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Natural Disasters

A man paddles a canoe in a river at sunset

Photo by Inu Etc on Unsplash

Roots

By Madhurima Barua

The stench of country liquor assaults her. Her husband is tottering.

Translated from Assamese by Syeda Shaheen Jeenat Suhailey

MultimediaMultilingual

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

Photo by Bournes Senruob on Unsplash

From I Am Alive

A wealthy Haitian family is thrown into chaos by an unexpected return in this excerpt from Kettly Mars’s novel.

Translated from French by Nathan H. Dize

The ruins of a running track after the Chi-Chi earthquake that hit Taiwan in 1999.

Oregon State University, CC BY-SA 2.0 Wikimedia Commons

Solo Dance

“From that day on, her memories of Danchen were frozen.”

Translated from Chinese by Natascha Bruce

Multimedia

Stories from “Ings & Oughts”

By Alla Gorbunova

It wasn’t a plane at all, but a car flying through the sky.

Translated from Russian by Elina Alter

Multilingual

Tsunami Blues

By Markéta Pilátová

The shock that was yet to come had long ago passed her by.

Translated from Czech by Sára Foitová

Chernobyl Poems

By Lina Kostenko

On the banks of the Prypiat a devil is sleeping

Translated from Ukrainian by Uilleam Blacker

Mihama Nuclear Power Plant

Alpsdake, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Far Shore

In Yoko Tawada's dystopian tale, the entire Japanese archipelago is rendered uninhabitable when a fighter plane piloted by a teenager loses control and crashes into a recently reactivated nuclear plant.

Translated from Japanese by Jeffrey Angles

Primal Needs

By Évelyne Trouillot

Was there still a second floor? Don’t think about it.

Translated from French by Paul Curtis Daw

Multilingual

Season of Grief

By Guy-Gerald Ménard

Entwined concrete houses / perform pirouettes on both sides of the street

Translated from Haitian Creole by Chantal Kenol

Multilingual

Under the Rubble

By Guy-Gerald Ménard

Fear sets up a tent / on our chest

Translated from Haitian Creole by Chantal Kenol

Multilingual

from “At the Borders of Thirst”

You needed a guide, one of those men who lived off the flesh and blood of the camp.

Translated from French by David Ball & Nicole Ball

Multilingual

Time Stretches Out and My Words Do, Too

By Yanick Lahens

I keep saying that Haiti is neither a postcard nor a nightmare.

Translated from French by David Ball & Nicole Ball

January 12, 2010

By Lyonel Trouillot

We already know there are no words for saying some things.

Translated from French by Linda Coverdale

Port-au-Prince on an IV Drip

By Louis-Philippe Dalembert

drip drop / port-au-prince’s life slips away

Translated from Haitian Creole by Nadève Ménard

Multilingual

In All Magnitude

I abhor humanitarianism.

Translated from French by Antoine Bargel & Alexis Pernsteiner

Multilingual

Neverending Story: Haiti’s Vibrant Literary Sphere Endures

By Nadève Ménard

The temblor of January 10, 2010, has become part of Haiti’s literary landscape.