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International Black Voices on Race and Racism

Image: Joël Andrianomearisoa, Untitled, 2016. Textile & plastic. By arrangement with the Primo Marella Gallery.

Nonfiction by Eric M. B. Becker

Global Blackness: Black Writers in Translation

Engaging "the evolving dialogue that broadens definitions of global Blackness."

Poetry by Ricardo Aleixo

Three Poems

A Black man is always somebody's Black man.

Translated from Portuguese by Dan Hanrahan

Nonfiction by Igiaba Scego

The True Story of “Faccetta Nera”

A black woman, in the regime’s view, simply could not be an Italian.

Translated from Italian by Antony Shugaar

Nonfiction by Naomi Jackson

Falling in Love with Bahia & Brazil: On Negritude, Saudade, & Surrender

I’d taken a few capoeira classes that left me barely able to walk.

Fiction by Akinwumi Isola

The Grammar of Easter (You Don’t Say That in English)

“Akin Isola remains one of our most versatile Nigerian writers.”—Wole Soyinka

Translated from Yoruba by Akinwumi Isola

WWB Daily

January 14th, 2021

Celebrating Kazi Nazrul Islam, Rebel Poet of Bengal

by Liesl Schwabe 

In November of 1922, the young poet Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976) was arrested in Calcutta, India, accused of sedition by the British government. He had recently published the poem…read more

January 13th, 2021

The Translator Relay: Sophie Duvernoy

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

January 13th, 2021

Spring 2021 Communications Internship

by Words Without Borders 

Communications Internship | Words Without Borders Remote Part-Time Words Without Borders (WWB) seeks a creative and highly organized intern for the spring of 2021. Working closely with our…read more

January 12th, 2021

On the Whitewashing of Asian Stories in Hollywood

by Yuma Terada 

Why is the film industry suddenly concerned about the whitewashing of Asian stories? In this essay, Yuma Terada, the cofounder of Tokyo- and New York-based literary agency and production…read more

January 8th, 2021

The City and the Writer: In Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, with Ali Al Ameri

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

January 7th, 2021

Slash and Burn

by Claudia Hernández 

Salvadoran author Claudia Hernández's first novel, Slash and Burn, is out this week with And Other Stories. Translated by Julia Sanches, the book follows several women…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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