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Fiction

Raur Gives His Blanket a Hug
By Maria Parr
“How am I supposed to be nice when nobody’s nice to me?”
Translated from Norwegian by Guy Puzey
Firstclaw
By Sachiko Kashiwaba
Firstclaw’s love spells were rumored to be unusually effective.
Translated from Japanese by Avery Fischer Udagawa
The Appearance of the Dragon, and His Disappearance
By Hooda El Shuwa
Khidr stepped out onto the street and was filled with an extraordinary horror.
Translated from Arabic by M. Lynx Qualey
The Park Bench
By Sandrine Kao
But it’s not surprising—with everything you hear on the news, how can anyone be expected to think well of the Chinese?
Translated from French by Jane Roffe
Heaven Can Wait
By Angelika Glitz
“Look, this forklift even has an electric motor.”
Translated from German by Melody Shaw
Mr. Gimbal’s Incredible Invention
By Justyna Bednarek
The wooden ring looked antique, because, as Mr. Gimbal explained, it was a centuries-old stereoscopic theater.
Translated from Polish by Zosia Krasodomska-Jones
Farfariel: The Book of Micù
By Pietro Albì
“The Devil at your service!” it announced in perfect Italian.
Translated from Italian by Denise Muir
Morning Conversation
By Milena Solot
Although I wasn't really worried. I mean not really worried about him; you know what I mean?
Enemy
By Khalida Hussain
It’s an act of virtue to kill her!
Translated from Urdu by Haider Shahbaz
The Sunni and His Friend
By Qatari Oral Tradition
Cats. Carry cats!
Translated from Arabic by Tariq Ahmed
Al Fisaikra
By Qatari Oral Tradition
Set me free and I'll make you rich.
Translated from Arabic by Kholoud Saleh
Lamb and ewe
Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash
Fatoum and Hamoud and Hamed
By Qatari Oral Tradition
A mother sheep tries to protect her lambs from a devious wolf in this Qatari folktale, translated by Rana Elmaghraby.
Translated from Arabic by Rana Elmaghraby
I Found Out I Was Dead
By João Paulo Cuenca
She’s the one who identified the body with your name, address, and document number.
Translated from Portuguese by Elizabeth Lowe
The Checkers Player
By Ada Rémy and Yves Rémy
A general who has dreams, that much they’d put up with, but a general who sees ghosts?
Translated from French by Edward Gauvin
from “Remains”
By Daryll Delgado
Coconut trees, palm fronds gone. Decapitated.
Juan Manuel’s Shadow
By Robert Marcuse
I follow him everywhere and never lose sight of him; he rarely notices me.
Translated from Spanish by Cristina Lambert
Norebang
By Genevieve L. Asenjo
We belt out everything from ABBA to K-pop, to “Ang Pasko ay Sumapit,” grinding and wiggling.
Translated from Filipino by Michelle Tiu Tan
Multilingual
His Very Last Case
By Luiz Carlos Lisboa
His dead friend had asked him to talk to Janice but hadn’t explained why.
Translated from Portuguese by Clifford E. Landers
Multimedia
Erlina’s Sugilanon
By Tito Genova Valiente
Actually, the night Erlina first saw an Onglo was the night the creature was regenerating his power.
Can’t Go Out
By Elizabeth Joy Serrano-Quijano
I want to cry and look for Papa, but I can’t go out.
Translated from Cebuano by John Bengan
Multilingual
Run, George!
By Najwa Bin Shatwan
“There is hope. There is joy. Come on, George, let’s grab a slice of some of that fun and happiness for ourselves!”
Translated from Arabic by Sawad Hussain
Multilingual
The Story of Sunni and Bhunku
By Himalayan Oral Tradition
Why, oh why, did you not come back immediately?
Translated from Lahouli by Noor Zaheer
Blood in Flames
By Muhammed Mustajab
Men can be angels when joy is in the air.
Translated from Arabic by Robin Moger
The Girl Who Turned into a Crocodile
By Himalayan Oral Tradition
She struggled and fought back and tried to save herself but could not overcome the great crocodile that had taken hold of her.
Translated from Lahouli by Noor Zaheer
When the Deer Moved Away
By Himalayan Oral Tradition
Deeku refused to understand the close bond between the humans and the deer and their dependence on each other.
Translated from Lahouli by Noor Zaheer
Vienna
By Sahar Mandour
After I fell for him, I never cheated on him again, except that time in Paris. And that other time.
Translated from Arabic by Nicole Fares & Sara Ramey
from Rage
By Monica Isakstuen
What if my rage has filled my core and transformed it?
Translated from Norwegian by Rosie Louise Hedger
From the Other Side
By Roskva Koritzinsky
What happened next, I will never quite understand.
Translated from Norwegian by Becky Crook
In a Ditch
By Jan Kristoffer Dale
Kenneth felt his seat belt clamp across his chest and his stomach somersaulting as the car careened off the road.
Translated from Norwegian by Bruce Thomson
All the Way Home
By Levi Henriksen
Her face is like a page in a diary that has never been written.
Translated from Norwegian by Diane Oatley
Multimedia
Suburbia
By Linn Strømsborg
I always measured distances in songs. I measured everything in songs.
