Pain, Euphoria, Utopia at a Polish-Ukrainian literature festival in Amsterdam By Arturo Desimone “I’m thrown back by a boot, I have no strength left, In vain I beg the rabble of pogrom, To jeers of “Kill the Jews, and save our Russia!” My mother’s being beaten by a clerk. O, Russia of my heart, I … Continue reading Isaac Babel’s Ghost Was Not on the Guest List
Notes on a Return to the Ever-Dying Lands: Those Without Tombs in Memory Park
On poems by the disappeared Argentinean child Franca Jarach, and her mother’s recent statements to the German Chancellor. A video on YouTube went viral in Argentina a few weeks ago. It shows one of the May Plaza Mothers, Vera Jarach, coming to meet the visiting German chancellor in Memory Park (Parque de la Memoria). Merkel seems … Continue reading Notes on a Return to the Ever-Dying Lands: Those Without Tombs in Memory Park
Hebrew Speculative Fiction in Translation
We may not have a ton of Hebrew speculative fiction in English translation (SFT) (or Hebrew sf at all), but what we do have shows the diverse and highly-imaginative ways in which Hebrew-language writers explore the complexities of ethnicity, religion, and the State of Israel. From horrifying dystopias to meditations on mysticism and fantasy literature, … Continue reading Hebrew Speculative Fiction in Translation
Ottoman/Turkish Women’s Autobiographical Narratives, 19th to Early 20th Century
By Dr. Roberta Micallef European men and women fantasized about, wrote about and painted Middle Eastern, especially Ottoman/Turkish, women for decades. Ottoman and Turkish women were not silent passive participants in this conversation. They wrote back. Some participated in the stereotypes abounding about them and others fought them, but all of those who participated in … Continue reading Ottoman/Turkish Women’s Autobiographical Narratives, 19th to Early 20th Century
Pakistani Author Bilal Tanweer on His Recent Translation of the Classic LOVE IN CHAKIWARA
Originally published on Bookwitty Muhammad Khalid Akhtar (1920–2002), modern Urdu literature's great master, worked as an electrical engineer in Karachi and began writing while still in service. He was a prolific writer whose oeuvre consisted of novels, short stories, essays, reviews, parodies and travelogues. His short story Khoya hua ufaq (written in 1943) was published … Continue reading Pakistani Author Bilal Tanweer on His Recent Translation of the Classic LOVE IN CHAKIWARA
Pakistani Author Maha Khan Phillips on her New Novel, The Curse of the Mohenjodaro
Originally published on Bookwitty Maha Khan Phillips is the author of Beautiful from this Angle and The Mystery of the Aagnee Ruby. She is a financial journalist and the editor of Professional Investor Magazine in the UK, where she lives part of the year, the rest of the time she spends in Karachi. Her novels … Continue reading Pakistani Author Maha Khan Phillips on her New Novel, The Curse of the Mohenjodaro
Daastan: Redefining the Foundations of Pakistan’s Publishing Industry
Pakistan’s publishing industry is operating offline. Editors, book agents and publishing houses are few in number, making it difficult for young people to get their work across to a large audience. According to the ISBN International, there are only 2,277 registered publishers all over Pakistan whereas in the USA alone, there are more than 400,000 … Continue reading Daastan: Redefining the Foundations of Pakistan’s Publishing Industry
In ‘1917,’ the Feverish Poetry of Russia’s Revolutions
Few socio-political shifts have seen such immediate, impassioned literary attention as the events that shook Russia in 1917. One hundred years have passed, yet many of the poems and stories wrung from this historic moment remain as able to speak to us as they were a century ago. In 1917: Stories and Poems from the … Continue reading In ‘1917,’ the Feverish Poetry of Russia’s Revolutions
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 