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Fiction

A cargo ship in a dock.
Photo via Rawpixels. Public domain.
The Haves and the Have-Nots
By Kristian Lundberg
A man who escaped childhood poverty in Malmö to become a writer is forced to return to a job he held in his youth at a harbor export hub in this excerpt from Kristian Lundberg’s autobiographical novel detailing the collapse of Sweden’s welfare state…
Translated from Swedish by Helga Edström
A picture of a street dog and the shadow of a person wearing a hat on a wall beside it.
Photo by Nesrin Öztürk. Public Domain.
Deadbeat
By Paul Tavo
In this short story, Ni-Vanuatu writer Paul Tavo considers a Nouméan who exists outside society.
Translated from French by Colin Anderson
A picture of three military helicopters flying.
Picture by Elen Schurova, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
i had a country once
By Chantal T. Spitz
In this searing short fiction, Mā’ohi writer Chantal T. Spitz denounces the colonial impulses driving seasteading proposals in the Pacific.
Translated from French by Jean Anderson
A pencil sketch of a couple embracing each other.
Art by Bramine Hubrecht Courtesy of the Rijksmuseum. Public domain
Behind Closed Doors
By Déwé Gorodé
New Caledonian writer, activist, and politician Déwé Gorodé depicts a woman unmoored by a sudden obsessive affair.
Translated from French by Mandy Hewett
A black-and-white photo of a small wooden railway station with large trees in the background. A...
Lelydorp Station, 1947. Willem van de Poll, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Birthday Present
By Bea Vianen
In this excerpt from Bea Vianen’s novel My Name is Sita, a Surinamese woman who is investigating her family history faces an unpleasant encounter with a figure from her mother’s past.
Translated from Dutch by Kristen Gehrman
Image of a standing dry pomegranate half on a black background
Photo by Thomas Murphy on Unsplash
Meat and Pomegranate
By Cho Yeeun
In this excerpted story by Korean writer Cho Yeeun, a dying widow takes in a starving creature found outside her doorstep.
Translated from Korean by Sung Ryu
A jumble of colorful knit scarves and gloves in a drawer
Photo by Olha Yarova on Unsplash
Jiro
By Igiaba Scego
In this excerpt from Igiaba Scego’s Cassandra a Mogadiscio, a writer considers how her diasporic Somali family has managed to remain close despite the distances—and the many languages—between them.
Translated from Italian by Barbara Ofosu-Somuah
Multimedia
Image of a pair of golden crescent-shaped earrings
Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Golden Earring
By O‘tkir Hoshimov
My mother was very careful with those gold crescent-shaped earrings, boasting that they were a gift from her mother-in-law.
Translated from Uzbek by Sabrina Jaszi
MultimediaMultilingual
View of the Las Vegas skyline
Photo by Britta Preusse on Unsplash
Godshow.com
By Ahmed Naji
Another “only in Vegas” site: a yacht graveyard in the middle of the desert.
Translated from Arabic by Rana Asfour
Two halves of a brown egg shell
Photo by Dennis Anderson on Unsplash
Mamali
By Leyla Shukurova
The news that Mamali’s youngest daughter has decided to go study in Baku somehow spreads quickly through their village—much more quickly than Ulfet has counted on. 
Translated from Russian by Sabrina Jaszi
MultimediaMultilingual
Collection of pearl necklaces on a black background
Photo by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash
Shakharbanu’s Curse
By Lira Konys
Whenever I think of the old woman, I remember her not as my great-grandmother but as the first person I learned to loathe.
Translated from Kazakh by Mirgul Kali
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
Close-up of cucumber plant hanging from a green fence
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
The Greenhouse
By Fatema Haidari
I could see her white hands and long, thin fingers among the green stems and huge leaves of the cucumber plants.
Translated from Dari by Shekiba Habib
Ablution facility with white and gray tiles
Glogger, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Gray-Winged Pigeons of the Shrine
By Batool Haidari
I had written “fifth grade” on my application for this job five years ago. But my father, who had been dead for years, hadn’t actually let me study for more than a year.
