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

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…...

Samaresh’s Life Force – Indrani Datta

Translated from the Bengali by Rituparna Mukherjee On a wintry Saturday afternoon at the beginning of 2013, in the month of January-February, commonly called Magh, Samaresh found himself acutely worried. The place where the events…...

This is Not a Tapir, it’s an Anteater – Giuseppe A. SamonΓ 

Translated from the Italian by Brenda Porster It’s an anteater. It’s an anteater. It’s an anteater. But: no use. They show me, often enough, an anteater; even more often they ask me questions…...