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Drama

A row of building windows facing another row of windows in front of it
Photo by Sabri Tuzcu on Unsplash
Parentheses
By Felipe Franco Munhoz
Felipe Franco Munhoz follows two pandemic-bound neighbors seeking connection through a window in this installment of our Time Signatures series.
Translated from Portuguese by Alison Entrekin
Soumaila Sacko: Story of the Good Life
By Djarah Kan
But if you drink and breathe and sweat and love in a country that is no longer yours, then you are not a migrant. You are a man.
Translated from Italian by Candice Whitney
The Colonel’s Wedding
By Wajdi Muhammad Abduh al-Ahdal
“Did my bodyguard not explain to you that I asked him to stand in for me during the wedding ceremony . . . ?”
Translated from Arabic by Katherine Hennessey
Multilingual
Condolences
By Mishka Lavigne
Gabrielle Sauriol lies in the Pacific Ocean now.
Translated from French by Neil Blackadder
A Gambling World
By Koh Choon Eiow & Mok Sio Chong
I tell you, people at these casinos only think of winning.
Translated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang
MultimediaMultilingual
Please Enter Destination
By Tereza Semotamová
That piece of junk is driving me crazy!
Translated from Czech by Barbora Růžičková
Multimedia
The Veil: An Extremely Short Play
By Mansour Bushnaf
The men pull dollar bills out of their pockets and throw them at the women’s heads.
Translated from Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid
Number Six
By José Ignacio Valenzuela
“Why don’t you ask someone else for help?”
Translated from Spanish by Aurora Lauzardo, Sofía García Deliz & Edil Ramos Pagán
No Direction
By Miguel Alcantud & Santiago Molero
“You make everything I do seem so senseless.”
Translated from Spanish by Sarah Maitland
Grandmother’s Little Hut
By Andrei Platonov
“No one in our family lasts long. And I’m no different—I only look like I’m doing OK . . . ”
Translated from Russian by Jesse Irwin
Learn
Visitors from on High
By Roberto Athayde
“Believing in flying saucers . . . is one thing. What is difficult is believing concrete facts.”
Translated from Portuguese by the author
Love Thy Savior
By Jerzy Lutowski
“Do you want me to humiliate myself and you?”
Translated from Polish by Kevin Windle
Hey, Wake Up!
By Kuo Pao Kun
We are not a run-of-the-mill company. We do not engage in run-of-the-mill business.
Translated from Chinese by Dan Feng Tan
From “Lampedusa Snow”
By Lina Prosa
I stand like an African at the door of an entrance / that doesn’t exist.
Translated from Italian by Nerina Cocchi
From “Qibla”
By Shen Wan-ting
“I’m sorry. I’ll change your pants right away.”
Translated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang
Multilingual
The Seed of Evil: Sarajevo 1995
By Sonia Ristic
You don’t become a war correspondent by accident or by chance.
Translated from French by Paul Romano
Multilingual
Heldenplatz
By Antonio Fian
The nerve. Everyone cheers for him on the Heldenplatz and then he goes and cuts deals with the Russians.
Translated from German by Tess Lewis
His Majesty: The Stomach
By Sony Labou Tansi
Doctors, Poinçon, I want doctors! Specialists.
Translated from French by Kristin Prevallet & Raymond G. Hounfodji
Texterminators
By Mai Ghoussoub
As far as Bullet and his companions were concerned, these volumes were made of paper, and paper is good for warming their feet.
from Night Sings Its Songs
By Jon Fosse
You just lie there lie there just lie there and read
Translated by Sarah Cameron Sunde
from Canary
By Klaus Pohl
My God, that's some stone. I've never held a diamond this big in my hands.
Translated from German by Lucie Pohl
from A Peace of Women
By Lenin El-Ramly
This is a time of sex strikes, and women are in such a short supply.
Translated from Arabic by Hazem M. Azmy
from Alive in the Mortuary
By Chong Mui Ngam
25 years of war, aren't you sick and tired of it?
Translated from Chinese by Candace Chong
from The Ascetic and The Courtesan
By Buddhadeva Bose
Cropless the fields, childless the wives, day after day an emptiness—no rain.
Translated from Bengali by Sankalpo Ghose & Jyotirmoy Datta
from Soul of a Clone
By Philip Boehm
Many of you probably debated whether I should exist at all...
from Little Stain
By Koffi Kwahulé
I am the son of lightning, I've come to burn down this house.
Translated from French
from The Scent of Wheat
By Zdenka Becker
What kind of part can a writer play in a war? Exactly the same one as during peace.
Translated from German by Eugene Sampson
from The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad
By Bahram Beyzaii
We are going to seek happiness for you and your children. All of us! Because one hand alone is useless. Are you ready?
Translated from Farsi by Zara Houshmand & Bella Warda
from The Moon and the Leopard
By Bijan Mofid
Why should I give up the light that I've held?
Translated from Farsi by Zara Houshmand