Skip to main content

Words Without Borders Logo

Words Without Borders Monagram
—
Discover by Country
—
Discover by Theme
—
Discover by Contributor
—
Surprise Me!
Read
Learn
Events
About
Follow Us
Go to instagram
Go to twitter
Go to facebook
Go to youtube
Read
—
Surprise Me!
Discover by Country
—
Discover by Theme
—
Discover by Contributor
—
Learn
Events
About
Outdated Browser

For the best experience using our website, we recommend upgrading your browser to a newer version or switching to a supported browser.

More Information

Graphic Literature

The General
By Nicolas Wild
It's the good stuff. Afghani.
Translated by Edward Gauvin
Jeanine
By Matthias Picard
That night, it was a Ford that stopped.
Translated by Edward Gauvin
My Cloud
By Mazen Kerbaj
Translated by the author
Tongue-tied
By Li-Chin Lin
© Editons çà et là, 2011. Rights arranged through Nicolas Grivel Agency. Translation © 2013 by Edward Gauvin. All rights reserved.
Translated by Edward Gauvin
A Shining Path of Blood: Massacres and a Monologue
By Jesús Cossio
Translated by Gabriel Saxton-Ruiz
Ladybirds’ Requiem
By Akino Kondoh
Translated by Jocelyne Allen
from “The Art of Flying”
By Antonio Altarriba
Translated by Adrian West
My Mother Was a Very Beautiful Woman
By Karlien de Villiers
© Editions çà et là, 2010. Rights arranged through Nicolas Grivel Agency. All rights reserved.
Translated by Marilyn August
Mean Folk: The Story of a Movement
By Étienne Davodeau
Translated by Mercedes Claire Gilliom
The Last of the Bunch
By Migo Rolzz
You're young and I don't want my feelings to get hurt!
Translated by Chip Rossetti
Learn
Palindrome
By François Ayroles
© François Ayroles. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2013 by Matt Madden. All rights reserved.
Translated by Matt Madden
Acrostic
By Killoffer
© Killoffer. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2013 by Matt Madden. All rights reserved.
Translated by Matt Madden
Counting on You
By Etienne Lécroart
Translated by Matt Madden
False Faces: An Imagined Life of the Wig Gang
By David B. & Hervé Tanquerelle
“Remember that safe I carried off with Adjaj and Bernard and opened at my dad’s?”
Translated by Edward Gauvin
November 2012 Banned Chinese Writers Sharing Xie Peng Duncan Jepson Feature
Sharing
By Xie Peng & Duncan Jepson
I wanted it too . . . I would have given anything
LearnMultimedia
We Have
By Mazen Kerbaj
We have nations that we don't want.
Translated from French by the author
from “Morti di Sonno”
By Davide Reviati
“If one of those things explodes, the city’ll blow up too.”
Translated from Italian by Jamie Richards
from “Etenesh”
By Paolo Castaldi
“When we get to Tripoli, you're on your own.”
Translated from Italian by Maaza Mengiste
This is How it is When You’re Involved with Sensitive Girls
By Ilana Zeffren
Translated by Ilana Zeffren
Letter to the Mother
By Mazen Kerbaj
Translated by Mazen Kerbaj & Ahmad Gharbieh
Demonsterate
By Nawel Louerrad
Translated by Canan Marasligil
from “The Eternonaut,” Part II
By Héctor G. Oesterheld & Francisco Solano López
Translated by Erica Mena
A Great Step Forward: Memoir of the Famine
By Li Kunwu & Philippe Ôtié
Translated by Edward Gauvin
from “Les Mohameds”
By Jérôme Ruillier
Translated by Edward Gauvin
Romanticism
By Krysztof Gawronkiewicz
Translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
from “The International”
By Roannie & Oko
Translated by Edward Gauvin
The Eternonaut
By Héctor G. Oesterheld & Francisco Solano López
The Eternonaut is a seminal work of Latin American literature. It’s been translated from Spanish into Italian and French, but never (until now) English. This section is taken from the original version…
Translated by Erica Mena
December 2011 Fantastic Iranian Metamorphosis Mana Neyestani Feature
An Iranian Metamorphosis
By Mana Neyestani
Write why you drew that cartoon and why you chose a Turkish word.
Translated from Persian by Ghazal Mosadeq
LearnMultimedia
Catharina Margaretha Linck
from “Reunion”
By jmcphee
From Reunion. Copyright 2011 by Pascal Girard. Published 2011 by Drawn & Quarterly, Montreal. By arrangement with the publisher. All rights reserved.
The Secret of Frequency A: An Incredible Disaster, part three
By Anna Weidenholzer & Tess Lewis
The Secret of Frequency A: An Incredible Disaster, part two
By Brendan Hughes & Caroline Shin
Translation copyright 2011 by Heinz Insu Fenkl. All rights reserved.
Translated by Boris Fishman
Two Million People in the Square: Scenes from the Revolution
By Magdy El Shafee
The people say: Step down now!
Translated from Arabic by Humphrey Davies
Learn
War Rabbit
By Rutu Modan & Igal Sarna
Translated by G. H. Freedman
The Story of Serafima Andreyevna
