Jay Boss Rubin
@jaybossrubin.bsky.social
Literary translator from Swahili. Out now: ROSA MISTIKA by Euphrase Kezilahabi (Yale University Press); THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI AND OTHER STORIES by Esther Karin Mngodo (Hanging Loose Press). I also serve as Managing Editor of Portland Tennis Courterly.
Pinned
Honored to be included in BEST LITERARY TRANSLATIONS 2026, guest-edited by U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze, to be published by @deepvellum.bsky.social on 4/14. Thanks to @koimolove.bsky.social for writing the beautiful story; thanks to @commonmag.bsky.social for publishing it and nominating it to BLT.
Honored to be included in BEST LITERARY TRANSLATIONS 2026, guest-edited by U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze, to be published by @deepvellum.bsky.social on 4/14. Thanks to @koimolove.bsky.social for writing the beautiful story; thanks to @commonmag.bsky.social for publishing it and nominating it to BLT.
January 30, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Honored to be included in BEST LITERARY TRANSLATIONS 2026, guest-edited by U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze, to be published by @deepvellum.bsky.social on 4/14. Thanks to @koimolove.bsky.social for writing the beautiful story; thanks to @commonmag.bsky.social for publishing it and nominating it to BLT.
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
BEST LITERARY TRANSLATIONS 2026 is available for preorder!
Guest edited by National Book Award winner Arthur Sze, BLT 2026 is compiled from over 450 submissions written in 62 original languages and features poetry and prose written in languages both widely spoken and critically endangered.
Guest edited by National Book Award winner Arthur Sze, BLT 2026 is compiled from over 450 submissions written in 62 original languages and features poetry and prose written in languages both widely spoken and critically endangered.
January 30, 2026 at 3:01 PM
BEST LITERARY TRANSLATIONS 2026 is available for preorder!
Guest edited by National Book Award winner Arthur Sze, BLT 2026 is compiled from over 450 submissions written in 62 original languages and features poetry and prose written in languages both widely spoken and critically endangered.
Guest edited by National Book Award winner Arthur Sze, BLT 2026 is compiled from over 450 submissions written in 62 original languages and features poetry and prose written in languages both widely spoken and critically endangered.
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
Mahmood Mamdani Launches New Book To Full Houses in Nairobi
#BookLaunch
www.writingafrica.com/mahmood-mamd...
#BookLaunch
www.writingafrica.com/mahmood-mamd...
Mahmood Mamdani Launches New Book To Full Houses in Nairobi
Mahmood Mamdani launched his latest book, Slow Poison: Idi Amin, Yoweri Museveni, and the Making of the Ugandan State, in Nairobi on January 23 and 24, 2026.
www.writingafrica.com
January 28, 2026 at 1:03 PM
Mahmood Mamdani Launches New Book To Full Houses in Nairobi
#BookLaunch
www.writingafrica.com/mahmood-mamd...
#BookLaunch
www.writingafrica.com/mahmood-mamd...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
January 28, 2026 at 5:02 PM
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Hats off to Shaina and Rodrigo, alums of @artomi.bsky.social's Translation Lab 2024, for this new spin on a magic kingdom story.
For a young boy from the edge of the city, the house where his grandmother works is like a magic kingdom. Rodrigo Urquiola Flores examines the geography in DYSNEYWORLD, translated by Shaina Brassard:
www.fictionable.world/stories/dysn...
#books #reading #writing #ShortStories #fiction #translation
www.fictionable.world/stories/dysn...
#books #reading #writing #ShortStories #fiction #translation
January 27, 2026 at 6:04 PM
Hats off to Shaina and Rodrigo, alums of @artomi.bsky.social's Translation Lab 2024, for this new spin on a magic kingdom story.
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
Tsitsi Dangarembga receives Sharjah Lifetime Achievement in Literature Award 2026
www.writingafrica.com/tsitsi-danga...
www.writingafrica.com/tsitsi-danga...
