Here, translation unlocks stories from languages afar, people unknown yet familiar in voices that stun you and resonate with you. Here is your book of world stories

 

FICTION

Urdu Fiction; Psyche; translation

Psycheβ€” Mahmoud Yasien

Translated from the Urdu by Shams Afif SiddiqiΒ  "We are a psychic process which we do not control or only partly direct. Consequently, we cannot have any final judgment about ourselves or our lives. If we…...
Fiction, headland, Marco Etheridge, beaches

Between Headlandsβ€” Marco Etheridge

He’s twenty-five, thirty feet above the wave-hardened sand, his fingers wrapped over a good knob, right hand reaching for another hold. Then the jug hold sheers clean from the sea stack. His left-hand snaps…...
Fuchsia

A Feud In Suburbiaβ€” Dan Richardson

A hair-raising yowl. Then thump, thump, and thump. Then silenceβ€” for a second. Yes, there’s no denying that I was deliberately aiming my car at the cat. I think you’ll agree, it was justified. It all…...
Childhood memories

Miwepaβ€” Eva Taylor

Translated from the Italian by Olivia E. Sears The place where I was born has no name. Everybody simply called it Miwepa, which stood for Mitteldeutsche Wellpappenfabrik, and means something like 'The Central German Corrugated Cardboard…...

Cold Teaβ€” Shaheen Akhtar

Translated from the Bengali by Rituparna Mukherjee The bus lurched to a halt under the darkness of the aerial roots of the banyan tree. The inside of the bus, packed full of passengers, choking in…...

Sparrow’s Flesh – Pratibha Sarkar

Translated from the Bengali by Sukti Sarkar On days when we fussed and went to bed without eating, β€œyou'll lose flesh worth a sparrow from that body of yours when you wake up tomorrow,” Ma…...

The Beauty Parlor – Arupa Patangia Kalita

Translated from the Assamese by Ranjita Biswas Eva. Short, rather meaningless, a name given without much thought. The person who bears this name does not have anything to set her apart from the milieu. She…...

Unfortunately, I can’t dance the tango – AdriΓ‘n N. Bravi

Translated from the Italain by Pina Piccolo I know a couple who two or three nights a week go to dance the tango in a suburban theater used as a dance hall. The…...

Parentheticals V: Nothing About Nothing – Tim Tomlinson

Don’t ask me nothin’ about nothin’—I just might tell you the truth. – Bob Dylan1. The Boy Who Is Habitually LateIn class we’re discussing Freud. His idea that…...