Translated from Norwegian by Olivia Lasky
I Condemn My Pathetic Heart and Soul
By Mona Høvring
For weeks she had behaved as though she were the only person to have ever had a nervous breakdown.
Translated from Norwegian by Rachel Rankin
Dolores Morgan’s Letters from the Far East
By Llŷr Gwyn Lewis
I have become Japanese and I am no longer a Welshwoman.
Translated from Welsh by Katie Gramich
MultimediaMultilingual
The Blue Book of Nebo
By Manon Steffan Ros
It happened so quickly. The End.
Translated from Welsh by the author
The Root
By Caryl Lewis
Yes, there was a shadow there.
Translated from Welsh by George Jones
The Library Suicides
By Fflur Dafydd
Dan believed it had all started going wrong when they took away his keys.
Translated from Welsh by the author
2026: In the Beginning
By Llwyd Owen
Food banks are one of the country’s main industries now; having replaced actual banks, who fled the island like rats from a sinking ship.
Translated from Welsh by the author
Multilingual
Customer
By Lee Jong San
I heard that their overflowing hormones made them dangerously seductive.
Translated from Korean by Victoria Caudle
College Folk
By Kim Bong-gon
Caught off guard, we were laughably weak.
Translated from Korean by Kyoung-lee Park
Bruises
By Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro
It's not very clear to me if he was asking for help or wanting me to leave them alone.
Translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel
The Lost Language of Crane Operators
By Matteo B. Bianchi
Perhaps I’m not ready yet to plan out my entire future, but right now these are the arms I need around me.
Translated from Italian by Wendell Ricketts
Scissors, Shining
By Lu Min
Oh, Master Song, who would have guessed your heart was hard as steel?
Translated from Chinese by Michael Day
Multimedia
So Long, Luise
By Céline Minard
This night sealed, consecrated, my future as a writer absolutely.
Translated from French by Jeffrey Zuckerman
Abel’s Autobiography
By Kári Tulinius
I had two choices: I could wrest back control of my life or I could die.
Translated from Icelandic by Larissa Kyzer
MultimediaMultilingual
Search: Porn
By Stefan Bošković
I guzzle the wine and ask him if he likes women now.
Translated from Montenegrin by Will Firth
About My Daughter
By Kim Hye-jin
These kids could be just clever, fancy thugs.
Translated from Korean by Anton Hur
Microverses
By Simonetta Olivo
He still loves her, so he complies. He runs the simulation all over again.
Translated from Italian by Sarah Jane Webb
AIwakening and AIdolon
By Francesco Verso
They’ve taken care of the medical expenses ever since “posthumous” became synonymous with “posthuman.”
Translated from Italian by Sarah Jane Webb
MultimediaMultilingual
Bea’s Egg and Esmeralda in Bloom
By Emanuela Valentini
Inside it floated a tiny infant, in every way like a human being, except for its minuscule, as yet featherless, wings.
Translated from Italian by Sarah Jane Webb
Repentance
By Abdulaziz al-Omairi
I huddled in sorrow beside the warmth of my wound.
Translated from Arabic by Rawad Wehbe
Multilingual
A bitter orange tree
Copyright © Jared Preston / CC BY-SA 3.0
Bitter Orange
By Jokha Alharthi
In this excerpt from 2019 Man Booker International winner Jokha Alharthi's novel Bitter Orange Tree, an Omani student dredges up her grandmother’s troubled past and grows entangled in the personal dilemmas of her fellow international students.
Translated from Arabic by Marilyn Booth
The Shadow of Hermaphroditus
By Badriya al-Badri
Nothing can force me to go on living beneath Hermaphroditus’s long shadow—one half wearing the other, half a woman leaning on half a man.
Translated from Arabic by Ghayde Ghraowi
Multilingual
The Tears of an Unknown Artist, or Zaytun Pasta, Part III
By Sang Young Park
We were five minutes out on our jeep when the sound of an explosion big enough to shake the car resounded from behind us.
Translated from Korean by Anton Hur
Story of a Sheet
By Alejandro Zambra
Days before my dad set the house on fire, there was a sheet drying bit by bit.
Translated from Spanish by Megan McDowell
A pill casting a long shadow
Photo by Alexander Van Steenberge
A Bitter Pill
By Alia Trabucco Zerán
I would have ironed my own hands had I not needed them to iron.
Translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes
Hyenas
By Eduardo Plaza
It was impossible to talk to a dead man, so I talked to her instead.
Translated from Spanish by Rahul Bery
MultimediaMultilingual
The Head of Household Manifesto
By Catalina Mena
The hearth is a fire that’s always being extinguished.
Translated from Spanish by Susannah Greenblatt
Multimedia
My Name’s Nancy
By Bruno Lloret
When did you agree to live like a widow before your time?
Translated from Spanish by Ellen Jones
Chilean Electric
By Nona Fernández
Nobody couldn’t have a belly button.
Translated from Spanish by Natasha Wimmer
The Tears of an Unknown Artist, or Zaytun Pasta, Part II
By Sang Young Park
I knew better than anyone else that Oh was not gay, that he was just using these rumors.
Translated from Korean by Anton Hur