“Lidija Dimkovska enriches our contemporary museum of literary wonders with her powerful, grotesque, weird details and episodes told within the merry old novelistic tradition.” — Dubravka Ugrešić, author of Baba Laid an Egg A coming-of-age saga of two sisters, with an incredible twist… It is 1984, and twelve-year-old twins Zlata and Srebra live in communist … Continue reading Title Pick: A Spare Life by Lidija Dimkovska
This month, the magazine Words Without Borders has published its 8th queer issue, and WWB Campus is featuring two stories with suggested pairings from our site and resources: From Turkey, we have a piece of graphic literature named after the battle-cry of the LGBTI (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex) movement in Turkey: “Where are you … Continue reading Words Without Borders International Queer Issue and Teaching Recommendations
If imagining parts of Eastern Europe conjures up images of grey tower blocks and pickled cabbage, Istros Books is here to change that. Our mission is to shine a light on that ‘other’ Europe and reveal its glories through the works of its best writers. We endeavour to find the best from a wealth of … Continue reading Publisher Spotlight: Istros Books
From award-winning Norwegian author Arne Svingen comes “an unusually exciting and funny story” (Dagbladet) about a relentlessly positive teenager who uses his love of opera to cope with his less-than-perfect home life. Bart is an eternal optimist. At thirteen years old, he’s had a hard life. But Bart knows that things won’t get any better … Continue reading USBBY Outstanding International Book Pick: The Ballad of the Broken Nose by Arne Svingen
Slavenka Drakulić continues her look at life after communism in the book Cafe Europa her sequel to How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed. It's a great read and an honest read from the 1990s that rings true close to twenty years after she wrote it. If you think regular consumers in the West sometimes … Continue reading Review: Cafe Europa by Slavenka Drakulić
Imagine living in a country where your political system did not consider your needs as a woman and mother important enough to provide for. It's easy enough in the West to bemoan the superficiality of a consumer culture, but how long could you last, ladies, in a country that had no consumer culture at all? … Continue reading Review: How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed by Slavenka Drakulić
Hedgemond the Hunter is a house-proud hedgehog whose attachment to his home mystifies the other animals in this narrative poem. After Hedgemond enjoys a lovely dinner with Fox, he insists on returning home despite the late hour. Miffed, Fox follows him to discover what all the fuss is about. En route Wolf, Bear, and Wild … Continue reading Review: Hedgehog’s Home by Branco Čopić
A Midsummer Night’s Press was founded in New Haven, CT in 1991. Hand-printing on a letterpress, it published broadsides of poems by Nancy Willard, Joe Haldeman, and Jane Yolen, among others, in signed, limited editions of 126 copies, numbered 1-100 and lettered A-Z. One of the broadsides–“Will” by Jane Yolen–won a Rhysling Award. In 1993, … Continue reading Publisher Spotlight: A Midsummer Night’s Press
Air Cage All children on wheels have gotten helmets, and trenches have been dug around the tracks so we can’t cross them, which destroyed our collective memory of walking on rails. There’s a program, scribbled with yellow chalk on a blackboard: activities in nature. Young sparrows don’t kill themselves when they fall out of a … Continue reading Excerpt: Anything Could Happen by Jana Putrle Srdic
Our goal as a small press is to take advantage of new developments in publishing to increase the volume of quality English translations of poetry and prose originating from Central, Eastern, and Southeastern regions of Europe. The book publishing industry has undergone defining changes in the past few years. The introduction of e-books and print-on-demand … Continue reading Publisher Spotlight: Plamen Press
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 