Tsitsi Dangarembga receives Sharjah Lifetime Achievement in Literature Award 2026
Tsitsi Dangarembga received the Sharjah Lifetime Achievement in Literature Award 2026 in Sharjah, UAE, on Wednesday, January 14, 2026.
www.writingafrica.com
January 27, 2026 at 11:09 AM
Tsitsi Dangarembga receives Sharjah Lifetime Achievement in Literature Award 2026
www.writingafrica.com/tsitsi-danga...
www.writingafrica.com/tsitsi-danga...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
#Winter is here with #ShortStories from Cynthia Zarin, Rodrigo Urquiola Flores translated by Shaina Brassard, Tim Conley, Cynthia Banham and Samuel Rigg – and Joanna Kavenna on the non-truth truth of #fiction
Catch them all at fictionable.world
#books #reading #writing #comics #translation #blog
Catch them all at fictionable.world
#books #reading #writing #comics #translation #blog
January 15, 2026 at 9:26 PM
#Winter is here with #ShortStories from Cynthia Zarin, Rodrigo Urquiola Flores translated by Shaina Brassard, Tim Conley, Cynthia Banham and Samuel Rigg – and Joanna Kavenna on the non-truth truth of #fiction
Catch them all at fictionable.world
#books #reading #writing #comics #translation #blog
Catch them all at fictionable.world
#books #reading #writing #comics #translation #blog
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
me when my friends want to hang out
January 15, 2026 at 4:32 AM
me when my friends want to hang out
Translation Tuesday #literarytranslation reading, one week from today at Mother Foucault's Bookshop in #Portland. Featuring three translators, poetry and prose, Swahili, Hungarian, and Spanish. www.motherfoucaultsbookshop.com/calendar-lis...
TRANSLATION TUESDAY — Mother Foucault's Bookshop
Translation Tuesday at Mother Foucault's! Tuesday, January 20, 2026 7:00 p.m.
www.motherfoucaultsbookshop.com
January 13, 2026 at 2:50 PM
Translation Tuesday #literarytranslation reading, one week from today at Mother Foucault's Bookshop in #Portland. Featuring three translators, poetry and prose, Swahili, Hungarian, and Spanish. www.motherfoucaultsbookshop.com/calendar-lis...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
What a list! Our eye is immediately drawn to "the first collection of Swahili Afro-Speculative fiction in English, The Witness of Nina Mvungi and Other Stories by Esther Karin Mngodo", but this collection of reccos could keep us going for all 2026, pretty sure
#booksky #weird #literature
#booksky #weird #literature
“Cheers to the Weirdos!”: Jesi Bender Presents a Heavy Feather Favorites List for 2025
Here we go again! Putting together this year brings me such joy and I hope you find something beautiful here, too. Sometimes, it can seem as if no one reads anymore but making this list reassures m…
heavyfeatherreview.org
December 29, 2025 at 6:35 PM
What a list! Our eye is immediately drawn to "the first collection of Swahili Afro-Speculative fiction in English, The Witness of Nina Mvungi and Other Stories by Esther Karin Mngodo", but this collection of reccos could keep us going for all 2026, pretty sure
#booksky #weird #literature
#booksky #weird #literature
Wrapping up 2025 with translations of three poems by Euphrase Kezilahabi, published today in The Fortnightly Review. Happy New Year / Heri ya Mwaka Mpya to all!! fortnightlyreview.substack.com/p/translatio...
Translation: "Learning to Steer" and Two Other Poems by Euphrase Kezilahabi
Translated from the Swahili by Jay Boss Rubin.
fortnightlyreview.substack.com
December 31, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Wrapping up 2025 with translations of three poems by Euphrase Kezilahabi, published today in The Fortnightly Review. Happy New Year / Heri ya Mwaka Mpya to all!! fortnightlyreview.substack.com/p/translatio...
THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI AND OTHER STORIES made @hfr.bsky.social 's year-end list. Honored to be among the weirdos heavyfeatherreview.org/2025/12/29/w...
