Jay Boss Rubin
@jaybossrubin.bsky.social
Literary translator from Swahili
Out now: ROSA MISTIKA by Euphrase Kezilahabi (Yale University Press)
Coming 12/1, THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI AND OTHER STORIES by Esther Karin Mngodo (Hanging Loose Press)
Pia: Managing Editor, Portland Tennis Courterly
Out now: ROSA MISTIKA by Euphrase Kezilahabi (Yale University Press)
Coming 12/1, THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI AND OTHER STORIES by Esther Karin Mngodo (Hanging Loose Press)
Pia: Managing Editor, Portland Tennis Courterly
Pinned
Rare Goods - Words Without Borders
The first thing every albino learns is that they are rare goods. And I mean “goods” in the literal sense. We don’t need a special cram course to understand we’re precious commodities; people hunt us d...
wordswithoutborders.org
Newly translated #Swahili fiction from award-winning Tanzanian author Esther Karin Mngodo @koimolove.bsky.social, in the spotlight at @wwborders.bsky.social. From the story collection THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI, coming 12/1 from @hangingloosepress.bsky.social wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
“Outside, it was a time of rain; inside, it was a time of darkness.”
A government official’s past comes back to haunt him in distressingly familiar form. Read “Mayai, Minister of Disease” by Euphrase Kezilahabi (tr. Richard Prins): wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
A government official’s past comes back to haunt him in distressingly familiar form. Read “Mayai, Minister of Disease” by Euphrase Kezilahabi (tr. Richard Prins): wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
November 12, 2025 at 9:37 PM
“Outside, it was a time of rain; inside, it was a time of darkness.”
A government official’s past comes back to haunt him in distressingly familiar form. Read “Mayai, Minister of Disease” by Euphrase Kezilahabi (tr. Richard Prins): wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
A government official’s past comes back to haunt him in distressingly familiar form. Read “Mayai, Minister of Disease” by Euphrase Kezilahabi (tr. Richard Prins): wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
New on WWB: @jaybossrubin.bsky.social’s translation of “Rare Goods” by Esther Karin Mngodo. This excerpt depicts the lives of albino children who start a secret society to protect themselves from trafficking in body parts in Tanzania. Read Here: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
November 11, 2025 at 7:00 PM
New on WWB: @jaybossrubin.bsky.social’s translation of “Rare Goods” by Esther Karin Mngodo. This excerpt depicts the lives of albino children who start a secret society to protect themselves from trafficking in body parts in Tanzania. Read Here: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
Newly translated #Swahili fiction from award-winning Tanzanian author Esther Karin Mngodo @koimolove.bsky.social, in the spotlight at @wwborders.bsky.social. From the story collection THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI, coming 12/1 from @hangingloosepress.bsky.social wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
Rare Goods - Words Without Borders
The first thing every albino learns is that they are rare goods. And I mean “goods” in the literal sense. We don’t need a special cram course to understand we’re precious commodities; people hunt us d...
wordswithoutborders.org
November 10, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Newly translated #Swahili fiction from award-winning Tanzanian author Esther Karin Mngodo @koimolove.bsky.social, in the spotlight at @wwborders.bsky.social. From the story collection THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI, coming 12/1 from @hangingloosepress.bsky.social wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
Excellent article by @jeremiahhayden.bsky.social providing over a decade of context to truths + lies about Portland, Oregon. Co-published with the indefatigable @streetroots.bsky.social
Trump’s Portland narrative didn’t appear suddenly; it’s more a denouement after powerful interests catastrophized challenges for political gain.Years of oiling the growth machine, even in a city with a progressive reputation, have failed to produce material results for voters.
Here’s some history:
Here’s some history:
Portlanders mock Trump for calling their city ‘war-ravaged’. But they’re clear-eyed about its problems
Like many American cities, Portland has been struggling to combat rising unaffordability and homelessness
www.theguardian.com
October 20, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Excellent article by @jeremiahhayden.bsky.social providing over a decade of context to truths + lies about Portland, Oregon. Co-published with the indefatigable @streetroots.bsky.social
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
BIG NEWS!! Johns Hopkins University is the premier sponsor of #AWP26 in Baltimore, and The Hopkins Review’s Volume 18 featured cover artist, the one-and-only John Waters, is the conference’s keynote speaker!!
