Esther King
@esthermavis.bsky.social
Deputy editor, The Dial (@thedialmag.bsky.social)
Reposted by Esther King
What's the point of a global climate target?
@sophieyeo.bsky.social on where 1.5C came from and where it's going:
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
@sophieyeo.bsky.social on where 1.5C came from and where it's going:
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
What’s the Point of a Global Climate Target? — The Dial
Countries pledged to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Is it time to abandon it?
www.thedial.world
November 5, 2025 at 3:17 PM
What's the point of a global climate target?
@sophieyeo.bsky.social on where 1.5C came from and where it's going:
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
@sophieyeo.bsky.social on where 1.5C came from and where it's going:
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
Reposted by Esther King
“The Glamour Zoo”, short story by Li Jingrui, tr. me, in yesterday’s @thedialmag.bsky.social
Here’s the link:
swe01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
Here’s the link:
swe01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
"The Glamour Zoo," by Li Jingrui — The Dial
A short story.
swe01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:36 PM
“The Glamour Zoo”, short story by Li Jingrui, tr. me, in yesterday’s @thedialmag.bsky.social
Here’s the link:
swe01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
Here’s the link:
swe01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
Reposted by Esther King
“Border bears,” bears that roam between nations like the U.S. and Mexico, risk being disturbed by immigration policies and tariff-related threats. If President Trump continues to build the wall, these animals’ migration paths could end up completely blocked. Ganesh Marín reports.
Bears at the Border — The Dial
How immigration and tariff policies affect the animals that roam between the U.S. and Mexico.
www.thedial.world
October 10, 2025 at 1:22 PM
“Border bears,” bears that roam between nations like the U.S. and Mexico, risk being disturbed by immigration policies and tariff-related threats. If President Trump continues to build the wall, these animals’ migration paths could end up completely blocked. Ganesh Marín reports.
This was such a fantastic read, and a real pleasure to review for @wwborders.bsky.social
“From the harsh, sterile confines of prison, the novel returns to the central question: Who gets to be a mother?” writes critic Esther King. For WWB, King reviews Brenda Lozano’s latest novel MOTHERS (tr. Heather Cleary).
Read the review: wordswithoutborders.org/book-reviews...
Read the review: wordswithoutborders.org/book-reviews...
October 8, 2025 at 7:14 PM
This was such a fantastic read, and a real pleasure to review for @wwborders.bsky.social
Reposted by Esther King
Over the 1990s, Washington transformed Guantánamo Bay into a theater of extraterritorial mass incarceration to hold tens of thousands of Haitian and Cuban asylum-seekers fleeing political violence and economic collapse. Miriam Pensack reports on this little-known history.
Guantánamo's Secret History — The Dial
Trump isn't the first president to use the military base for the U.S.'s dirty secrets
www.thedial.world
October 1, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Over the 1990s, Washington transformed Guantánamo Bay into a theater of extraterritorial mass incarceration to hold tens of thousands of Haitian and Cuban asylum-seekers fleeing political violence and economic collapse. Miriam Pensack reports on this little-known history.
I translated Sabrina's great reporting from German for @thedialmag.bsky.social — read her dispatch here👇
Oil companies and developers in Peru are ignoring historic legislation which protects the country’s waves, reports Sabrina Weiss. With oil spillage and new infrastructure threatening wildlife and the local economy, activists are organizing to maintain clean waters.
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
Protecting Peru’s Waves — The Dial
A new law was supposed to shield beaches from development and oil spills. It’s not being enforced.
www.thedial.world
September 30, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I translated Sabrina's great reporting from German for @thedialmag.bsky.social — read her dispatch here👇
Reposted by Esther King
I have a new translation up at @thedialmag.bsky.social, Lauren Bastide's Courir l'escargot, which we're calling Consider the Snail. I loved this book & was so happy to get to translate some excerpts from it, about slowness, failure, grief, alterity, cycles, & goo www.thedial.world/articles/lit...
