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wwborders.bsky.social
Words Without Borders & WWB Campus
@wwborders.bsky.social
6.2K followers 880 following 1.3K posts
The home for international literature since 2003. Winners of the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize.

https://linktr.ee/wordswithoutborders
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wwborders.bsky.social
“That woman belongs to me.”

Explore fiction from our archive and read “That Woman” by Rodolfo Walsh (tr. Cindy Schuster). A meditation on obsession, power, and truth via the disappearance of Eva Perón’s body after the coup, you can read the story here: www.canva.com/design/DAG4U...
That Woman By Rodolfo Walsh, translated from Spanish by Cindy Schuster “The day will come (I think in moments of anger) when I will go in search of her. She means nothing to me, but even so I will pursue the mystery of her death, track down the distant graveyard where her remains lie slowly rotting.” from the archive: Fiction. Image: Woman in black and white staring at her mirrored self.
November 14, 2025 at 3:55 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
In commemoration of Day of the Imprisoned Writer on November 15th, we’re presenting this poem by imprisoned Georgian writer Zviad Ratiani. Read “Fathers” (tr. Dalila Gogia) here: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article... ‎
November 13, 2025 at 3:05 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
“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...
ALT: Mayai, Minister of Disease By Euphrase Kezilahabi, translated from Kiswahili by Richard Prins. There were ten kids at the table. Nine of them were sitting in chairs. The tenth, he saw, was Liberation, dressed in the clothes they buried him in and spreading butter and jam on slices of bread. Though well-dressed, he looked frail and sickly. The nine other children were ragged, filthy, their frocks torn to strips. Their eyes sank into their faces. They were piteous. Liberation signaled that his father should stand back, watch, and say nothing.” Mayai, Minister of Disease By Euphrase Kezilahabi, translated from Kiswahili by Richard Prins “The morning birds began to chirp their bewitching tunes that would haul the sun out of the sea. The minister opened the window facing the statehouse. He saw the guards circling and circling the gate, and in the garden, peacocks strutting and flashing their tails.” Image: Pencil drawing of a figure coming face to face with an elephant.
November 12, 2025 at 9:37 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
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...
Rare Goods By Esther Karin Mngodo, translated from Kiswahili by Jay Boss Rubin “Every part of my body can help someone get rich. It’s as if God created a living mine—made of flesh and blood—that can lead to an actual mine, one in the earth that spits out gold and makes people get rich quick. Come to think of it, we albinos are many here in the shadow of the mine.” New Kiswahili Writing. Image: Black and white drawing of a knife.
November 11, 2025 at 7:00 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
Explore our archive with the poem "Love of Chile," the great Raúl Zurita’s hymn to his native land. Translated from Spanish by Cristina de la Torre & Diana Glad, it was published by Words Without Borders in 2009. Read it here: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
ALT:“White-water rivers and glaciered peaks touch and speak words of love because in this world all things speak of love;” from the archive: Poetry Love of Chile By Raúl Zurita translated from Spanish by Cristina de la Torre & Diana Glad. Image: Desert.
November 9, 2025 at 1:28 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
Tobias Carroll is back with new autumn reads for your TBR list: fiction from Cuba, nonfiction from China, poetry from Uruguay, and much more. Read here: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
The October Watchlist by Tobias Carroll Featuring fiction translated from Yiddish, Spanish, Turkish. Poetry from Sweden and Uruguay, and a memoir translated from Chinese. Image: 6 book covers.
November 8, 2025 at 1:28 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
@coryoldweiler.bsky.social examines FALSE WAR by Carlos Manuel Álvarez. In this choral novel, characters navigate a purgatory of displacement and existential uncertainty, akin to the DIVINE COMEDY. Read Oldweiler’s book review here: wordswithoutborders.org/book-reviews...