JHU’s Sesquicentennial Celebration is getting exciting. 🦩 🦩 🦩 See you in Baltimore!
JHU’s Sesquicentennial Celebration is getting exciting. 🦩 🦩 🦩 See you in Baltimore!
We’re thrilled to announce our #AWP26 Conference & Bookfair keynote speaker, Baltimore’s own John Waters! Read more about the filmmaker, actor, author, and Charm City legend on our website. A heartfelt thanks to our premier sponsor, @jhu.edu, for making this address possible.
#AWP26 Keynote Address by John Waters, Sponsored by Johns Hopkins University
View the full line-up of amazing featured events from the 2026 AWP Conference & Bookfair literary partners!
conference.awpwriter.org
October 10, 2025 at 12:35 AM
BIG NEWS!! Johns Hopkins University is the premier sponsor of #AWP26 in Baltimore, and The Hopkins Review’s Volume 18 featured cover artist, the one-and-only John Waters, is the conference’s keynote speaker!!
JHU’s Sesquicentennial Celebration is getting exciting. 🦩 🦩 🦩 See you in Baltimore!
JHU’s Sesquicentennial Celebration is getting exciting. 🦩 🦩 🦩 See you in Baltimore!
"Five translators had to be hospitalized for confusion" is a pretty good one
September 24, 2025 at 4:59 AM
"Five translators had to be hospitalized for confusion" is a pretty good one
One week from today at @citylightsbooks.bsky.social in San Francisco: "Celebrating Euphrase Kezilahabi," presented by @catranslation.org / @twolinespress.bsky.social. I'll be reading from ROSA MISTIKA and conversing w/ the endlessly thoughtful Annmarie Drury :) www.catranslation.org/event/jay-bo...
Jay Boss Rubin on Rosa Mistika with Annmarie Drury | Center for the Art of Translation | Two Lines Press
City Lights welcomes Jay Boss Rubin to read from his translation of Rosa Mistika by Euphrase Kezilahabi, a banned Swahili classic finally in English.
www.catranslation.org
September 22, 2025 at 4:11 PM
One week from today at @citylightsbooks.bsky.social in San Francisco: "Celebrating Euphrase Kezilahabi," presented by @catranslation.org / @twolinespress.bsky.social. I'll be reading from ROSA MISTIKA and conversing w/ the endlessly thoughtful Annmarie Drury :) www.catranslation.org/event/jay-bo...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
In the mail: pleased to see another translation from Swahili, by @jaybossrubin.bsky.social — Esther Karin Mngodo's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑖𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑖𝑛𝑎 𝑀𝑣𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑖 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑂𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠, from @hangingloosepress.bsky.social www.hangingloosepress.com/book/witness...
Witness of Nina Mvungi and Other Stories - Hanging Loose Press
Winner of the 2025 Loose Translation Award, a collaboration between CUNY Queens and Hanging Loose Press.
www.hangingloosepress.com
September 13, 2025 at 8:13 PM
In the mail: pleased to see another translation from Swahili, by @jaybossrubin.bsky.social — Esther Karin Mngodo's 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑖𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑁𝑖𝑛𝑎 𝑀𝑣𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑖 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑂𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠, from @hangingloosepress.bsky.social www.hangingloosepress.com/book/witness...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
Happy to finally hold my copy!
"Without Sun" translated from Swahili to English by Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social is now out! Get your copy! @hopkinsreview.bsky.social 🥳
"Without Sun" translated from Swahili to English by Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social is now out! Get your copy! @hopkinsreview.bsky.social 🥳
September 9, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Happy to finally hold my copy!
"Without Sun" translated from Swahili to English by Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social is now out! Get your copy! @hopkinsreview.bsky.social 🥳
"Without Sun" translated from Swahili to English by Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social is now out! Get your copy! @hopkinsreview.bsky.social 🥳
Tonight in Albany, NY! I'll be reading and in conversation with Albany translator Shaina Brassard.
September 9, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Tonight in Albany, NY! I'll be reading and in conversation with Albany translator Shaina Brassard.
Excellent story by Taylor Griggs in @portlandmercury.com about Portland Tennis Courterly, which is neither a secret literary magazine nor on Bluesky as of yet . . . www.portlandmercury.com/books/2025/0...
