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Global Warnings: Writing on Climate and the Environment, II

Image: Eliseu Cavalcante, Photo from series "Being Mangrove/Ser Manguezal," 2019–2020.

Nonfiction by Eric M. B. Becker

Toward Our Common Destruction: Humans and the Environment

The protagonist of this month’s work is the natural world in its multitudes.

Poetry by Isabel Zapata

In Puget Sound

before their paths divided,
they formed, together, three glints of light and shadow moving on at last

Translated from Spanish by Robin Myers

Multimedia by Eliseu Cavalcante

Being Mangrove: Eliseu Cavalcante in Belmonte, Bahia, Brazil

Being Mangrove Eliseu Cavalcante
In Being Mangrove, Eliseu Cavalcante explores the relationship between humans and the mangrove forests of Bahia, Brazil.

Fiction by Ondjaki

The Sky’s Seams Burst

Rain was no longer rain!

Translated from Portuguese by Stephen Henighan

Fiction by Markéta Pilátová

Tsunami Blues

The shock that was yet to come had long ago passed her by.

Translated from Czech by Sára Foitová

WWB Daily

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

November 12th, 2020

Disoriented: Creating a Platform for Lives in Transit

by Paige Aniyah Morris 

Disoriented is an online platform that explores identity in Asia through essays, interviews, and multimedia work. Today on WWB Daily, writer and translator Paige Aniyah Morris reflects on…read more

November 10th, 2020

An Archipelago in a Landlocked Country

by Elisa Taber 

Elisa Taber's An Archipelago in a Landlocked Country is out today with 11:11 Press. A lyric ethnography of two Paraguayan populations—a Mennonite colony and a Nivaklé…read more


Book Reviews

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."

In ‘The Death of Comrade President,’ A Sophisticated Portrait of a Country in Crisis

Reviewed by Kevin Canfield

Mabanckou imbues his narrative with the qualities of a minor epic, placing his young protagonist at the heart of a frightening yet wry tale about politics and murder, family and loyalty, necessary lies and storytelling itself.

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