Translated from Dari by Zubair Popalzai
A thick mist over the woods
Photo by Artem Sapegin on Unsplash
Ruins
By Mélodie Joseph
For just a moment, in the darkness of the swamp, her sunken eyes glinted with a bloodshot sparkle.
Translated from French by Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch
Sunlight illuminates a forest
Photo by Jan Huber on Unsplash
Welcome, Alyson
By J. D. Kurtness
When Bastien reported his mother missing on June 13, the investigator who received his complaint by phone assured him that there was nothing to worry about.
Translated from French by Hannah Allen-Shim
Multimedia
A close-up image of a rusty wire fence
Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash
Resurgence
By Ayavi Lake
Reflexively, she shakes the grating as if to convince herself that no beastly strength could tear it loose and free the horde.
Translated from French by H Felix Chau Bradley
A waterfront cityscape with a magenta glow
Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash
Chlorosis
By Ariane Gélinas
Taking painkillers is for cowards. It’s time for you to think about your first extraction, Clément.
Translated from French by Remy Attig
Multimedia
A slice of lemon floating in gin and tonic served in a glass
Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash
Specimen
By Joyce Baker
Ophélie smiles idly, everything spins, the air stops, space-time tears, clocks grind.
Translated from French by E. S. Taillon
Multimedia
An image of three elevator doors in a white lobby
Photo by Edwin Chen on Unsplash
A Song for Sleep
By Bora Chung
A human has attempted to communicate with me by physical means.
Translated from Korean by Anton Hur
A broom on a dark wooden floor
Photo by Neal E. Johnson on Unsplash
Three Nights
By Lyubov Kroneva
That's all we need, her mother says, you two fighting over a man, I’d understand if it were over property, not that we have any . . . but a man!
Translated from Bulgarian by Petya Pavlova
Multimedia
Curved asphalt road on a foggy day in Lebanon
Photo by Dorsa Masghati on Unsplash
A Child’s Smile
By Jadd Hilal
After a dozen or so bombings, Jahid, like my mother had before him, decided we would flee.
Translated from French by Lara Vergnaud
Multilingual
A bowl of plump raisins
Photo by Andreas Haslinger on Unsplash
Kowsar’s Visitor
By Siamak Herawi
“If Kowsar’s education is of no use to her and of no importance to you,” Teacher Sadeq says sharply, “then why did you send her to school?”
Translated from Persian by Sara Khalili
A bed of red and yellow busy lizzies
Photo by Michael Elliott Photography
A Mother’s Voice
By Silvia Arazi
Over coffee, my brother pulls up his chair and discreetly asks me if I’m going to write that book about our mother.
Translated from Spanish by Charlotte Coombe
A photograph of Bornholm's rocky seashore and cliff
Photo by Julia Caesar on Unsplash
Sandvig Beach
By Hubert Klimko-Dobrzaniecki
The next time we went to the beach I had to parade around in a lurid life jacket, looking like a visitor from another planet.
Translated from Polish by Jonathan Baines
Multilingual
Red sparks and flames on a black background
Photo by Ben Moreland on Unsplash
Progeny
By La. Sa. Ramamirtham
I looked around, waking up from the miracle of my birth.
Translated from Tamil by Subhashree Beeman
Multimedia
A black-and-white photo of an interrogation room
Photo by Jonny Clow on Unsplash
It Started with a Phone Call
By Appadurai Muttulingam
First, we were taken to a private room and stripped and searched.
Translated from Tamil by Thila Varghese
MultimediaMultilingual
Black-and-white sketches of the human skeletal system
Photo by Joyce Hankins on Unsplash
Letter to Juan in Space
By Armonía Somers
From there, he went straight out to wage no-holds-barred warfare on everyone and everything.
Translated from Spanish by Kit Maude
A cluster of green and flowering cacti
Photo by Brandon Hoogenboom on Unsplash
Far Beyond the Sun
By Denise Phé-Funchal
Grandma goes inside the house and a few minutes later comes out with a small ax in her hand.
