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Fiction

Image of train compartment and window with wintry background.
Photo by 2y.kang on Unsplash.
Passengers
By Milovan Radojević
Nightmares turn to reality in Milovan Radojević’s haunting tale, set amidst the violence of the Bosnian War.
Translated from Montenegrin by Will Firth
MultimediaMultilingual
A close up of a blue and yellow painting
Photo by Md. Hasanuzzaman Himel on Unsplash.
The Rite of the Sewers
By Daniela Catrileo
Today, FSG publishes Daniela Catrileo’s Chilco (tr. by Jacob Edelstein), a novel of a near-future society riven by inequality. In this excerpt, the protagonist clashes with a prying roommate and struggles to fit into her partner’s Mapuche community.
Translated from Spanish by Jacob Edelstein
A shadowy photo of people standing next to each other wearing sneakers.
Photo by Nik Radzi on Unsplash.
When Nikita Scored the Coke
By Miklós Vámos
A pack of bored teens in 1960s Hungary pursues a uniquely American high in this antic tale from Miklós Vámos.
Translated from Hungarian by Ági Bori
MultimediaMultilingual
A photo of red wilted flowers.
Photo by Joan on Unsplash.
A Chapan the Height of Noorjan
By Zaheda
In Zaheda’s story, a boy’s playful defiance collides with the weight of war, leaving a family forever changed.
Translated from Dari by Abdul Bacet
MultimediaMultilingual
Image of a window with shadows of vines reflected on yellow curtains.
Photo by Kirthika Soundararajan on Unsplash.
Tongueless Speaker
By Tamanna Easar
A grieving Afghan refugee finds a place of comfort in Tamanna Easar’s short story.
Translated from Dari by Abdul Bacet
Multimedia
A photo of flowing orange sheer fabric on a clear, light gray background.
Photo by Kaboompics.com on Pexels.
Rebellion
By Farishta Salehi
Farishta Salehi tells the story of a liberating friendship that gives a young woman a renewed sense of agency.
Translated from Pashto by Abdul Bacet
Multimedia
Photo of a park lined with benches and trees with no leaves
Photo by Laércio Milani on Unsplash.
Calculations
By Thuận
Father had been directing my life all the way from Sài Gòn.
Translated from Vietnamese by Phương Anh
MultimediaMultilingual
Photo of a light green typewriter on a wooden table.
Photo by Dominic Tham on Unsplash.
The Typist
By Nguyễn Đức Tùng
Although she was ostensibly a typist, her job actually demanded more situational acumen, intangible finesse.
Translated from Vietnamese by Thuy Dinh
Multilingual
Pasargad, Iran
Photo by Afshin T2Y on Unsplash.
An Uprising in Ctesiphon
By Fahmida Riaz
That day, blood spilled for the first time on a sweeping path in Ctesiphon.
Translated from Urdu by Sana R. Chaudhry
Aerial Footage of Farmer
Photo by Dibakar Roy on Pexels.
A Working Man
By Abha Purbey
Nobody comprehended the storm raging within him.
Translated from Angika by Tejaswi Rawal & Shivangi Pandey
Multilingual
a dark hallway
Photo by Arvin Yuan on Unsplash.
Colonel Gulchand Singh’s Disputed Property
By Anuradha Sarma Pujari
He had many friends, but to pour his heart out to, he had no one.
Translated from Assamese by Aruni Kashyap
woman behind glass
Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash.
Menace
By Sema Kaygusuz
No, I began to realize, there was no escaping this woman.
Translated from Turkish by Nicholas Glastonbury
blurry photo of a person
Photo by lbyphoto on Pexels.
The Little Brother
By Yordan Slaveykov
We became an entity. Encapsulated. We isolated the world.
Translated from Bulgarian by Yana Ellis
MultimediaMultilingual
vintage classic television
Photo by Ross Co on Pexels.
1973–1978: The Green March
By Najwa Bin Shatwan
Nightmares are always quick to come true.
Translated from Arabic by Sawad Hussain
Soldier observing from an abandoned vehicle
Photo by AMORIE SAM on Pexels.
Colonel Ali at Wadi Doum
By Kawther Eljehmi
That day, I learned what it meant to run. And it was a race with no certain finish line.
Translated from Arabic by Ranya Abdelrahman
William James Müller painting
William James Müller, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Tripoli, 1911
By Aisha Ibrahim
“This is war, Halima. Everyone’s going to leave.”
Translated from Arabic by Nashwa Nasreldin
Color photo of books stacked in a fireplace.
Photo by Svetlana Gumerova on Unsplash..
Abusive Motherland
By Yulia Yakovleva
Her eyes keep staring sort of past and through me. It eventually dawns on me what the old woman is trying to communicate.
Translated from Russian by Lindsay Munford
shadow on concrete wall
Photo by Plato Terentev on Pexels.
By Any Other Name
By Kim Heejin
“That seems more accurate, yes. That’s what I’m like. A shadow.”
Translated from Korean by Paige Aniyah Morris
brown and black mold spots
Photo by Andrew Small on Unsplash.
The Brightest World I Knew
By Lim Sol-A
On days I wore sneakers, I was treated as abled, and on days I wore sandals, I was treated as disabled.
Translated from Korean by Clare Richards
MultimediaMultilingual
sound waves
Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash.
The Hearing-Aid Brigade
By Adèle Rosenfeld
Suddenly the world felt incredibly sad. What battle to fight, and for who, if each battle bore the seed of its own destruction?
Translated from French by Jeffrey Zuckerman
MultimediaMultilingual
Man riding a motorcycle
Photo by Aditya Rathod on Unsplash.