Consider the Snail — The Dial
“In writing about snails, I wanted to write about slowness and strangeness, solitude and death, hibernation and estivation.”
www.thedial.world
September 25, 2025 at 8:44 AM
I have a new translation up at @thedialmag.bsky.social, Lauren Bastide's Courir l'escargot, which we're calling Consider the Snail. I loved this book & was so happy to get to translate some excerpts from it, about slowness, failure, grief, alterity, cycles, & goo www.thedial.world/articles/lit...
Reposted by Esther King
1/ Dear readers,
The Dial is evolving. You talked, we listened — and have made a few changes to our magazine.
The Dial is evolving. You talked, we listened — and have made a few changes to our magazine.
September 9, 2025 at 2:42 PM
1/ Dear readers,
The Dial is evolving. You talked, we listened — and have made a few changes to our magazine.
The Dial is evolving. You talked, we listened — and have made a few changes to our magazine.
Reposted by Esther King
unexpected and very nice to have a piece I wrote for the dial about baseball last year selected for this anthology! ⚾
the piece is here: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
the piece is here: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
September 4, 2025 at 10:13 AM
unexpected and very nice to have a piece I wrote for the dial about baseball last year selected for this anthology! ⚾
the piece is here: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
the piece is here: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
Reposted by Esther King
In “Burial at Sea,” a short story by Karim Kattan set in Palestine in the summer of 2019, the narrator loses a lover on a cruise vacation and reckons with their grief: www.thedial.world/articles/lit...
“Burial at Sea,” by Karim Kattan — The Dial
A short story.
www.thedial.world
August 19, 2025 at 5:05 PM
In “Burial at Sea,” a short story by Karim Kattan set in Palestine in the summer of 2019, the narrator loses a lover on a cruise vacation and reckons with their grief: www.thedial.world/articles/lit...
I spoke to the wonderful Karim Kattan about his recent stories for @thedialmag.bsky.social and why horror is a genre that speaks to the Palestinian experience: "You’re always trapped in a time that you can’t get free of.” Read the full conversation here: www.thedial.world/articles/the...
Palestinian Literature and the “Recurring Nightmare” of Occupation — The Dial
A conversation with Karim Kattan, whose short story “Burial at Sea” was published in our Fiction issue. A previous story, “Salt Air,” translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman, was pub...
www.thedial.world
August 20, 2025 at 8:30 AM
I spoke to the wonderful Karim Kattan about his recent stories for @thedialmag.bsky.social and why horror is a genre that speaks to the Palestinian experience: "You’re always trapped in a time that you can’t get free of.” Read the full conversation here: www.thedial.world/articles/the...
Reposted by Esther King
🤩 Delighted to say my translation of Klára Vlasáková’s short story “The Cells” was published today as part of @thedialmag.bsky.social’s Fiction issue: bit.ly/4oQPrPB
August 20, 2025 at 4:09 AM
🤩 Delighted to say my translation of Klára Vlasáková’s short story “The Cells” was published today as part of @thedialmag.bsky.social’s Fiction issue: bit.ly/4oQPrPB
Reposted by Esther King
"I read of dogs furiously digging holes in the ground to escape the 35-degree heat. Children fainting during assembly early in the morning."
@arielsaramandi.bsky.social for @thedialmag.bsky.social: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
@arielsaramandi.bsky.social for @thedialmag.bsky.social: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
The Future of Climate Change Is on Mauritius — The Dial
Freak tornadoes, “explosions” of jellyfish, flash floods and dried up pumps.
www.thedial.world
August 13, 2025 at 11:05 AM
"I read of dogs furiously digging holes in the ground to escape the 35-degree heat. Children fainting during assembly early in the morning."
@arielsaramandi.bsky.social for @thedialmag.bsky.social: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
@arielsaramandi.bsky.social for @thedialmag.bsky.social: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
What place is there for fiction when reality demands our constant attention? The writers in our fiction issue this month give possible answers. @thedialmag.bsky.social
www.thedial.world/articles/lit...
www.thedial.world/articles/lit...
“Illegal Alien,” by Jumaana Abdu — The Dial
A short story.
www.thedial.world
August 7, 2025 at 3:19 PM
What place is there for fiction when reality demands our constant attention? The writers in our fiction issue this month give possible answers. @thedialmag.bsky.social
www.thedial.world/articles/lit...
www.thedial.world/articles/lit...