From Quaderni Ucraini. Copyright 2010 by Igort. Rights arranged through Nicolas Grivel. Translation copyright 2011 by Jamie Richards. All rights reserved.
from “Malamine”
By Christophe Ngalle Edimo & Simon-Pierre Mbumbo
From Malamine, un africain à Paris, by Christophe-Ngalle Edimo and Simon-Pierre Mbumbo. Published 2009 by Éditions Les Enfants Rouges. Copyright 2009 by Éditions Les Enfants Rouges. By arrangement with…
Translated by Edward Gauvin
from “A Taste of Paradise”
From Le goût du paradis, by Nine Antico. Copyright 2010 by Nine Antico. Rights arranged through Nicolas Grivel. Translation copyright 2011 by Anjali Singh. All rights reserved.
The Cat’s Coming (in a Left-Handed Version)
By Chihoi
Translation of “Zuopiezi manhuazhi mao laile.” Copyright Chihoi 2005. By arrangement with the author and Joint Publications. Translation copyright 2011 by Steve Bradbury. All rights reserved.
Translated by Steve Bradbury
from “Rébétiko (la mauvaise herbe)”
From Rébétiko (la mauvaise herbe). Published 2009 by Futuropolis. Copyright 2009 by Futuropolis. By arrangement with the publisher. Rights arranged through Nicolas Grivel for the Sylvain Coissard Agency,…
The Secret of Frequency A: An Incredible Disaster
The Secret of Frequency A is another example of the “North Korea as world savior” genre of comic books. North Korea has been active in Africa for decades, unbeknownst to the typical American (you can…
Translated by Saskia Vogel
Farniente
from “Diary”
From Le journal, by Fabrice Neaud. Published 1996 by Ego Comme X. Copyright 1996 by Ego Comme X. By arrangement with the publisher. Rights arranged through Nicolas Grivel. Translation copyright 2010 by…
from Baudelaire, the Metaphysical Ostrich
from “Proud Beggars”
By Albert Cossery & Golo
What does a man need to live? A bit of bread is enough.
Translated by Lulu Norman
Learn
from “King-Ma Has Come”
By Wei Tsung-cheng
Translated by Nancy Tsai
from “That Was Happiness”
From C’était le bonheur. Published 2005 by Futuropolis. Copyright 2005 by Futuropolis. By arrangement with the publisher. Rights arranged through Nicolas Grivel for the Sylvain Coissard Agency,…
from “Farm 54”
By Galit Seliktar & Gilad Seliktar
From Meshek 54. By arrangement with the authors. All rights reserved.
from “Waiting for an Island”
From Wachten op een eiland. Copyright 2009 by Marc Legendre. By arrangement with Uitgeverij Atlas. Translation copyright 2009 by David Colmer. All rights reserved. We thank the Flemish Literature Fund.
from “A Game for Swallows”
From Mourir partir revenir. Le jeu des hirondelles. Published 2007 by Cambourakis. Copyright 2007 by Cambourakis. By arrangement with the publisher. Rights arranged through Nicolas Grivel. Translation…
Letter to Survivors
From Lettre aux Survivants. Published 1982 by Albin Michel. By arrangement with L’Association. Translation copyright 2010 by Edward Gauvin. All rights reserved.
Blizzard in the Jungle, Part Two
Paradise . . . Kind of
From Le Paradis . . . en quelque sorte (90 jours à Bornéo). Published 2008 by Futuropolis. Copyright 2008 by Futuropolis. By arrangement with the publisher. Rights arranged through…
Against Comics
© 2008 Gerner & L’Association. Published by arrangement with L’Association. Translation © 2009 by Edward Gauvin. All rights reserved.
Blizzard in the Jungle, Part Three
Translation copyright 2009 by Heinz Insu Fenkl and Geesu Lee. All rights reserved.
Translated from Korean by Heinz Insu Fenkl & Geesu Lee
February 2009 Graphic Lit Tetsu Yamanote Line Osamu Tezuka Feature
Tetsu of the Yamanote Line
By Osamu Tezuka
He’s a pickpocket. I want his fingers to be agile enough he’ll be able to ‘work’ again.
Translated from Japanese by Camellia Nieh
LearnMultimedia
February 2009 Graphic Lit Drifting Life Yoshihiro Tatsumi Feature
From “A Drifting Life”
By Yoshihiro Tatsumi
The genius behind all those great works is sitting right next to me! Strange he doesn’t seem at all different from any other young guy…
Translated from Japanese by Taro Nettleton
LearnMultimedia
Blizzard in the Jungle
Since the ideology and values conveyed in children’s books tend to be relatively transparent in all cultures, I hope this excerpt from Blizzard in the Jungle gives a useful glimpse into the self-representation…
Kaspar
Il Maiale: The Pig
Author's Note: "The Pig" is an allegorical short story, but its scope is not so restricted as it may seem at first. It would be more correctly defined as a "civil" story, rather…
Translated by Mona Sylviana
Waltz with Bashir
From Waltz with Bashir. Copyright 2009 by Ari Folman and David Polonsky. By arrangement with Metropolitan Books, a division of Henry Holt and Company. All rights reserved.