In this short story by Najwa bin Shatwan, a Daesh attack forces George to flee the Christian cemetery and take refuge among the Muslim dead of Benghazi. It was customary for the dead of Benghazi to visit their families whenever they pleased, sticking their noses into every affair—big or small—and, if a revolution were to break out, they would join its ranks, having no qualms about dying twice over. Such was, without fail, the habit of all the dead in Benghazi: those whose...

In this short play by Wajdi al-Ahdal, the colonel’s wedding night is hijacked by an assassination attempt and a case—or two—of mistaken identity.   Translator’s Note: Wajdi al-Ahdal’s The Colonel's Wedding won first prize for scriptwriting at the Ninth Arab Youth Theatre Festival in Alexandria in 1997. At that time, its central trope—the struggle to consummate, or to avoid consummating, a marriage between two characters who are...

"Tomboy" is one of four winning poems selected by Mónica de la Torre for the Words Without Borders—Academy of Americans Poets Poems in Translation Contest. Listen to Robin Myers read her translation of Argentinean poet Claudia Masin's "Tomboy" Listen to Claudia Masin read "Tomboy” in the original Argentinean Spanish. I don’t understand how we walk around the world as if there were a single way for each of us, a kind of life stamped into us like...

"Pillow" is a poem by 2019 Poems in Translation Contest winner Lee Young-ju, translated into English by Jae Kim. Listen to Lee Young-ju read her poem "Pillow" in the original Korean. Listen to Jae Kim read the English translation of Lee Young-ju's "Pillow." Down in this sewer, have I become my friend? By the manmade waters where my school principal killed himself, geese cried. On the other side of the barbed-wire fence is a large cloudchimney. I put on a straw hat I...

"Roommate, Woman" is one of four winning poems selected by Mónica de la Torre for the Words Without Borders—Academy of Americans Poets Poem-in-Translation Contest. Listen to Lee Young-ju read her poem "Roommate, Woman." in the original Korean. Listen to Jae Kim read the English translation of Lee Young-ju's "Roommate, Woman." On waking, I see my body has been rearranged. I’m reminded of the tongue you, having cried so much, dropped under the cypress...

"An Apocryphal History of the Discovery of Migration, or The Sacrifice of the Pfeilstörchenn" is one of four winning poems selected by the editors and guest judge Mónica de la Torre for the Words Without Borders—Academy of Americans Poets Poems in Translation Contest. Listen to Jacob Rogers read his translation of Galician poet Alba Cid's "An Apocryphal History of the Discovery of Migration, or The Sacrifice of the Pfeilstörchen." Listen to Alba Cid read...

  "Cloth Birds" is one of four winning poems selected by Mónica de la Torre for the Words Without Borders—Academy of Americans Poets Poems in Translation Contest.   Listen to Natascha Bruce read her translation of Hong Kong poet Dorothy Tse's "Cloth Birds."     Listen to Dorothy Tse read "Cloth Birds” in the original Cantonese.   There's no cloth hawker in the bazaar  willing to make dirty deals  with the...

In this poem by Tahir Hamut, a woman's wait for a phone call turns into a series of reminiscences—or are they figments of the imagination?   Listen to Tahir Hamut read "Phone Call" in the original Uyghur.   A phone call makes the heart tremble The vexing wind swoops like an ancient Indian dance This was a day passed inside a whirlwind A phone call from the last century connects to a simple “Hello?” An intermezzo from the dusky elm’s...

This poem by Tahir Hamut reflects on Sama, a type of rhythmic dance punctuated by unified shouting while dancing in a circular pattern. Its roots are in pre-Islamic Zoroastrian fire dances, but over the centuries it became an element of Sufi ritual practice. Up until 2014 it was an integral part of Uyghur festival celebrations.   Listen to Tahir Hamut read "A Night Sama" in the original Uyghur.   Sixteen writhing white lines, Each looks different from the next....

In this epistolary short story, a Welsh missionary goes to Japan but ends up converting to a new way of life.   Listen to Llŷr Gwyn Lewis read "Dolores Morgan's Letters from the Far East" in the original Welsh     Kyoto, 1868 Letters in the hand of Dolores Morgan, a missionary for the Union of Welsh Baptists, to her friend Leila Farr Bevan. The Union was a new body that sent missionaries to Japan soon after the country changed its long-standing policy...