Translated from Spanish by David Unger
MultimediaMultilingual
A large, shallow river with pines on the opposite bank and mountains in the distance
Nameri National Park. Photo by Debuapriyo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Smell of Bamboo Blossoms
By Yeshe Dorje Thongchi
Bamboo had been an intimate part of his life since his birth, but he had never known bamboo to produce seeds.
Translated from Assamese by Aruni Kashyap
A rocky stream in a tropical forest
Photo by Livestart Stiven on Unsplash
Catalina Loango
By Bernardino Pérez Miranda
There was only one way to escape the enchantment: the victim’s godmother had to call her name out loud three times at the door of Palenque’s church.
Translated from Palenquero by Armin Schwegler
MultimediaMultilingual
An empty train tunnel curves into the distance
Photo by Emile Guillemot on Unsplash
Reunion
By Han Song
No one knows what Beijing West will look like tomorrow.
Translated from Chinese by Carson Ramsdell
Damascus street
© Vyacheslav Argenberg / http://www.vascoplanet.com/, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Mohammad and Youssef
By Omar Youssef Souleimane
Mohammad is torn between fear and excitement. He doesn’t know this man. What if he’s an informant?
Translated from French by Ghada Mourad
Vines on a beige wall
Photo by Belle Hunt on Unsplash
The Writer’s Wife
By Maru Ayase
She has an innocence, a purity of mind like a delicate glass vessel, untainted by soiled ideas or thoughts.
Translated from Japanese by Haydn Trowell
Bright green fabric
Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash
Man of Satin
By Souhaib Ayoub
He smoked incessantly. I watched him with a silent longing.
Translated from Arabic by Sharon Grosso
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
Stray dogs
Photo by Heshan Weeramanthri on Unsplash
Parliament of Dogs
By Nasera Sharma
Seeing their community divided into two camps, some dogs developed a strange arrogance.
Translated from Hindi by Akshaj Awasthi
Multimedia
Black, gray, and white storm clouds
Photo by Harshit Sharma on Unsplash
A Second of Stillness
By Jintu Gitarth
Under a boundless sky stretching across the horizon, enveloped in a silence spanning miles, Diganta sat beside his favorite person.
Translated from Assamese by Harsita Hiya
Multilingual
Two men's shadows
Photo by Robert V. Ruggiero on Unsplash
A Kiss between Boys
By Victor Heringer
They all eyeballed one another, weighing up the possibility of a mass brawl.
Translated from Portuguese by James Young
A row of violins
Photo by Umutcan Günüç on Unsplash
Strands
By Verena Rossbacher
He laid the hairs out in front of him on the kitchen table, stretched out straight and flat next to each other like the strings of an instrument.
Translated from German by Anne Posten
Cobwebs outside of a house
Photo by Pierre Bamin on Unsplash
Morning Procession
By Amit Dutta
Everybody knew that reading strange books was Shaam’s only hobby.
Translated from Hindi by Vaibhav Sharma
Person in front of a blue city
Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash
The March 4th Incident
By Sabda Armandio
Though the girl’s mom had died five years earlier, her consciousness had been uploaded into a robot body with a tube-shaped head and a torso cluttered with silly refrigerator magnets.
Translated from Indonesian by Lara Norgaard
Empty train tracks disappearing into the horizon in a dry landscape
Photo by Robert Linder on Unsplash
The Kettledrum
By Siddique Alam
In the forest, between the acacia, mulberry, and stinging nettle bushes, where snakes shed their skin, she searched for Mangru’s footprints.
Translated from Urdu by Musharraf Ali Farooqi
An incomplete drawing of an elephant. Only the head and trunk are fully filled in.
"Elephant and Rider," attributed to Hashim, circa 1640. Public domain. The Met Museum, Purchase, Friends of Islamic Art Gifts, 2010.
Naima’s Elephant
By Shalash
Nuwayra, despite the precision of her intelligence reports, did not advance a satisfactory explanation for how Naima acquired this elephant.