Tennis Courterly Is a Newsletter Trying to Turn Portland into “Tennis City, USA”
Portland might not have professional tournaments or world-class tennis academies, and many of the city’s public courts have seen better days. But Portlander Tyler Pell sees potential in the city’s com...
www.portlandmercury.com
August 29, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Excellent story by Taylor Griggs in @portlandmercury.com about Portland Tennis Courterly, which is neither a secret literary magazine nor on Bluesky as of yet . . . www.portlandmercury.com/books/2025/0...
One month from today @citylightsbooks.bsky.social in San Francisco (and via livestream): "Celebrating Euphrase Kezilahabi – with Jay Boss Rubin and Annmarie Drury." I'll be reading from Rosa Mistika, and in conversation with a fellow translator of Kezilahabi. Karibuni! citylights.com/events/celeb...
citylights.com
August 29, 2025 at 3:40 PM
One month from today @citylightsbooks.bsky.social in San Francisco (and via livestream): "Celebrating Euphrase Kezilahabi – with Jay Boss Rubin and Annmarie Drury." I'll be reading from Rosa Mistika, and in conversation with a fellow translator of Kezilahabi. Karibuni! citylights.com/events/celeb...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
@newyorker.com considers Rosa Mistika by Euphrase Kezilahabi translated from the Swahili by Jay Boss Rubin one of the best books of the year so far!
What We’re Reading
Reviews of notable new fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
www.newyorker.com
August 29, 2025 at 7:02 AM
@newyorker.com considers Rosa Mistika by Euphrase Kezilahabi translated from the Swahili by Jay Boss Rubin one of the best books of the year so far!
Two weeks from today @ Dove & Hudson in Albany, NY: "Translator Reading: Literature from Tanzania & Bolivia." I'll be reading from ROSA MISTIKA, by Euphrase Kezilahabi, alongside Capital Region translator Shaina Brassard, who'll be reading from her translations of Rodrigo Urquiola Flores's stories.
August 26, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Two weeks from today @ Dove & Hudson in Albany, NY: "Translator Reading: Literature from Tanzania & Bolivia." I'll be reading from ROSA MISTIKA, by Euphrase Kezilahabi, alongside Capital Region translator Shaina Brassard, who'll be reading from her translations of Rodrigo Urquiola Flores's stories.
Beautiful new creative nonfiction by my friend Rebecca Suzuki in The Los Angeles Review. "We ate quickly, knowing we didn’t have much time if we wanted to practice dying and make the 7 o’clock train back to Nagoya." losangelesreview.org/practicing-d...
Practicing Dying by Rebecca Suzuki - The Los Angeles Review
Both my grandparents died very young. My mother thinks it’s because my grandfather would chain smoke in the greenhouse, creating a literal greenhouse effect where my grandmother constantly took in th...
losangelesreview.org
August 21, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Beautiful new creative nonfiction by my friend Rebecca Suzuki in The Los Angeles Review. "We ate quickly, knowing we didn’t have much time if we wanted to practice dying and make the 7 o’clock train back to Nagoya." losangelesreview.org/practicing-d...
Excited to share my latest translation, "Without Sun," by the inimitable Esther Karin Mngodo (@koimolove.bsky.social), out now in @hopkinsreview.bsky.social. Read it for free: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl.... Purchase the print edition, w/ cover art by John Waters (!): hopkinsreview.com/shop/p/volum...
August 20, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Excited to share my latest translation, "Without Sun," by the inimitable Esther Karin Mngodo (@koimolove.bsky.social), out now in @hopkinsreview.bsky.social. Read it for free: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl.... Purchase the print edition, w/ cover art by John Waters (!): hopkinsreview.com/shop/p/volum...
This is going to be great
Naomi Osaka and Victoria Mboko will face each other in the final of Montreal.
Two impeccable talents.
Two unseeded players.
Two different paths.
Only one winner.
Who wins the title?
🇯🇵🇨🇦
Two impeccable talents.
Two unseeded players.
Two different paths.
Only one winner.
Who wins the title?
🇯🇵🇨🇦
August 7, 2025 at 3:12 AM
This is going to be great
"La Venezolana" by Rodrigo Urquiola Flores, translated from the Spanish by Shaina Brassard, is out today in the latest issue of Asymptote (as part of the journal's ongoing Special Feature on the figure of the outsider). Read it in Spanish + English here! www.asymptotejournal.com/special-feat...