@graywolfpress.bsky.social
BOOK REVIEW “The collective isolation captured in False War is told via nearly two dozen voices desperate for some sort of comfort or compassion—whether from the touch of another’s body, the oblivion of illicit drugs, the sound of a familiar accent, or the recognition of common experience—whatever can get them through one more night.”“'An Inexpressible Void': Exile and Longing in Carlos Manuel Álvarez’s 'False War'" by Cory Oldweiler. Image: Book Cover
November 7, 2025 at 2:28 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
Did you miss Tobias Carroll's Watchlist? It's full of great recommendations of books in translation that you should read this fall. Keep scrolling for more information about each book on the list: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...

tobiascarroll.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 10:35 AM
wwborders.bsky.social
This week, we’re publishing an excerpt from Lee Langvad’s novel TOLK (tr. by Hazel Evans). This scene follows an adoptee who has returned to Korea to visit her biological family, accompanied by an interpreter who’s also her girlfriend. To read click here: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
My Interpreter: A Samgyetang Restaurant in SeoulBy Lee Langvad, translated from Danish by Hazel Evans Fiction “I think: I wonder if she got sick because she knew I was coming. My mother drinks her insamju in one gulp.” Image: Hand holding chopsticks.
November 5, 2025 at 10:30 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
Did you miss Tobias Carroll's Watchlist? It's full of great recommendations of books in translation that you should read this fall. Keep scrolling for more information about each book on the list: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...

tobiascarroll.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 9:41 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
Fans of experimental poetry, rejoice: This week, we’re publishing “Chatrang” by Iranian multimedia artist Anima Ehtiat (tr. Kaveh Bassiri). Explore this interactive poem on our website and watch a video of Ehtiat playing the game: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
As players move their pieces, the associated Jiroft character for the new location is recorded, producing a distinct visual depiction, a visual poem, shaped by the particular moves and the course of the game.” POETRY Chatrang A Report on Alternative Chess By Anima Ehtiat, translated from Persian by Kaveh Bassiri. Image: Dice with symbols on it.
November 4, 2025 at 3:05 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
“The Sparrow’s Chirrup" by R. Manandhar (translated from Nepal Bhasa by David Hargreaves & R. Manandhar) imagines a disordered city through the life of its birds. Click here to read the full poem: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
ALT: The Sparrow’s Chirrupv_**By R. Manandhar translated from Nepal Bhasa by **_David Hargreaves & R. Manandhar Looking at this mess, I spot a bird,head poked out, looking around.Watching more closely, I start to noticehow many sparrows live around there.POETRY. Image: Tangled telephone cables.
October 31, 2025 at 4:41 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
Happy Halloween week! To get you in the spirit, we’ve curated a collection of prose and poetry inspired by spiders. Check out the link to find work translated from Korean, Icelandic, Chinese, Spanish, and Russian. wordswithoutborders.org/read/collect...
ALT: Spiders This Halloween, we’ve spun our most haunting web yet, featuring chilling arachnid poems and fiction. Image: Painting of a spider on a green circle.
October 30, 2025 at 5:41 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
Looking good, feeling good, happy to be here!
The Edison Ballroom, full of people
October 29, 2025 at 11:12 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
We can't wait for the Gala to get started! 😍
A small round table in the foreground and the Edison Ballroom in the background, filled with round tables and silver chairs. The Words Without Borders Annual Gala slide is projected on a screen behind.
October 29, 2025 at 9:12 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
“SEA NOW is one of several novels that ask how humans live in an apocalypse that isn’t impending but has actually arrived.” Read Rebecca Hussey on Eva Meijer’s SEA NOW (tr. Anne Thompson Melo): buff.ly/ZtpAsrS
@ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social
@catranslation.org
@twolinespress.com
BOOK REVIEW“They—all of us—are way behind, stuck in the old, familiar, small ways of thinking and unable to grasp the vast changes going on around us. ”**"How the Sea Might Speak: On Eva Meijer’s 'Sea Now'"**by Rebecca Hussey. Image: Book cover, drawing of cow on top of rock on water.
October 28, 2025 at 5:41 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
In this year's Lancaster International Fiction Lecture from Litfest's “Autumn Weekend,” Xiaolu Guo, the author of CALL ME ISHMAELLE,, reflects on the experience of disrupting and reinventing a classic of the Western canon. Read it here: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
October 28, 2025 at 5:10 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
Folks, it’s your last call to get tickets to our annual gala on 10/29 in NYC! Fund WWB's work and gift yourself a night of celebration with others who love global lit. It’s a win-win: just get a ticket at the link. secure.givelively.org/event/words-...
October 24, 2025 at 2:55 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
Check out our newest NBA interview with author Mohamed Kheir and translator Robin Moger! Together, they discuss SLEEP PHASE, longlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature: buff.ly/tlaTIqr
@twolinespress.com
“And I think though the book has a certain degree of cultural specificity, in terms of the geography or topography of a city, it is essentially a generous one: it invites you to match its lyricism, find the right balance and weight for its images and ideas.”— Robin Moger Words Without Borders National Book Award Interviews: Mohamed Kheir and Robin Moger on National Book Award Interviews: Mohamed Kheir and Robin Moger Sleep Phase. Image: Black background with blue and white lettering. Cover of SLEEP PHASE, and circular author photos of Mohamed Kheir and Robin Moger
October 23, 2025 at 5:41 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
This year, Xiaolu Guo took the stage for the fifth Lancaster International Fiction Lecture. She delves into the origins of her novel CALL ME ISHMAELLE, exploring what it means to connect with and challenge the Western literary canon. wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
Fiction as an Exercise in Sabotage By Xiaolu Guo nonFiction“A writer aims to create a new narrative, but in the moment of writing she does not entirely understand what that newness is.”Image: Drawing of men in a boat rowing towards a whale while in choppy waters.
October 22, 2025 at 4:41 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
Our annual gala allows WWB keep publishing writing from all over the globe, bringing global lit to students, and much more. In a hard moment for arts funding, this event is more essential than ever. Grab a ticket to the 10/29 gala and help make WWB’s work possible: wwborders.live/2025Gala
October 22, 2025 at 2:58 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
Congrats to WE ARE GREEN AND TREMBLING for becoming a finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature! Read this interview w/ author Gabriela Cabezón Cámara and translator Robin Myers: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...

