Love is a work of art in a can.

Translated from Galician by Laura Cesarco Eglin

Multilingual

Daughter Number Eight

By Freshta Ghani

Is it a boy or a girl?

Translated from Pashto by Zarghuna Kargar

Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash

Fatoum and Hamoud and Hamed

By Qatari Oral Tradition

The mother sheep would warn her children of the wolf that prowled the town.

Translated from Arabic by Rana Elmaghraby

The Mothers

Our second home is built / in the avenue of death, say the mothers

Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker

Multilingual

A rebozo photographed in black and white.

By Mónica Morales. License: CC by 2.0 Access at: https://flic.kr/p/rP5TJ

Purépecha Mother

By Gilberto Jerónimo Mateo

This poem from an indigenous Purépecha author celebrates the heroism of a seemingly ordinary woman.

Translated from Purépecha by Earl Shorris & Sylvia Sasson Shorris

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