La Venezolana - Asymptote
I had just fifty bolivianos in my wallet. I walked around the Plaza Murillo looking for a story. Work had been scarce the last few weeks—I generally did editing and proofreading projects or reso...
www.asymptotejournal.com
July 24, 2025 at 3:39 PM
"La Venezolana" by Rodrigo Urquiola Flores, translated from the Spanish by Shaina Brassard, is out today in the latest issue of Asymptote (as part of the journal's ongoing Special Feature on the figure of the outsider). Read it in Spanish + English here! www.asymptotejournal.com/special-feat...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
@wwborders.bsky.social calls Rosa Mistika by Euphrase Kezilahabi "a social novel that occasionally ventures into more stylized territory," and features it on it's watchlist.
The Watchlist: June 2025 - Words Without Borders
Tobias Carroll on the June titles in translation you won't want to miss, from Peru, Tanzania, Tibet, and more.
wordswithoutborders.org
July 9, 2025 at 5:03 PM
@wwborders.bsky.social calls Rosa Mistika by Euphrase Kezilahabi "a social novel that occasionally ventures into more stylized territory," and features it on it's watchlist.
Rosa Mistika is atop @wwborders.bsky.social's June Watchlist wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
The Watchlist: June 2025 - Words Without Borders
Tobias Carroll on the June titles in translation you won't want to miss, from Peru, Tanzania, Tibet, and more.
wordswithoutborders.org
June 30, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Rosa Mistika is atop @wwborders.bsky.social's June Watchlist wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
First is “Rosa Mistika” by Euphrase Kezilahabi (tr. @jaybossrubin.bsky.social , @yalepress.bsky.social ), “a novel about a young woman facing the hypocrisies and hazards of her society” translated from Swahili. bookshop.org/a/169/978030...
bookshop.org
June 30, 2025 at 8:37 PM
First is “Rosa Mistika” by Euphrase Kezilahabi (tr. @jaybossrubin.bsky.social , @yalepress.bsky.social ), “a novel about a young woman facing the hypocrisies and hazards of her society” translated from Swahili. bookshop.org/a/169/978030...
Reposted by Jay Boss Rubin
Many years later, as he faced the editorial board, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani was to remember that distant afternoon when his father told him to abolish ICE
so I have a lot of complicated thoughts about the specific issue at hand, but I have to point out that’s not what “magical realism” is
June 19, 2025 at 7:02 PM
Many years later, as he faced the editorial board, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani was to remember that distant afternoon when his father told him to abolish ICE
World Swahili Language Day is coming up on July 7th. I'll be reading from my English translation of Rosa Mistika at this wonderful event put together by @soasuni.bsky.social. Karibuni wote! www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/...
World Swahili Language Day
To mark World Kiswahili Language day 2025, we are bringing together an international panel of poets, writers and researchers to celebrate Swahili and all its varieties.
www.soas.ac.uk
June 20, 2025 at 6:24 PM
World Swahili Language Day is coming up on July 7th. I'll be reading from my English translation of Rosa Mistika at this wonderful event put together by @soasuni.bsky.social. Karibuni wote! www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/...
This is a fantastic novel
29. SOMALIA (+Wales)
The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
This novel imagines the life of Mahmood Mattan, a Somali man who was wrongly convicted of the murder of a Jewish woman in Tiger Bay in 1952.
Welsh book of the year 2022
Shortlisted for @thebookerprizes.bsky.social 2021
#ReadTheWorld
The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed
This novel imagines the life of Mahmood Mattan, a Somali man who was wrongly convicted of the murder of a Jewish woman in Tiger Bay in 1952.
Welsh book of the year 2022
Shortlisted for @thebookerprizes.bsky.social 2021
#ReadTheWorld
June 19, 2025 at 8:57 PM
This is a fantastic novel
Honored to see a mini-review of Rosa Mistika in this week's issue of The New Yorker. "Playing in the space between social realism and fabulist storytelling" is a wonderfully apt description! www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Briefly Noted Book Reviews
Short reviews of recent releases.
www.newyorker.com
June 18, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Honored to see a mini-review of Rosa Mistika in this week's issue of The New Yorker. "Playing in the space between social realism and fabulist storytelling" is a wonderfully apt description! www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...