Translated from Arabic by Luke Leafgren
A dark kitchen table and chairs seen through a doorway with a single light above them
Photo by Ehud Neuhaus on Unsplash
Anna and Her Daughter’s Partner
By Laksmi Pamuntjak
“In Indonesia there are only two categories,” you replied. “Pacar atau suami—boyfriend or husband.
Translated from Indonesian by Annie Tucker
MultimediaMultilingual
A dark window at twilight
Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash
The Guest
By Fatma Shafii
It was highly unusual for him to be this late.
Translated from Swahili by Hassan Kassim
an image of an old TV that is turned off
Photo by PJ Gal-Szabo on Unsplash
Local News
By Karosh Taha
The German language felt like a conspiracy against my father.
Translated from German by Grashina Gabelmann
A 1960s black and white photograph of a street in Rostock, East Germany
FORTEPAN / Nagy Gyula, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Five O’Clock Train to Rostock
By Brigitte Reimann
I can still hear her faltering voice today. My mother must have been the only one who had known what Konrad was planning.
Translated from German by Lucy Jones
Two pears hang from a branch in front of a blue sky
Photo by Mario015 Medeiros on Unsplash
Keder
By Yordanka Beleva
Way back, the old Turks believed that when you die, you bequest to your nearest and dearest precisely forty sorrows.
Translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel
MultimediaMultilingual
A black microphone on a stand
Photo by Ilyass SEDDOUG on Unsplash
A Village Fest
By Alisa Ganieva
“It needn’t be me. I mean . . . I . . . I’m not much of an orator.”
Translated from Russian by Will Firth
A pair of wire-rimmed glasses with a crack in one lens lying on a piece of striped fabric
Photo by Jorien Loman on Unsplash
Éva Popa
By Edina Szvoren
Rather audaciously, given her age, she wore her hair in a buzz cut on the sides and in the back.
Translated from Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet
An old ornate mansion in India with a green wrought iron gate
Photo by Vikram Nath Chouhan 🇮🇳 on Unsplash
Once Elephants Lived Here: Part 2
By Geetanjali Shree
The city murmured in the mazes of her ancient face.
Translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell
Two blue glass skyscrapers seen from below against a cloudy blue sky
Photo by Shubham Sharma on Unsplash
Once Elephants Lived Here: Part 1
By Geetanjali Shree
Here, all things old have been suppressed.
Translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell
Two distant snowmobiles driving across a snowy field while the sun sets behind snowy mountains
Photo by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash
The Ear
By Ann-Helén Laestadius
She had seen the man make the sign for death, so she knew this was serious.
Translated from Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles
A pair of black leather lace-up boots in front of a white wall
Photo by Rico Van de Voorde on Unsplash
Boots
By Nilutpal Baruah
People said Bedo Bora was a foot fetishist. He was fascinated by women’s feet, they said. When you met him he stared at your feet.  
Translated from Assamese by Rashmi Baruah
Multimedia
Two snowy mountain peaks
Mt. Huandoy, Ancash, Peru. Inti Runa Viajero, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Another Man’s Name
By Renato Cisneros
“You don't want to appear as the father, do you?”
Translated from Spanish by Fionn Petch
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 bookshelf filled with old books
Photo by Iñaki del Olmo on Unsplash
My Saint’s Day
By Luis García Montero
I guess that’s one approach to pitching an encyclopedia sale.
Translated from Spanish by Katie King
A wagtail perching on a stick by a body of water
Photo by Nikita Nikitenko on Unsplash
A Wagtail’s Song
By Bikash Dihingia
How was it possible that there was another me buried within? And how could someone else feel his presence even before I could?
Translated from Assamese by Harsita Hiya
Multilingual
A hospital waiting room with green seats next to bright windows
Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash
Ito Returns to Japan and Finds Herself in a Real Pinch
By Hiromi Itō
Early the next morning, I got a call from Mom. The first words out of her mouth: Will you take me to the hospital today?
Translated from Japanese by Jeffrey Angles