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

Interviews

Side by side portraits of 2024 National Book Award nominees translator Barbara J. Haveland and...
The National Book Award Interviews: Solvej Balle and Barbara J. Haveland
By Words Without Borders
Novelist Solvej Balle and translator Barbara J. Haveland discuss On the Calculation of Volume, longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award for Translated Literature.
Multimedia
Side by side portraits of 2024 National Book Award nominees translator Leri Price and novelist...
The National Book Award Interviews: Samar Yazbek and Leri Price
By Words Without Borders
Novelist Samar Yazbek and translator Leri Price discuss Where the Wind Calls Home, longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award for Translated Literature.
Side by side portraits of 2024 National Book Award nominees translator Heather Cleary and novelist...
The National Book Award Interviews: Fernanda Trías and Heather Cleary
By Words Without Borders
Novelist Fernanda Trías and translator Heather Cleary discuss Pink Slime, longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award for Translated Literature.
Picture of author Huda Farkheddine next to the cover of The Universe all at Once by Salim Barakat...
Translating Palestine: Lena Khalaf Tuffaha Interviews Huda Fakhreddine
By Lena Khalaf Tuffaha
“The Nakba of 1948, and the endless states of exile and refugeedom into which it cast the Palestinian people across the Arab world and beyond, sparked many new trends and movements in modern Arabic literature and art during the second half of the…
A picture of author and translator Jen Calleja next to a picture of author and translator Carolina...
“Magical, But Also a Trust Exercise”: Jen Calleja in Conversation with Carolina Schutti
By Jen Calleja & Carolina Schutti
I have learned that imperfection can be a motor for creativity.
This picture has the cover of the book Again I Hear These Waters by Shalim M. Hussain on the right...
“This, Here, Is Home”: Shalim M. Hussain on Miyah Poetry from Assam
By Uttaran Das Gupta
The songs are part of our lives in the chars. They have been passed down to us and adapted through generations and are a testament to how life and religion become one in the everyday.
Left, a black-and-white portrait of Kate Briggs; right, the cover of her novel The Long Form
“A Hidden but Necessary Labor”: Kate Briggs on Translation and Parenthood
By Lauren Goldenberg
Mothering and translating get described in similar ways; they are often devalued in similar ways.
Graphic with images of author Nasser Abu Srour and Tale of a Wall book cover
Palestinian author Nasser Abu Srour and Tale of a Wall book cover
An Interview with Luke Leafgren on Tale of a Wall by Nasser Abu Srour
By Olivia Snaije
A conversation about Tale of a Wall by Nasser Abu Srour, a Palestinian writer serving a life sentence in Israeli prison.
Portrait of Vishes Kothari
Revitalizing the Rajasthani Language: An Interview with Vishes Kothari
By Suhasini Patni
“I was also fortunate to be in an environment where there was already some consciousness about the literary richness of Rajasthani, the fact that the language does not get its due, the importance of learning and speaking it.”
Portrait of WWB's poetry editor, Sohini Basak
Meet WWB’s Poetry Editor, Sohini Basak
By Words Without Borders
I’m very excited to read works from all over the world and especially hope to engage with translators of color and early-career translators.
A portrait of Zaporah Price
Introducing WWB’s Administrative and Development Assistant, Zaporah Price
By Words Without Borders
Although I’m inclined to become a novelist and narrative journalist, I secretly wish I was a poet, and often find myself poring over lines written by my college poet-friends and WWB contributors.
December 2023 Mystery Taboo And Class Barriers Dalva Feature
Mystery, Taboo, and Class Barriers: A Conversation with Marie NDiaye
By Adam Dalva
As a writer, I don't ever place myself with a point of view about morality or ethics. I have characters whom I create, and I try to give each of these characters his or her chance.
A black-and-white portrait of Jessika Davis
Introducing WWB’s Digital Humanities Fellow, Jessika Davis
By Words Without Borders
Ultimately I am curious to explore how we can cultivate appreciation, access, understanding, and preservation of the literary arts (and the arts more broadly) with the digital technologies of today.
A portrait of WWB Social Media Editor Eleanor Stern
Introducing WWB’s Social Media Editor, Eleanor Stern
By Words Without Borders
If every generation of language users expresses this constantly churning discomfort about the unworkability of language, then literary translation acknowledges the discomfort, examines it, and places it front and center.
