Words Without Borders:

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Another Country: Afro-Brazilian Writing

Image: José Alves de Olinda, Ark of Eshus. Wood, vegetable fiber, and metal. Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo, Brazil.

Nonfiction by Eric M. B. Becker and John Keene

Another Country: Afro-Brazilian Writing, Past and Present

If the literature of a country with the second largest black population worldwide (only Nigeria has a larger black population) does not include that population in its literature, one must ask which Brazil we’re speaking of when we speak of Brazilian literature.

Nonfiction by Franciane Conceição Silva

Insurgent Voices: A Panorama of Afro-Brazilian Writing

"Politicians know I’m a poet. And that poets face death when their people are oppressed."

Translated from Portuguese by Bruna Dantas Lobato

bilingual

Fiction by Afonso Henriques de Lima Barreto

Black Teeth and Blue Hair

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Ignorance is a kind of blindness.”

by Eric M. B. Becker

Nonfiction by Felipe Botelho Correa

Afro-Brazilian Crusader: On Lima Barreto

According to Barreto himself, the aim of his crusade was to produce a type of literature that he defined as “militante,” engaging with the society’s most pressing issues and communicating these issues to a wider audience in accessible language.

Fiction by Jean Wyllys

In Aflitos

She was furious! She grew silent again, went upstairs, and searched the nightstand. The pistol was there.

Translated from Portuguese by John Keene

feature

Minority Writing from Japan

Nonfiction by Sam Bett

Beyond the Circle: Minority Voices of Japan

What these authors share, as insiders to the Japanese language, is a firsthand perspective on a culture whose monoethnic self-image often excludes them by default.

Fiction by Yu Miri

Tokyo Ueno Station

My reticence and my incompetence troubled me more than my appearance, but most intolerable was my unluckiness.

Translated from Japanese by Morgan Giles

Fiction by Shun Medoruma

From Rainbow Bird

Even after the credits stopped rolling and the blue government warning turned into a blizzard of static, Katsuya kept staring at the screen, a vague grin on his face.

Translated from Japanese by Sam Malissa

Fiction by Shirin Nezammafi

Salam

They were the hands of someone who had never heard of hand cream.

Translated from Japanese by Aoi Matsushima

WWB Daily

December 13th, 2018

A Holiday Gift Guide for Children’s Literature in Translation

by Rivka Galchen

In the past, I often felt lost buying books for the kids of friends and families. Goodnight, Moon may be inexhaustibly good, but everyone already has it; same with The Phantom Tollbooth;…read more

December 12th, 2018

Shadow and Light: Three Poems

by João Luís Barreto Guimarães

18ème arrondissement To Nuno Júdice The sculptors of Montmartre must have studied anatomy (in depth) to chisel such beauty into their sacred figures. Or else wandered around…read more

December 10th, 2018

First Read—From “Away! Away!”

by Jana Beňová

The following excerpt is from Jana Beňová’s Away! Away!, translated by Janet Livingstone and out tomorrow from Two Dollar Radio. With…read more

December 7th, 2018

Living with the Tao

by John Minford

John Minford reflects on his experience with Taoism and as a translator of Taoist texts, including Lao Tzu’s the Tao Te Ching, out this week with Viking. When the Oxford…read more

December 6th, 2018

“The Anarchist Who Shared My Name,” the Oulipo, and Contemporary Nonfiction

by Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll explores Pablo Martín Sánchez’s recently released The Anarchist Who Shared My Name (tr. Jeffrey Diteman, Deep Vellum Publishing) within the context of the…read more

December 3rd, 2018

Akram Aylisli’s Literary Odyssey

by Katherine E. Young

Akram Aylisli’s Farewell, Aylis: A Non-Traditional Novel in Three Works was recently published by Academic Studies Press. Katherine E. Young, who translated the novel from the…read more

Book Reviews

One-third Women, “The Milk Bowl of Feathers” Adds Provocative New Voices to the Surrealist Canon

Reviewed by Susan Aberth

Edited by Mary Ann Caws, this anthology delivers new insights into this radical movement and rectifies past omissions to its canon with more intellectually daring and provocative non-French and female voices.

“The April 3rd Incident” Showcases Yu Hua’s Daring and Unconventional Style

Reviewed by Andrew Hungate

This collection of early stories by the celebrated Chinese author shows a writer determined to make a name for himself in a literary world that at the time was rife with experimentation.

Atrocity at a Distance, Absurdity Up Close in Dubravka Ugresic’s “American Fictionary”

Reviewed by Jeff Tompkins

In this book of essays, Ugresic juxtaposes reflections on the fate of her country with observations on everyday life in America.

In “Resistance,” Julián Fuks Takes the Fiction of Failed Writing a Step Further

Reviewed by Lily Meyer

The Brazilian-Argentine writer's novel resists drama. It resists the impulse to exaggerate, maybe even the impulse to tell stories.