“Cheers to the Weirdos!”: Jesi Bender Presents a Heavy Feather Favorites List for 2025
Here we go again! Putting together this year brings me such joy and I hope you find something beautiful here, too. Sometimes, it can seem as if no one reads anymore but making this list reassures m…
heavyfeatherreview.org
December 29, 2025 at 4:08 PM
THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI AND OTHER STORIES made @hfr.bsky.social 's year-end list. Honored to be among the weirdos heavyfeatherreview.org/2025/12/29/w...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
“Brother Morpheme had succeeded in keeping his emotions out of his work for the 150,982 assignments he’d handled prior to Ms. Mvungi.”
Up now: “The Witness of Nina Mvungi” by @koimolove.bsky.social, translated by @jaybossrubin.bsky.social. Art by Valerie Hammond. evergreenreview.com/read/the-wit...
Up now: “The Witness of Nina Mvungi” by @koimolove.bsky.social, translated by @jaybossrubin.bsky.social. Art by Valerie Hammond. evergreenreview.com/read/the-wit...
The Witness of Nina Mvungi
Evergreen Review
evergreenreview.com
December 16, 2025 at 8:00 PM
“Brother Morpheme had succeeded in keeping his emotions out of his work for the 150,982 assignments he’d handled prior to Ms. Mvungi.”
Up now: “The Witness of Nina Mvungi” by @koimolove.bsky.social, translated by @jaybossrubin.bsky.social. Art by Valerie Hammond. evergreenreview.com/read/the-wit...
Up now: “The Witness of Nina Mvungi” by @koimolove.bsky.social, translated by @jaybossrubin.bsky.social. Art by Valerie Hammond. evergreenreview.com/read/the-wit...
Very fine essay on teaching Kiswahili in Istanbul, by Abdirashid Diriye Kalmoy. Because of its hybridity and ability to connect Africa and the wider world, teaching Swahili in Istanbul is "not an accidental exercise, but a continuation of this cosmopolitan spirit." www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-e...
Connecting Africa and Türkiye: Teaching Kiswahili in Istanbul
Teaching Kiswahili in Istanbul builds a bridge of shared humanity between Africa and Türkiye
www.dailysabah.com
December 10, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Very fine essay on teaching Kiswahili in Istanbul, by Abdirashid Diriye Kalmoy. Because of its hybridity and ability to connect Africa and the wider world, teaching Swahili in Istanbul is "not an accidental exercise, but a continuation of this cosmopolitan spirit." www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-e...
Just published on the Asymptote Blog: a beautifully crafted and incredibly insightful review of THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI AND OTHER STORIES by @koimolove.bsky.social. Review by Rebecca Suzuki—hybrid forms specialist + fellow translator www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2025/12...
More Than a Witness: A Review of The Witness of Nina Mvungi and Other Stories by Esther Karin Mngodo and Jay Boss Rubin - Asymptote Blog
Across the collection, these stories are unforgiving and gut-wrenching, a reminder that reality is often the same.
www.asymptotejournal.com
December 8, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Just published on the Asymptote Blog: a beautifully crafted and incredibly insightful review of THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI AND OTHER STORIES by @koimolove.bsky.social. Review by Rebecca Suzuki—hybrid forms specialist + fellow translator www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2025/12...
We at Portland Tennis Courterly are honored and humbled to feature the brilliant writing + brave reporting of @marisakabas.bsky.social in our latest issue. This is a reprint of her dispatch from the US Open, which first appeared in The Handbasket on September 8th www.thehandbasket.co/p/trump-us-o...
December 5, 2025 at 5:39 PM
We at Portland Tennis Courterly are honored and humbled to feature the brilliant writing + brave reporting of @marisakabas.bsky.social in our latest issue. This is a reprint of her dispatch from the US Open, which first appeared in The Handbasket on September 8th www.thehandbasket.co/p/trump-us-o...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
And the final piece in the collection—the title story, "The Witness of Nina Mvungi"—is out today in @evergreenreview.bsky.social, accompanied by beautiful artwork from Valerie Hammond. Thanks to Africa Editor Jeffery Renard Allen for all the support. "Ninaaaaaaa!" evergreenreview.com/read/the-wit...