A fall portrait of translator Alexander Aguayo
Photo Credit: Preston Pasko
Introducing WWB’s Editorial Fellow, Alexander Aguayo
By Words Without Borders
As editorial fellow, I would like to draw readers in and provide them with the opportunity to pursue their own paths by engaging with our contributors and their stories every step of the way.
October 2023 The Muse In Rebellion Maru Ayase Interview Feature
The Muse in Rebellion: Maru Ayase on The Forest Brims Over
By J. R. Ramakrishnan
The opinions of those who can’t speak are often treated as if they don’t exist.
Translated from Japanese by Haydn Trowell
Portrait of WWB Education Program Coordinator Maggie Vlietstra
Introducing WWB’s Education Program Coordinator, Maggie Vlietstra
By Words Without Borders
I began to understand that a lot of the work that I found most interesting wasn’t coming out of English, but from other languages instead.  
At left Sam Taylor and at right David Diop both finalists for the 2023 National Book Award for...
The National Book Award Interviews: Sam Taylor and David Diop
By Words Without Borders
When I translate, it’s just me and the text, and I work quickly, intuitively. If I ever try to slow down or analyze what I’m doing, I lose that sense of flow.
Multimedia
At left a portrait of Dutch writer Astrid Roemer author of National Book Award for Translated Literature...
The National Book Award Interviews: Astrid Roemer on On a Woman’s Madness
By Words Without Borders
There is a sense of hidden English in my novels because of my family circumstances.
Multimedia
National Book Award semifinalists Lizzie Davis at left and Juan Cárdenas at right
The National Book Award Interviews: Lizzie Davis and Juan Cárdenas
By Words Without Borders
Trust creates room for play, which, in my opinion, is vital to the act of translation and to any artistic collaboration, says translator Lizzie Davis.
Multimedia
At left the cover of Mohamed Mbougar Sarr's THE MOST SECRET HISTORY OF MEN and National Book Award...
The National Book Award Interviews: Lara Vergnaud on The Most Secret Memory of Men
By Words Without Borders
I always say that the last book I translated is the hardest book I’ve ever translated. But in this case, I think it’s true!
Multimedia
Brazilian writer Stênio Gardel on the left and translator Bruna Dantas Lobato on the right finalists...
The National Book Award Interviews: Bruna Dantas Lobato and Stênio Gardel
By Words Without Borders
“This was just being at the right place at the right time,” says translator Bruna Dantas Lobato.
Multimedia
Headshots of translator Lisa Dillman and writer Pilar Quintana semifinalists for the 2023 National...
Credits: Lisa Dillman by April Hunt. Pilar Quintana by Danilo Costa.
The National Book Award Interviews: Lisa Dillman and Pilar Quintana
By Words Without Borders
This novel is my answer to that fear, to that childhood fear says Pilar Quintana of her Abyss, longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature.
Multimedia
Photos of National Book Award semifinalists Sophie Hughes and Fernanda Melchor
The National Book Award Interviews: Sophie Hughes and Fernanda Melchor
By Words Without Borders
Trust is the lifeblood of successful author-translator collaborations, and by trusting me so unwaveringly, Fernanda has also shown me how to trust myself.
Multimedia
Image of translator Anton Hur and writer Bora Chung semifinalists for the 2023 National Book Award
The National Book Award Interviews: Anton Hur and Bora Chung
By Words Without Borders
It was fate that I translated this book, says National Book Award semifinalist Anton Hur.
Multimedia
A portrait of Brazilian writer Itamar Vieira Junior alongside the cover of his novel Crooked Plow,...
Reading to Coexist: A Conversation with Itamar Vieira Junior
By Ana Laura Malmaceda
To me, the text doesn't resolve itself even when I write the final sentence.
Translated from Portuguese by the author
July-2023-A-Persisting-Inheritance-Out-of-Sri-Lanka-Interview-Feature
From left to right: Shash Trevett, Seni Seneviratne (photo credit: Sam Hardwick at Ledbury Poetry), and Vidyan Ravinthiran
A Persisting Inheritance: On the First-Ever Anthology of Sri Lankan and Diasporic Poetry in the UK
By Sohini Basak
An anthology like this challenges literary marketing and literary history.
2023-07-City-and-Writer-Dana-Grigorcea-Feature.jpeg
Credit: Mardiana Sani
The City and the Writer: In Zürich with Dana Grigorcea
By Nathalie Handal
In Switzerland people tend to be reticent, but reticence is—from both literary and theoretical perspectives—the best starting point for sudden passion.
