Words Without Borders:

current issue

Rewriting Caste: Dalit Literature in Hindi

Image: Tejubehan, “Women and Bicycles,” from Drawing from the City by Tejubehan, Original Edition © Tara Books Pvt LTD, Chennai, India. By arrangement with the artist and publisher.

Nonfiction by Laura Brueck and Christi A. Merrill

Beyond “Untouchability”: Dalit Literature in Hindi

Dalit literature represents some of the most meaningful, socially engaged narrative voices in India today.

Fiction by Mohan Das Namishray

Our Village

It would be difficult to find a single man whose back had not been scarred by the whip of the thakur or his agents.

Translated from Hindi by Laura Brueck and Christi A. Merrill

Fiction by Suraj Badtiya

Gujji

Although his name wasn’t Gujji to begin with, he was Gujji now.

Translated from Hindi by John Vater

Fiction by Anita Bharti

The Case of the Quota Candidate

"We are here to teach, not to meddle in the affairs of other people.”

Translated from Hindi by Swarnim Khare

Nonfiction by Kausalya Baisantry

from “Doubly Cursed”

There were a few people in our basti who couldn’t bear our improved circumstances.

Translated from Hindi by Christi A. Merrill

feature

Writing from Mongolia

Nonfiction by KG Hutchins

Nomads at Home

The stories in this collection paint a complicated picture of Mongolia.

Fiction by Ölziitögs Luvsandorj

Aquarium

When I bought this aquarium I didn't realize I was preparing my own casket.

Translated from Mongolian by Sainbayar Gundsambuu and KG Hutchins

bilingual

Fiction by Erdene Seng

Solitude

“Damn it! What the hell is going on?”

Translated from Mongolian by Kenneth Linden

Fiction by Norov Dalkhaa

Vengeance

These were not the eyes of a dog.

Translated from Mongolian by Sainbayar Gundsambuu and KG Hutchins

bilingual

WWB Daily

October 22nd, 2018

wild fucking ride: the thin fire. of sappho. in me.

by Ana Kiffer

breakfast in house at the top of a hill. on the island of hydra. i spotted her. she was sitting down. her legs crossed. i saw the blonde hairs. she wasn’t wearing underwear. she must have…read more

October 19th, 2018

Every Day Is International Translation Day—The 2018 ITD Celebration in London

by Marta Dziurosz

Organized by English PEN, the International Translation Day celebration at the Free Word Centre occurred on September 28, 2018. International Translation Day was celebrated this year at…read more

October 16th, 2018

The Watchlist: October 2018

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 Dorothy, a publishing project |…read more

October 15th, 2018

The Ubud Writers & Readers Festival: An Interview with Janet DeNeefe

by Jessie Chaffee

We spoke with Janet DeNeefe, founder and director of the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival. Now in its fifteenth year, the festival will occur October 24–28 in Ubud, Bali. Check back on…read more

October 12th, 2018

First Read—From “Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl”

by Uwe Johnson

The following is excerpted from Uwe Johnson’s Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl, translated from the German by Damion Searls and forthcoming with New York…read more

October 11th, 2018

The Person Who Bears My Name—A Multilingual Most Exquisite Corpse Story

by Glaydah Namukasa, Ibtisam Azem, Amir Ahmadi Arian, and Silvana Paternostro

At PEN America’s Lit Crawl Brooklyn 2018, Words Without Borders and SLICE Literary partnered to present a multilingual exquisite corpse, a story authored by four international…read more

Book Reviews

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.

“What’s Left of the Night,” by Ersi Sotiropoulos, Reimagines C.P. Cavafy’s Feverish Days in Paris

Reviewed by Lynne Diamond-Nigh

In this fictional account of the last days of a long journey through Europe undertaken by Cavafy in 1897, the Greek poet's struggle against conventions, social and personal, takes center stage.

“Do You Hear in the Mountains…,” by Maïssa Bey, Probes the Untold Pasts of Algerian History

Reviewed by Jocelyn Frelier

In this charged work of autofiction, Bey explores her ties with the Algerian War for Independence, during which her father was killed.

Intimate Experience Feels At Once Palpable and Remote in Jin Eun-Young’s “We, Day by Day”

Reviewed by Peter Campion

"We, Day By Day" is Jin Eun-Young’s first full collection published in English. Early on, she encountered Korean poetry of the 1980s and its spirit of political protest and carried the conviction and intensity of those verses into more mysterious, interior realms.