The Witness of Nina Mvungi
Evergreen Review
evergreenreview.com
December 5, 2025 at 2:25 PM
And the final piece in the collection—the title story, "The Witness of Nina Mvungi"—is out today in @evergreenreview.bsky.social, accompanied by beautiful artwork from Valerie Hammond. Thanks to Africa Editor Jeffery Renard Allen for all the support. "Ninaaaaaaa!" evergreenreview.com/read/the-wit...
Greetings from Tennis City racquetmag.com/greetings-fr...
Greetings from Tennis City, USA - Racquet
A postcard from our favorite indie zine Portland Tennis Courterly's Wet Issue release party, where each microclimate seemed completely and utterly devoted to tennis, from the bagels toasting in the ki...
racquetmag.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:53 AM
Greetings from Tennis City racquetmag.com/greetings-fr...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
subscribe to the handbasket, a one-person operation that produced both of these stories in one day.
www.thehandbasket.co/subscribe
www.thehandbasket.co/subscribe
December 4, 2025 at 3:48 AM
subscribe to the handbasket, a one-person operation that produced both of these stories in one day.
www.thehandbasket.co/subscribe
www.thehandbasket.co/subscribe
Honored to be featured along with @koimolove.bsky.social on Jill! (a Women+ in Translation reading series organized by @larissakyzer.bsky.social). If anyone can tell me on which product the slogan on my shirt used to appear, I'll send them a free copy of our new book! www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYAF...
Jay Boss Rubin & Esther Karin Mngodo Read from “The Witness of Nina Mvungi”
YouTube video by Jill!
www.youtube.com
December 4, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Honored to be featured along with @koimolove.bsky.social on Jill! (a Women+ in Translation reading series organized by @larissakyzer.bsky.social). If anyone can tell me on which product the slogan on my shirt used to appear, I'll send them a free copy of our new book! www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYAF...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
A whole chapter of Hitler and My Mother-in-Law at Evergreen Review @evergreenreview.bsky.social. Order the rest of the book or ebook @ORbooks.bsky.social
evergreenreview.com/read/witch-h...
evergreenreview.com/read/witch-h...
Witch Hunts
Evergreen Review
evergreenreview.com
November 30, 2025 at 1:36 AM
A whole chapter of Hitler and My Mother-in-Law at Evergreen Review @evergreenreview.bsky.social. Order the rest of the book or ebook @ORbooks.bsky.social
evergreenreview.com/read/witch-h...
evergreenreview.com/read/witch-h...
Out today from @hangingloosepress.bsky.social: THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI AND OTHER STORIES by @koimolove.bsky.social, translated from the Swahili by yours truly. The first collection of Swahili Afro-Speculative fiction to come alive in English. Scoop it up! itascabooks.com/products/the... #booksky
The Witness of Nina Mvungi and Other Stories
The Witness of Nina Mvungi and Other Stories is the first full-length book of fiction by award-winning contemporary Tanzanian author Esther Karin Mngodo. Its seven stories, translated from Swahili, ra...
itascabooks.com
December 1, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Out today from @hangingloosepress.bsky.social: THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI AND OTHER STORIES by @koimolove.bsky.social, translated from the Swahili by yours truly. The first collection of Swahili Afro-Speculative fiction to come alive in English. Scoop it up! itascabooks.com/products/the... #booksky
Literary Translation Reading + book launch for THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI by @koimolove.bsky.social one week from today, at Mother Foucault's Bookshop in Portland, Oregon—karibuni wote!! #booksky #translation #Swahili #fasihi
November 28, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Literary Translation Reading + book launch for THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI by @koimolove.bsky.social one week from today, at Mother Foucault's Bookshop in Portland, Oregon—karibuni wote!! #booksky #translation #Swahili #fasihi
Tomorrow night in Tennis City, USA
November 20, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Tomorrow night in Tennis City, USA
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
Our sponsor, The Queens Review, is open for submissions. Send them your most unruly, boundary-pushing work by December 15th at: bit.ly/TQRSubmit
November 18, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Our sponsor, The Queens Review, is open for submissions. Send them your most unruly, boundary-pushing work by December 15th at: bit.ly/TQRSubmit