Translated from German by Alta L. Price
Portrait of author Isabel Fargo Cole
Photo: Dirk Skiba
The City and the Writer: Isabel Fargo Cole in Berlin
By Nathalie Handal
I came here looking for the East Berlin I saw across the Berlin Wall in 1987 as an eighth grader on an exchange program.
Portrait of Wallis Wilde-Menozzi
The City and the Writer: Wallis Wilde-Menozzi in Parma
By Nathalie Handal
On clear days, the Alps and Apennines lift Parma to the heavens.
A black-and-white portrait of Mosab Abu Toha
The City and the Writer: In Gaza with Mosab Abu Toha
By Nathalie Handal
Gaza is the soil where the tree of my consciousness and enlightenment has grown.
Portrait of author Karim Kattan
Photo: R Topakian
The City and the Writer: In Jericho with Karim Kattan
By Nathalie Handal
In a world of enforced transparency and readability, Jericho provides lush and deep gardens where no one can find you.
A portrait of Senegalese American writer Baba Badji
The City and the Writer: In Ziguinchor, Senegal, with Baba Badji
By Nathalie Handal
One is hopeful from the moment one enters the city of Ziguinchor.
A portrait of Will Forrester
Photo credit: Grace Hutchison
Fostering Bibliodiversity: English PEN’s Will Forrester on the Goals of the PEN Presents Program
By Samantha Schnee
It’s in everyone’s interest to fund the often-unpaid labor of sample translation.
A portrait of writer Edvige Giunta
Photo © Joshua Fausty
The City and the Writer: In Gela, Sicily, with Edvige Giunta
By Nathalie Handal
Gela, my odd Gela, a provincial soul in an overgrown urban body, a clash of ancient and modern.
A portrait of writer Giusy Sciacca.
Photo credit: Marcello Bianca.
The City and the Writer: In Siracusa with Giusy Sciacca
By Nathalie Handal
Literature and, inevitably, theater, have belonged to Siracusa since its Greek colonization.
Portrait of translator and editorial fellow Isabella Corletto
Introducing WWB’s Editorial Fellow, Isabella Corletto
By Words Without Borders
Everyone around me spoke both languages and we could move back and forth between them almost unconsciously, which is why I often say that my real first language is Spanglish.
Portrait of writer Roberto Alajmo in front of a stone wall
The City and the Writer: In Palermo with Roberto Alajmo
By Nathalie Handal
Palermo moves a lot but hardly budges.
Translated from Italian by the author
Multimedia
Portrait of Dr. Sachin Ketkar
Into English: Sachin Ketkar on Bilingual Translation
By Jenny Bhatt
Translation is an extension of my preoccupations as a creative writer.
Multimedia
Black and white portrait of writer Maria Borio
The City and the Writer: In Assisi with Maria Borio
By Nathalie Handal
In this corner of Europe, so many places have a humanist significance that’s truly contemporary, made of beauty and nature, in harmony with global change.
Translated from Italian by Danielle Pieratti
Portrait of writer Cristina Bendek in front of green plants
Photo: Karen Bendek
The City and the Writer: In San Andrés with Cristina Bendek
By Nathalie Handal
Violence—slow, fast, indirect, direct—is exercised against the islands and our way of living here.
Portrait of Dr. Tridip Suhrud
On Gandhi, Translation, and the Gujarati Intellectual Tradition
By Jenny Bhatt
Gandhi was a very close reader of languages and literatures.
Portrait of author Claudia Durastanti
Photo: Civitella Ranieri Foundation
The City and the Writer: In Rome with Claudia Durastanti
By Nathalie Handal
It must be an effect of the light, but Rome can be a maze . . .
Portrait of writer Paul Hetherington reading from a book in front of a microphone
Photo: FUKAHORI Mizuho
The City and the Writer: In Canberra with Paul Hetherington
By Nathalie Handal
The city is ghosted by otherness, living in the shadow of the many world cities that preceded its planning and influenced its conception and development.
Portrait of Lídia Jorge next to the cover of O Vento Assobiando nas Gruas
Literature, a Triumphant Art: A Conversation with Lídia Jorge
By Margara Russotto & Patrícia Martinho Ferreira
As a writer I feel like I am a creator of marginal lives, or, more appropriately, a kind of witness of time passing.