Divine and mortal love intertwine in this poem by Li Hao, one of a handful of contemporary Chinese poets writing forcefully and overtly about Christian themes.   I invited you too soon to my city, because I wanted to live with you, because I wanted to find in your songs  the Almighty’s power and love. Because I wanted to know how you loved Him, and your sweet former lives. I know your bodies are the language the Lord bestowed upon me. I see your unfamiliar...

In this poem about the Shuktilingka, Tibetan poet and activist Tsering Woeser writes about a world that has nearly been lost.   Watch a video of Tsering Woeser reciting her poem "Absent, or Not Absent" in the original Mandarin.     Dedicated to Gyalwa Rinpoche on his eighty-second birthday     1. The Empty Dharma Throne: Shukti The Shuktilingka once stretched out before the Potala Palace, lush and verdant.  Shukti means...

A poem about suffering and the Divine by the Chinese poet Li Hao, whose first collection, The Tempest, was banned in China.    The clamor of the dead on the wall spin in the lobes of my lungs the vault of heaven’s many gears: corpulent Leviathan of my soul, covered in knifepoints, making the heavens rain down iron nails. Eternal light strikes upon the earth’s altars. Lord, I am foolish, I am suffering, and my body, like a spoon, here on this earth,...

In these three poems from the collection Perhaps: Love Poems, Tibet-born poet Xi Wa explores her personal Tibetan Buddhist path.   1. Vimalaki Sutra Simultaneously we sink into May The scent of the locust tree bloom, the fragrance of enlightenment, falling upon a single tendril from the vine of language My seeming frivolity, my carelessness, cannot completely eclipse  our first encounter, when my heart was brushed atremble. Tangled. Insatiate . . ....

Llwyd Owen imagines a Wales where the Welsh language itself is a crime in this excerpt from his novella Iaith y Nefoedd (The Language of Heaven).  He opened his eyes.  He checked his phone. “Shit!” Half past one in the afternoon. Not that he’d missed an important appointment or anything. Just half a day. Another one. Same as yesterday. And the day before. And the one before that too. Not that he can remember properly. Manon’s fault, for sure....

In the grip of obsession, a man turns an open relationship into a triangle in an excerpt from a novel by Kári Tulinius.  Listen to Kári Tulinius read "Abel's Autobiography" in the original Icelandic.   Life never chooses the right moment to unveil love to you for the first time, when you’ve not yet experienced it—not, for instance, at a moment when the days are lumbering by at a crawl, like station wagons in bumper-to-bumper traffic—but...

After her father’s sudden death, the poet tirelessly seeks to reckon with what is gone.   1 Like any Messiah taken unaware by death I saw my father                he was nodding to the palms, surrendered To his sweet sad songs, was greeting Happily the doves which settled on his shoulder Alone     no shadow to soften his loneliness  Alone the clouds    were praying to him And I was calling  ...

When Genie wakes up after six years in a coma, she finds a disturbing new addition to the family.  Listen to Francesco Verso read "AIwakening and AIdolon" in the original Italian. AIwakening Mark is the first person I see, after so long.  “She’s awake. Come over here.” It must be Easter because, apart from some flowers, he’s holding an Easter egg.  “Hello darling, what year is it?” “Hello, Genie, it’s 2028.”...

In this poem, the speaker meditates on the soul's journey through eternity after death.    The soul departing from trees of speech Does not want to ascend  Nor to be buried;   It wants to finish reading.  .. My heart is a stone that stumbled in the dirt and broke apart  .. O the mud of the storm,  heavy, it drags my soul  From one tavern to another     My hand is a cage that forgot to lock its door So speech flew away .. I am made...

Wistfulness meets indignation in Abdulaziz al-Omairi’s poetic meditation on abandonment and forgiveness.   You did not know that every time Fairuz sings to the dawn         on my way toward hurt  you emerge from the melody to reset sorrow ablaze only to depart like the years gone by taking my joy with you.   I waved my hand like a child whose mother vanished out of sight his feet rooted beneath the...