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Coming into Focus: Sudanese Women Writers

Image: Yasmeen Abdullah, “The Butterfly Effect.” By arrangement with the artist.

Nonfiction by Sawad Hussain

Aperture: Sudanese Female Novelists Coming into Focus

Is there some sort of double marginalization at play?

Fiction by Rania Mamoun

At the Coffee Shop

This man must be high on something, I thought.

Translated from Arabic by Nesrin Amin

bilingual

Fiction by Ann El Safi

Freedom of Flight

She is a woman I have watched for many years, and for as many years she has been unaware of me.

Translated from Arabic by Nariman Youssef

bilingual

Fiction by Zeinab Belail

Al-Nar Street

Women are forbidden from setting foot in the swamp.

Translated from Arabic by Nesrin Amin

bilingual

Fiction by Amna al-Fadl

Basma’s Dream

She hovers overhead, aimless, surrendering herself to fate.

Translated from Arabic by Katherine Van de Vate

WWB Daily

December 3rd, 2020

The Translator Relay: Jack Jung

by Words Without Borders 

WWB’s Translator Relay features an interview with a different translator every few months. The current month’s translator will choose the next interviewee, adding a…read more

December 1st, 2020

Peach Blossom Paradise

by Ge Fei 

Peach Blossom Paradise, the first book in Ge Fei's Jiangnan Trilogy, will be published next week by NYRB Classics in Canaan Morse's translation. The novel tells the story of…read more

November 24th, 2020

The Watchlist: November 2020

by Tobias Carroll 

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about.    From Comma Press | God 99 by Hassan…read more

November 23rd, 2020

The City and the Writer: In Naples with Angelo Cannavacciuolo

by Nathalie Handal 

If each city is like a game of chess, the day when I have learned the rules, I shall finally possess my empire, even if I shall never succeed in knowing all the cities it contains. —Italo…read more

November 20th, 2020

Introducing WWB’s Assistant Editor and Development Associate, Nina Perrotta

by Words Without Borders 

We’re pleased to welcome Nina Perrotta as WWB’s assistant editor and development associate. Nina is a writer, editor, and translator from Spanish and Portuguese. Prior to joining…read more

November 17th, 2020

Children’s Literature in Translation: Levine Querido

by Words Without Borders 

In recent years, a proliferation of books in translation for children and young adults has brought imaginative stories from around the world to new readers. We’re speaking with some of the…read more


Book Reviews

As American as Immigration: Małgorzata Szejnert Brings to Life the Many Stories of Ellis Island

Reviewed by Mauricio Ruiz

Drawing on unpublished letters and journals, the Polish journalist always keeps an eye on revealing details in her new book "Ellis Island: A People's History," the result of extensive research into the manifold trajectories of those who set foot on a new continent and helped forge the modern US.

A Bereaved Soldier Looks for Revenge in David Diop’s Disturbing ‘At Night All Blood is Black’

Reviewed by Martha Anne Toll

Via a forceful monologue, Diop's novel creates a tale of revenge with biblical overtones as it looks at the relatively little-known story of Senegalese riflemen fighting in the French army in the First World War.

A New Short Story Anthology Sheds Light on the Aftermath of War in Vietnam

Reviewed by Sarah Moore

Translated and edited by Quan Manh Ha and Joseph Babcock, "Other Moons" brings together twenty stories from different authors dealing with the lingering effects of what the Vietnamese call "the American War." It is a rare opportunity to discover a variety of esteemed writers coming from all three main geographic regions of the country.

What Turned Mexico Into a ‘Visceraless’ State? Cristina Rivera Garza Has a Few Ideas

Reviewed by Jeremy Klemin

In "Grieving," a collection of essays spanning over a decade, the talented author attempts to explain how her nation succumbed to a project that uses its citizens as "cannon fodder in exchange for maximum profit."

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