Translated from Portuguese by Tanya Pérez-Brennan
Jenny Bhatt (left) and Rita Kothari (right)
On the Evolution and Craft of Gujarati Literature in Translation
By Jenny Bhatt
We do not see translations of books that will unsettle the reading community, and provoke them to be different than who they want to be.
Left, the Romanian cover of Mircea Cartarescu's Solenoid; center, translator Sean Cotter; right,...
Romanian Translation’s Johnny Appleseed: An Interview with Sean Cotter
By Clara Burghelea
We shall see if the hype in the United States reaches the levels Cărtărescu garners in Colombia, where he needed a police cordon to get through his crowd of fans.
Portrait of writer Deniz Dağdelen Düzgün
The City and the Writer: In Izmir with Deniz Dağdelen Düzgün
By Nathalie Handal
The thing that surprises me the most is that parchment paper was invented in Izmir.
A portrait of Ko Ko Thett in red suspenders standing in front of a field of yellow flowers
Picking Off New Shoots Will Not Stop the Spring: An Interview with ko ko thett
By Eric M. B. Becker
Even under a most repressive censorship regime or even in a most watched jail cell, writers and artists will find channels to express themselves.
Portrait of writer Cassandra Atherton
The City and the Writer: In Melbourne with Cassandra Atherton
By Nathalie Handal
There is a restlessness in the city that I have grown to love—it’s like a swaying cat’s tail.
Multimedia
A black and white portrait of writer and editor Khairani Barokka holding a pen
Photo: Derrick Kakembo
“Curiosity and Excitement”: An Interview with Khairani Barokka
By Samantha Schnee
It’s about showing how poetry in translation is intertwined with innumerable parts of society, and can create resonances and collaborations that are precious, that last, that matter.
Photo of author Bianca Bellová
“The Aral Sea was Calling for Attention”: An Interview with Bianca Bellová
By Sal Robinson
As a writer, the only fidelity you swear is to the text: the text is king and you have to be careful not to frighten it away with your preconceptions and expectations.
Monique Ilboudo, left, and Yarri Kamara, right
“I Want Others to Be Able to Read This”
By Monique Ilboudo & Yarri Kamara
Once a book is published, the story no longer belongs to me.
Translated from French by Yarri Kamara
Portrait of writer Fiona Kelly McGregor with a black cat
Photo copyright © Jamie James
The City and the Writer: In Sydney with Fiona Kelly McGregor
By Nathalie Handal
No matter where you are in the city, the time of year or weather, the sky at dusk will stop you in your tracks.
Portraits of Jason Grunebaum and Pia Sawhney
A New Translation Prize: The Armory Square Prize for South Asian Literature in Translation
We want to showcase the best translations from South Asia, and help make visible authors, translators, and literature that are still largely invisible outside of South Asia.
Portrait of writer Felipe Restrepo Pombo
Photo copyright © R. Trejo
The Paradox of Unrestrained Power
By Ezra E. Fitz
It’s always struck me how many rich people in our countries end up hiring their own private armies: a very Colombian phenomenon.
Left, author Shariar Mandanipour; right, translator Sara Khalili
Left, Shariar Mandanipour, photo © Danial Mondanipour; right, Sara Khalili, photo © Miriam Berkley
The National Book Award Interviews: Shahriar Mandanipour and Sara Khalili
By Words Without Borders
“There have been times when we have spent hours discussing a single phrase and how to give it the same life and soul in English.”
Left: Mohammed Hasan Alwan; Right: William M. Hutchins
The National Book Award Interviews: Mohammed Hasan Alwan & William M. Hutchins
By Words Without Borders
I thought he was in search for something meaningful and, thus, he was exposing himself to conditions he hoped would light the way for a coming revelation.
Portraits of Jon Fosse and Damion Searls
Left: Jon Fosse, photo by Tom Kolstad Samlaget; Right: Damion Searls, photo by Beowulf Sheehan
The National Book Award Interviews: Jon Fosse & Damion Searls
By Words Without Borders
“To me writing is an act of listening. And if I am writing well then what I write will necessarily be new to me as well. Writing is a journey into the unknown.”
Portraits of Yoko Tawada and Margaret Mitsutani
The National Book Award Interviews: Yoko Tawada & Margaret Mitsutani
By Words Without Borders
We’re living in a world where both languages and people are constantly in flux. In this novel, I wanted to focus on a small group of people making their way through that world.