Reposted by Esther King
In Mauritius, jellyfish are dying, the seas are boiling; the climate dystopia we fear for the future has already arrived, Ariel Saramandi writes: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
The Future of Climate Change Is on Mauritius — The Dial
Freak tornadoes, “explosions” of jellyfish, flash floods and dried up pumps.
www.thedial.world
July 29, 2025 at 1:50 PM
In Mauritius, jellyfish are dying, the seas are boiling; the climate dystopia we fear for the future has already arrived, Ariel Saramandi writes: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
"In the nearby women’s detention facility at Mezzeh Military Airport in Damascus, small clay heart decorations inscribed with messages were hanging alongside crayon-colored drawings of peaceful homelife — a kitchen table, a garden, a child’s bedroom." @thedialmag
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
Syria’s Archives of Atrocity — The Dial
Discarded documents from Assad’s regime offer clues to Syrians searching for lost family and friends.
www.thedial.world
July 25, 2025 at 9:25 AM
"In the nearby women’s detention facility at Mezzeh Military Airport in Damascus, small clay heart decorations inscribed with messages were hanging alongside crayon-colored drawings of peaceful homelife — a kitchen table, a garden, a child’s bedroom." @thedialmag
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
Reposted by Esther King
More than 100 aid agencies warn of mass starvation in Gaza. Why has famine become a modern tool of war? Last year, Sarah Nouwen talked with the executive director of the World Peace Foundation and the UN's special rapporteur on the right to food: www.thedial.world/articles/sta...
www.thedial.world
July 23, 2025 at 2:00 PM
More than 100 aid agencies warn of mass starvation in Gaza. Why has famine become a modern tool of war? Last year, Sarah Nouwen talked with the executive director of the World Peace Foundation and the UN's special rapporteur on the right to food: www.thedial.world/articles/sta...
Reposted by Esther King
The Dial is a super mag, which I've had the pleasure of contributing to a couple of times.
For its summer reading list I recommended one book I can't stop thinking about – Dirty Work by @epress.bsky.social
Check out the full list and donate to support unique and independent journalism :)
For its summer reading list I recommended one book I can't stop thinking about – Dirty Work by @epress.bsky.social
Check out the full list and donate to support unique and independent journalism :)
This summer, if you donate to The Dial you’ll receive our exclusive book list from 35 of our contributors. The diversity of the list reflects the diversity of our writers and reporters, who are based in China, Turkey, India, Switzerland and elsewhere. www.thedial.world/summer-readi...
Summer Reading Campaign
Get The Dial's exclusive summer reading list with 50+ global book recommendations. Support independent literary journalism with a $50 donation.
www.thedial.world
July 17, 2025 at 10:38 AM
The Dial is a super mag, which I've had the pleasure of contributing to a couple of times.
For its summer reading list I recommended one book I can't stop thinking about – Dirty Work by @epress.bsky.social
Check out the full list and donate to support unique and independent journalism :)
For its summer reading list I recommended one book I can't stop thinking about – Dirty Work by @epress.bsky.social
Check out the full list and donate to support unique and independent journalism :)
Reposted by Esther King
Donate to The Dial before Aug. 1 and you’ll receive our exclusive reading list of more than 50 titles! As a nonprofit, we are proud to offer all our articles to readers for free. Your support allow us to continue to make our work accessible to all. Donate today: www.thedial.world/summer-readi...
Summer Reading Campaign
Get The Dial's exclusive summer reading list with 50+ global book recommendations. Support independent literary journalism with a $50 donation.
www.thedial.world
July 18, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Donate to The Dial before Aug. 1 and you’ll receive our exclusive reading list of more than 50 titles! As a nonprofit, we are proud to offer all our articles to readers for free. Your support allow us to continue to make our work accessible to all. Donate today: www.thedial.world/summer-readi...
