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Movement and Multiplicity: Writing from Mauritania

Image: Maouya Azziz, Untitled. Courtesy of Imago Mundi.

Nonfiction by July Blalack

Movement and Stasis: Contemporary Mauritanian Literature

Mauritanian literature foregrounds characters on the move.

Fiction by Ahmed Isselmou

Outsider Mode

“The central server is under attack and receiving commands to self-destruct.”

Translated from Arabic by Katharine Halls

Fiction by Aichetou

The Forsaken

Listen, all of you, to what will later be said of the Forsaken by one of their descendants.

Translated from French by Edward Gauvin

Fiction by Cheikh Nouh

Adabai

Their nayffara is a flutelike instrument heavy with history, deeply immersed in sorrow.

Translated from Arabic by Sawad Hussain

Poetry by Mariem Mint Derwich

You Will Tell Them

You will say to them that she sleeps in the calabash of worlds

Translated from French by Emma Ramadan

bilingual

Jhumpa Lahiri on Self-translation

Nonfiction by Jhumpa Lahiri

Where I Find Myself: On Self-translation


I have come to think of any “definitive text” largely the same way that I think of a mother tongue, at least in my case: an inherently debatable, perpetually relative concept.

Do Comp Titles Do More Harm Than Good?

Nonfiction by The Editors of Words Without Borders

Compared to What: The Use and Abuse of Comp Titles

Comps—or comparative titles/authors—are ubiquitous in publishing, particularly when it comes to international literature.

Fiction by J. R. Ramakrishnan

The Thrill of Reading Obliviously

A translated work’s pitch is aided by comparisons.

Fiction by Laurence Laluyaux

The Comparison Game

This game of comparisons, while not always accurate, can open doors and be thought-provoking.

Nonfiction by Saudamini Deo

Why Must Two Works be Compared at All?

Why must two works be compared at all?

Nonfiction by Juan Milà

The Incomparable Ones

It is essential that we understand comps and are aware of their limitations.

WWB Daily

May 13th, 2021
  • First Read

Wolves

by Bhuwaneshwar 

This week, Seagull Books publishes Wolves, a collection of short stories by Bhuwaneshwar (1910–57), who is often described as the father of the modern Hindi short story.…read more

May 10th, 2021
  • Translator Relay

The Translator Relay: Adam Morris

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

May 6th, 2021
  • Interviews

Children’s Literature in Translation: Groundwood Books

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

May 3rd, 2021
  • First Read

Family Rules

by Anke Stelling 

Anke Stelling's award-winning novel Higher Ground, translated from German by Lucy Jones, is out tomorrow from Scribe. An examination of class, friendship, and parenthood in…read more

April 28th, 2021
  • Interviews

Translation as a Collaborative Mode: An Interview with Sarah Booker

by Alexander Aguayo 

I met Sarah Booker virtually in 2018 when she spoke with a graduate student reading group about translating Cristina Rivera Garza's The Iliac Crest. During her virtual visit,…read more

April 26th, 2021
  • Watchlist

The Watchlist: April 2021

by Tobias Carroll 

Each month, Tobias Carroll shares a handful of recently released or forthcoming titles in translation that he’s especially excited about. This month's selection includes books…read more


Book Reviews

In the Stories of Kjell Askildsen, Stasis and Revelation Intertwine

Reviewed by Ben Goldman

The narratives of "Everything Like Before," only the second book by the Norwegian writer to be published in the US, bend toward the seemingly mundane, then sting with an act that might (or might not) change everything.

Najwan Darwish’s Poems Turn Self-Doubt into Inner Resolve in “Exhausted on the Cross”

Reviewed by Kevin Blankinship

A feeling of resignation haunts the verses of this celebrated Palestinian writer, but weariness becomes an improbable source of strength in his work.

Dorthe Nors’ Stories Are Short, Concise, and Mysterious. Why Do They Also Feel so Weirdly Intimate?

Reviewed by Benjamin Woodard

"Wild Swims," a new collection by the Danish writer, showcases her ability to use narrative blank spots and unresolved situations as devices to lure readers into her work.

A Precocious Teenager Faces a Rare Disease in Ae-ran Kim’s Touching Debut Novel, “My Brilliant Life”

Reviewed by Martha Anne Toll

A best seller in South Korea, where it was made into a movie, this fable-like book in the vein of Fitzgerald's "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" features a sixteen-year-old trying to figure out his unlikely fate.

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