@ndbooks.bsky.social
“I’d long admired Gabi’s work for the expansiveness of her imagination, the intensity of her political commitments, and the wild music of her poetry." — Robin Myers Words Without Borders National Book Awards Interviews: Gabriela Cabezón Cámara and Robin Myers on We Are Green and Trembling. Image: Black background, white and blue lettering. Cover of WE ARE GREEN AND TREMBLING, and two circular author photos of Gabriela Cabezón Cámara and Robin Myers
October 22, 2025 at 1:28 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
“The dilemma was where the monkey’s soul [...] resided, if it resided anywhere at all.” Read an excerpt of Krisztina Tóth’s new novel EYE OF THE MONKEY ( @ottiliemulzet.bsky.social ) here: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...

@sevenstories.bsky.social
FIRST READ “Ever since he moved out, Petra viewed every question concerning her schedule or her work as an interrogation, an intervention into her personal life, and in her rage, she tried to draw boundaries, indicating that she had her own private life now that had nothing to do with him. Most recently, she had flung an old film camera from his collection onto the ground; it didn’t work anyway, but it had stood for decades in his room and had become very dear to him.” “Eye of the Monkey" by Krisztina Tóth translated from Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet. Image: A painting of a monkey underneath the cover of EYE OF THE MONKEY, with an excerpt from the novel.
October 21, 2025 at 12:28 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
Solvej Balle, Sophia Hersi Smith, and Jennifer Russell discuss THE CALCULATION OF VOLUME (Book III), literary influences, and the translation process in this interview about the NBA-nominated novel. Read it here: wordswithoutborders.org?p=49459&prev...
@ndbooks.bsky.social
“The actual idea of a day repeating itself just appeared. At first, I thought it was fun, but the more I thought about it, the more foolish the idea seemed to me—especially after Groundhog Day came out. I tried to get rid of the idea, but it kept coming back.” — Solvej Balle Words Without Borders National Book Award Interviews: Solvej Balle, Sophia Hersi Smith, and Jennifer Russell on National Book Award Interviews: Solvej Balle, Sophia Hersi Smith, and Jennifer Russell, The Calculation of Volume. Image: black background with white and blue lettering. Cover of The Calculation of Volume, and three circular author photos of Solvej Balle, Sophia Hersi Smith, and Jennifer Russell.
October 20, 2025 at 2:57 PM
wwborders.bsky.social
In our second National Book Award interview of the week, we’re talking to finalists Neige Sinno and Natasha Lehrer about the creation and translation of SAD TIGER. Check it out here: wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...
National Book Awards Interviews: Neige Sinno and Natasha Lehrer on Sad Tiger “It was as if this voice was asking for the book, deserved to be explored in a long-term project, and I knew this from the start. Different projects and temporalities merged together, in a very organic way; it is not something very common in a writing life. Usually things are pretty messy and need a lot of busywork so that something interesting can come out.” — Neige Sinno, Words Without Borders. Image: Black background with text on the left hand side. Book jacket of SAD TIGER in orange and red, underneath a photo of Neige Sinno, and Natasha Lehrer.
October 17, 2025 at 2:55 PM