;
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…
Michelle Johnson
November 30, 2021
November 3, 2021Lamar Babi, who plays Matthew (Niran's neighbor and love interest), enjoys a pomegranate while Niran's family gathers over a meal set on the floor / Photo by Kenneth Moss Born in Baghdad to an an…
October 27, 2021The outdoor Food for the People: Eating and Activism in Greater Washington exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum / Photo by Samir Meghelli, Curator The Smithsonian’s…
July 16, 2021Adrian Aguilera (Mexican, b. 1981) and Betelhem Makonnen (Ethiopian American, b. 1972), untitled (a flag for John Lewis or a green screen placeholder for an America that is yet to be), 2020…
April 28, 2021Nona Faustine, In Praise of Famous Men No More, 2019, courtesy of the artist and Two Palms, © by Nona FaustineIn Fantasy America, a new exhibit at The Warhol, five cross-disciplina…
IN HER FOREWORD to The Town Slowly Empties (Headpress, 2021), Sasha Dugdale describes this slim hybrid as the author’s “lyrical diary of lockdown i…
December 14, 2020Literary 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…
During quarantine, when not watching the news or reading a novel, I find my daily vision drawn to immediate surroundings: geese touching down in the parking lot where we safely walk (no need to come w…
December 10, 2019In 2019 WLT continued publishing fiction, poems, interviews, and essays in translation—publishing more than 50 pieces from languages ranging from Albanian to Zoque—along with pieces by trans…
March 19, 2019PHOTO: Edward Hill A prolific translator, playwright, novelist, and essayist from Singapore, Jeremy Tiang is the recipient of a PEN/Heim Grant, an NEA Literary Translation Fello…
January 14, 2019The Bookshop Band is traveling from Wigtown, Scotland, for its first US tour this week. Folk duo Ben Please and Beth Porter write and perform songs inspired by books using a var…
In her densely layered, often two-sided canvases, Australian artist Helen Johnson invites viewers into an ongoing critique of Australia’s colonial legacy. With exhibits in London, Los Angeles, an…
Photo: Kake/FlickrBorn in Enugu, Nigeria, and now dividing his time between Lagos and Berlin, Emeka Ogboh is an artist exploring migration, globalization, and colonialization through sound and foo…
Sigrid Nunez The Friend Riverhead Books D o the books we need find us? A few months ago, I purchased a used copy of Sigrid Nunez’s seventh novel, The Friend. The inside jacket promis…
December 11, 2018As the year’s news of rising nationalistic strains and attacks against the press continued, the urgent need for translation became ever more apparent. More and more, translation across borders embo…
October 31, 2018Photo by Ernesto Rodríguez / Pixabay Robert Con Davis-Undiano’s play about the Day of the Dead premiered in Oklahoma City in October, leading up to the Day of the Dead on Novem…
Photo: Ulf Andersen Author of the noir novel Dragonfish, Vu Tran teaches English and fiction at the University of Chicago. Also a contributor to the collection of essays Th…
Hanif Abdurraqib They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us: Essays Two Dollar Radio, 2017 Erica Dawson When Rap Spoke Straight to God: A Poem Tin House, 2018 Virginie Despe…
Photo: Carrie Lou Performing as Lusterlit, Susan Hwang and Charlie Nieland alternate lead vocals and harmonies while supporting each other on guitar, bass, synth, traditional Korean…
April 10, 2018Swedish novelist Therese Bohman is a columnist for Expressen, writing about literature, art, culture, and fashion. The English translation of her debut novel, Drowned, …
photo: joe mazza Kathleen Rooney is the author of eight books of poetry, nonfiction, and fiction, including the novel O, Democracy! and the novel in poems Robinson Alone. With E…
Maureen Freely is currently the president of English PEN and a writer, translator, and the head of the Department of English at the University of Warwick. Freely is the English translator of five n…
December 12, 2017Looking back on 2017, it’s easy to declare the year a success for literary translation, which continued to thrive and move in exciting new directions. Of note, Emily Wilson translated The Odyssey…
Browse: The World in Bookshops Ed. Henry Hitchings Pushkin Press, 2016 Don’t mistake Browse for a collection of breezy tributes to writers’ favorite bookshops. The essays in this lit…
As much as Managing Editor Michelle Johnson loves traveling, she also loves returning home. Her summer reading list reflects a similar course this year. Eli…
December 12, 2023
October 24, 2023
