In an interview up at the Booker Prizes, 2023 International Booker Prize–winning translator Angela Rodel describes the work of author and translator as a “duet.” Here we offer seventy-five duets in an…
Lit Lists
- For years, a prognostication by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe appeared on the masthead page of World Literature Today: “These journals, as they reach a wider public, will contribute most eff…
- Photo by Jens Maes / Unsplash There has been plenty of handwringing among some over whether it’s too soon to write pandemic literature, but these five books answer that question with a firm no. Each…
- Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash February can be daunting for those unable to escape the lovestruck couples surrounding them, while others look forward to the feeling of being swept off their feet i…
- It’s time to celebrate another year of translations, and there’s plenty to celebrate. Literature from underrepresented languages moved to center stage. Tomb of Sand, written by Geetanjali Sh…
- In celebration of Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15–October 15), I present to you four recent books (and one to look out for) from 2022. Each of these books is written by either a Latinx o…
- Photo by Sofia Simon In his poem called “The Man on the Dump” (1938), Wallace Stevens writes: “Days pass like papers from a press.” Stevens, who was in his late fifties when he wrote the poem on the…
- When the forecast for the next ten days promises afternoon highs ranging from 102 to 111 degrees, you can bet I’ll be looking for really thick books to pile high for as much shade, and diversion, as…
- John ZerzanWhen We Are Human: Notes from the Age of Pandemics Feral House, 2021 This collection of essays by John Zerzan takes stock of the dizzying array…
- I’m planning a deep dive into the three available novels in Maja Lunde’s climate quartet, all translated from the Norwegian by Diane Oatley: The History of Bees, The End…
- Photo by Mel Poole / Unsplash For those of us who put off holiday gift shopping, it can be hard to figure out what to get our loved ones in a pinch. This list offers twenty-three of the best book…
- The past year and a half of being stuck inside and working from home has led many of us to turn to our pets as consistent conversational companions. For some, we have even adopted the peculiar so…
- 2021 was a robust year for literary translations. This list kept growing, and we didn’t resist. As always, though, we recognize there are, thankfully, many more and hope you’ll add them in the comment…
- Artists of different styles often collaborate in the creation of their work. When words and images intersect, they can come together to produce something beneficial for both learning and inspiration.…
- Have you read the work of the ten jurors who will be selecting the next laureate of the Neustadt Prize? (You can read more about them on the Neustadt website.) We’ve put together a short list with so…
- Earlier this spring, the editors of WLT invited twenty-one writers to nominate a single book, published since the year 2000, that has had a major influence on their own work, along with…
- As spring emerges and lockdown restrictions continue, here is a list of new and upcoming translated works from around the world to fill your sunny days at home. Isabel Allende The Sou…
- Earlier this spring, the editors of WLT invited twenty-one writers to nominate one book, published since the year 2000, that has had a major influence on their own work, along with a bri…
- Literary translation’s 2020 story is one of abundance and adaptation. Like most books published this year, dozens of new translations were published during a global pandemic. Events quickly moved fro…
- Asja BakićMarsTranslated by Jennifer Zoble Feminist Press, 2019 With imaginative and striking prose, Bosnian author Asja Bakić’s debut story collection, Mars, tell…
- Fantasy is often overlooked when it comes to literature in translation, but from Gilgamesh to the Edda to The Epic of Darkness, fantasy lies at the heart of human storytelli…
- For WLT’s November 2016 issue, author and translator Alison Anderson explores and explains in her essay “Of Gatekeepers and Bedtime Stories: The Ongoing Struggle to Make Women’s Voices Heard…
- Earlier this summer, the editors of WLT invited more than two dozen writers to nominate one book, published since 1969, that most influenced their extraliterary commi…
- Esther Gerritsen Craving (fiction) Trans. Michele Hutchinson World Editions In Dutch writer Esther Gerritsen’s Craving, readers follow Coco, who moves in with her dying mother as a m…
- To kick off National Poetry Month, I’d like to share with you five favorite poets/poems that have appeared in the magazine’s pages over the past five years. Zsuzsa Takács (Hungary), “On Vision” and “…