Saira Banu on Chacha’s Motorcycle
By Mridula Garg
Gul’s silky, delicately stitched gharara looked so gorgeous, she swooned at her own reflection.
Translated from Hindi by Aditya Vikram Shrivastava
Multilingual
florist shop
Photo by Anastasia Koren on Pexels.
The Paradise Lily
By Sirpa Kähkönen
I couldn't get my heart to calm down that morning no matter how much I breathed and built a day out of the pieces I had to work with.
Translated from Finnish by Lola Rogers
MultimediaMultilingual
space gray iPhone
Photo by Nicolas Thomas on Unsplash.
Viral
By Mahua Sen Mukhopadhyay
Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Mukul would upload the video to Facebook. It went viral in a day.
Translated from Bengali by Sayari Debnath
A robotic hand emerges from the bottom of the image against a blue background.
Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels..
A Small Extinction: Part 2
By Bora Chung
“Even if there isn’t anyone next to me, there will always be people inside my head.”
Translated from Korean by Anton Hur
A black-and-white photo of a transparent mannequin.
Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels..
A Small Extinction: Part 1
By Bora Chung
“But it makes no sense to become a robot so you can be a better parent! What is the child going to learn from a machine mother?
Translated from Korean by Anton Hur
A photo of the wing of an Ethiopian Airlines airplane.
Photo by Wolf T on Pexels.. Public Domain.
Special Flight 709
By Baalu Girma
We all know each other; we are all connected somehow, tightly or loosely. We are all from the same generation. Young, in a hurry, ambitious.
Translated from Amharic by David DeGusta & Mesfin Felleke Yirgu
A close-up photo of a puzzle on a table.
Photo by Maria Sol Ponce on Unsplash
A Brand-New Language
By Dinçer Güçyeter
After all, I was nearly seven and could take on some responsibility.
Translated from German by Lucy Jones
Low Angle Shot of the Ornate Facade of Ben Youssef Madrasa mosque, Morocco.
Photo by Uiliam Nörnberg on Pexels.. Public Domain.
The Imam’s Anxiety
By Mohamed Akounad
“How does it feel to hear the word of God in the language you understand?” 
Translated from Tamazight by El Habib Louai
Photo of a lit fireplace with newspaper and logs burning.
Photo by Anton Darius on Unsplash
Ravens’ Bread
By Azergui
In my country, dreams are monitored . . . One should only dream feasible dreams, and not exhaust oneself in the madness of impossible ones, like revolution!
Translated from Tamazight by Hamid Ouyachi
Multilingual
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
By Rema Hmoud
Ever since that particular night, I’d felt an entire universe taking shape inside my womb.
Translated from Arabic by Ibrahim Fawzy
Multilingual
A scorpion is on a rocky surface. The colours are inverted as the photo was taken under a UV light.
Photo by Shaan Hurley from Openverse. Public domain.
Vertigo
By Hisham Bustani
Once a week (sometimes more), he swallowed his pride and took money from his father, and he got used to it.
Translated from Arabic by Addie Leak
Multilingual
Sticks, leaves, and other foliage reflected in the surface of a pond
Photo by Ran Liwen on Unsplash
At the Edge of the Marsh
By Can Xue
“Uncle Ji is a sore point with your dad,” Mama said.
Translated from Chinese by Karen Gernant
A snail with a light brown shell crawling on a terrain that seems to be moss-covered concrete
Photo by Min An from Pexels. Public domain.
Snail Diaries
By Soňa Uriková
Miško wrote in his diary that snails are asinine.
Translated from Slovak by Magdalena Mullek
Multilingual
Sharpened pencils sit in a row.
Flickr
Kiêu
By Khuê Phạm
Let me begin this story with a confession: I don’t know how to pronounce my own name.
Translated by Daryl Lindsey & Charles Hawley
A wild boar bounds through a field.
Thomas Fuhrmann, CC BY-SA 4.0 Wikimedia Commons
City of Wild Boars
By Derek Chung
Whenever too many wild boars started to appear, or disturbed the citizens, there would be an “operation.”
Translated from Chinese by May Huang
MultimediaMultilingual
A picture of a white and gold living room set (sofa, mirror, table, and lamp) in a furniture store.
Photo by Max Vakhtbovycn via Pexels. Creative Commons.
The VANISHÄVEN Furniture System: A Demonstration
By Emma Braslavsky
VANISHÄVEN helps us enjoy the moment with the piece of furniture and appreciate it as long as it is there, and then also to let go when it has to vanish.
Translated from German by Holly Yanacek
A green bike rests against a wooden shed.
Pickpik
Our Major Jacobina
By Marília Arnaud
While my friends gathered on the dirt field to play soccer or capture the flag or to trade sports cards, I would keep Major Jacobina company in his office.
Translated from Portuguese by Ilze Duarte
MultimediaMultilingual
july-2024-p-pod-feature
Muséum de Toulouse
, CC BY-SA 4.0 Wikimedia Commons
P-Pod
By Kaori Fujino
In our civilized society, meeting a uniform standard for physical ability and beauty is a basic human right.
Translated from Japanese by The TamaGO Collective
A cargo ship in a dock.
Photo via Rawpixels. Public domain.
The Haves and the Have-Nots
By Kristian Lundberg
When you’re a kid, being poor is hell on earth.
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
Did he once have a wife? Most likely.
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
and beneath the new sci-fi city lie rotting the ruins and corpses of olden days
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
After several drinks and hours of hot, slow dances where they melted into each other, he offered to take her home.
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
She could strangle Ajodiadei. The old woman is one of the only guilty ones still alive.
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
Then she heard a gnawing. Urgent, like a starved animal ripping pieces of meat to devour.
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