1/ The stories in this month’s issue, Fever, take on various issues that have reached peak intensity. We’ll bring you a report on the UN’s liquidity crisis, snapshots from Mauritius where climate disaster brings freak tornadoes and jellyfish “explosions,” a photo essay of swimming horses and more.
The Dial
The Dial is an online magazine of culture, politics, and ideas with a focus on locally sourced writing from around the world.
www.thedial.world
July 11, 2025 at 2:46 PM
"For Coetzee, Speaking in Tongues is part of a larger project of fighting the hegemony of English in world literature. It’s a worthy cause, but unfortunately his approach to it is both highly idiosyncratic and highly unproductive." A thoughtful critique from Carey Baraka for @thedialmag.bsky.social
In a review of J.M. Coetzee’s new book, about language and translation, co-written with the translator Mariana Dimόpulos, Carey Baraka delves into questions of authorship, mother tongues and the dominance of English as a global language: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
J.M. Coetzee and Language — The Dial
A review of Speaking in Tongues.
www.thedial.world
July 1, 2025 at 7:59 AM
"For Coetzee, Speaking in Tongues is part of a larger project of fighting the hegemony of English in world literature. It’s a worthy cause, but unfortunately his approach to it is both highly idiosyncratic and highly unproductive." A thoughtful critique from Carey Baraka for @thedialmag.bsky.social
Fantastic news and great work by Ryan Lenora Brown & Majirata Latela for @thedialmag.bsky.social !
🎥One World Media Awards-Print Winner🎉
The True Price of Sportswear exposes abuse faced by female factory workers in Lesotho, from bullying to assault, and pressure to lie to inspectors.
📺Watch: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
The True Price of Sportswear exposes abuse faced by female factory workers in Lesotho, from bullying to assault, and pressure to lie to inspectors.
📺Watch: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
The True Price of Sportswear — The Dial
Workers at an athletic apparel factory in Lesotho that make clothes for Reebok, The Greg Norman Company, and others allege assault, humiliation, intimidation, and bullying.
www.thedial.world
June 26, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Fantastic news and great work by Ryan Lenora Brown & Majirata Latela for @thedialmag.bsky.social !
Reposted by Esther King
On Monday, Israel struck Iran’s Evin prison, known for the intellectuals, activists, artists and students who have served time there—many of whom are fighting for democracy. In 2024, we published five Iranian women’s accounts of their life behind bars in Evin. www.thedial.world/articles/new...
Letters from Inside Iran's Evin Prison — The Dial
Five Iranian women, all human rights activists, write of life behind bars.
www.thedial.world
June 23, 2025 at 6:05 PM
On Monday, Israel struck Iran’s Evin prison, known for the intellectuals, activists, artists and students who have served time there—many of whom are fighting for democracy. In 2024, we published five Iranian women’s accounts of their life behind bars in Evin. www.thedial.world/articles/new...
“I’m happy that you called, ah, you see, it’s nice when you remember.” The subtle gut-punch of this new fiction by Valérie Mréjen (tr. by Katie Assef) on @thedialmag.bsky.social www.thedial.world/articles/lit...
“Hello Sweetheart” by Valérie Mréjen — The Dial
A translation from “Eau Sauvage.”
www.thedial.world
June 17, 2025 at 11:51 AM
“I’m happy that you called, ah, you see, it’s nice when you remember.” The subtle gut-punch of this new fiction by Valérie Mréjen (tr. by Katie Assef) on @thedialmag.bsky.social www.thedial.world/articles/lit...
Reposted by Esther King
While Donald Trump makes noises about colonizing Greenland and Canada, son-in-law Jared Kushner is busy developing a luxury resort on an island off the coast of Albania. Marzio Mian visited Sazan and talked with Kushner to learn more about the development: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
The Trump Family’s Island of Dreams — The Dial
A new resort on the remote Albanian island of Sazan promises “high-end luxury.”
www.thedial.world
June 12, 2025 at 4:52 PM
While Donald Trump makes noises about colonizing Greenland and Canada, son-in-law Jared Kushner is busy developing a luxury resort on an island off the coast of Albania. Marzio Mian visited Sazan and talked with Kushner to learn more about the development: www.thedial.world/articles/new...