Poetry from Mexico
Mothers
Purépecha Mother
She is not a queen.
Hungry, early in the morning she goes for firewood . . .
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Nonfiction from Mexico
Mothers
My Madre, Pure as Cumulous Clouds
by Liza Bakewell
"Madres are pure and perfect. In Mexico."
Poetry from Mexico
Drug Wars
Notes on a Zombie Cataclysm
by Luis Felipe Fabre
Because things
are turning weird: because they found
just the arm . . .
Poetry from Mexico
Mothers
Nothing Remains Empty
by Juan Gregorio Regino
There is a place in the Universe
where the memory of time
is recorded.
Fiction from Mexico
Leaving Home
A Failed Journey
by Aura Estrada
They warned her that one more offense against good behavior and the promised trip to the promised land (the United States) would be cancelled . . .
Poetry from Mexico
Leaving Home
Marías Mazahuas
by Fausto Guadarrama López
Where do you go, "Marías," where do you go?
Graphic Fiction from China
Love Stories
Sharing
by Duncan Jepson and Xie Peng
When I first came to the city, I watched the people fall in love.
Fiction from Egypt
Leaving Home
The Guest
by Miral Al-Tahawy
She undid the dirty belt from her waist so that he could look upon the body that was like a piece of smooth white cheese.
Poetry from Mexico
Drug Wars
Sleepless Homeland
by Carmen Boullosa
Did we lose you in a game of dice? . . .
Poetry from China
Fathers
Two or Three Things from the Past
by Yu Jian
He stood on the side watching everyone play . . .
Graphic Fiction from Egypt
Leaving Home
The Pharaohs of Egypt
by Florent Ruppert and Jérôme Mulot
"This way over there, you stupid savage."
Poetry from Egypt
Leaving Home
Things Elude Me
by Iman Mersal
One day I will pass by
the house that used to be my home . . .
Poetry from China
Love Stories
Poems for Parting
by Du Mu
Too much love
somehow became
no love at all
Nonfiction from China
Taboo Topics
The Story of a Homosexual: An Interview with Ni Dongxue
by Liao Yiwu
Just hold my hands tightly. I won't force you to kiss me or do anything.
Fiction from Egypt
Mothers
It’s a Chick, Not a Dog
by Jar al-Nabi al-Hilw
My mother knew he was walking after her. Almost certainly she knew. Do you want me to tell you why?
Nonfiction from China
Taboo Topics
This Country Must Break Apart
by Liao Yiwu
We are no longer poets; we have become witnesses of history.
Graphic Nonfiction from Egypt
Revolution
Two Million People in the Square
by Magdy El Shafee
We're the ones who overturned the riot police trucks.
Fiction from China
Taboo Topics
Death Fugue
by Sheng Keyi
How could anyone separate love from lust, any more than one could separate the flavor of chocolate out of chocolate ice cream?
Graphic Fiction from Egypt
Leaving Home
The Apartment in Bab el-Louk
by Donia Maher and Ganzeer
Outside your window, Cairo's nooks and crannies are lonely and forsaken, like a deserted crime scene.
Nonfiction from Mexico
Drug Wars
The Mystery of the Parakeet, the Rooster, and the Nanny Goat
by Fabrizio Mejía Madrid
The parakeet is cocaine, the rooster is the marijuana and the nanny goat is an AK-47 assault rifle.
Poetry from China
Love Stories
Poem to the Tune "Pure Peace"
by Li Bai
A cloud is her dress . . .
Nonfiction from Egypt
Leaving Home
Memories of Chernobyl
by Mohamed Makhzangi
The entire city began to wash itself ceaselessly . . .
Fiction from Egypt
Mothers
Mrs. Saniya's Holiday
by Na’am al-Baz
"Forget the admirer, Saniya. This guy will not take care of you."
Nonfiction from Mexico
Drug Wars
Violence and Drug-Trafficking in Mexico
by Juan Villoro
In Mexico, people will pay up to $70,000 dollars for a license to hunt and kill a bighorn sheep. Killing a man is much cheaper . . .
Fiction from China
Love Stories
Love’s Labor
by Ye Mi
"You noticed the way she came over, her chest out, eyes narrowed? She's interested."
Fiction from Egypt
Friendship
The Veiler of All Deeds
by Hamdi Abu Golayyel
When Abu Gamal revealed Shaykh Hasan's secret to the residents of Number 36 . . .
Nonfiction from China
Taboo Topics
An Interview with Wu Wenjian
by Liao Yiwu
I was nobody, like a piece of sesame in a big pot of soup.
Fiction from China
Love Stories
Appointment in K City
by Li Xiao
"I know all the tricks the likes of you
will use to get your hands on a girl."
Fiction from China
Love Stories
The Old Cicada
by Can Xue
“Who is the spider? Isn't it simply me . . . ?"
Fiction from China
Fathers
Appendix
by Yu Hua
My father used to be a surgeon. He was strong and healthy, and talked in a resonant voice.
Fiction from China
Fathers
Timid as a Mouse
by Yu Hua
"Those who are afraid of tigers, raise your hands."
Nonfiction from China
Taboo Topics
An Interview with Yan Lianke
by Chenxin Jiang
. . . the most chilling thing is the way we censor ourselves.
Nonfiction from China
Taboo Topics
Prison Memoirs
by Wang Dan
"If you happen to be behind bars, you should keep talking . . . "
Poetry from Egypt
Revolution
Sometimes Wisdom Possesses Me
by Iman Mersal
One day wisdom will possess me
and I will not go to the party.
and I will not go to the party.
Graphic Fiction from Egypt
Revolution
Proud Beggars
by Albert Cossery and Golo
What does a man need to live? A bit of bread is enough.
Poetry from Egypt
Friendship
Amina
by Iman Mersal
My perfect friend,
why don't you leave now.
Fiction from Mexico
Leaving Home
Dreams and Memories of a Common Man
by Marcos Matías Alonso
I even started to dream of returning to my village with a car and a lot of money.
Graphic Fiction from Egypt
Friendship
The Last of the Bunch
by Migo Rolzz
You're young and I don't want my feelings to get hurt!
Nonfiction from Egypt
Revolution
The Egyptian Revolution Won’t be Fooled
by Nawal El Saadawi
We have learned from history that every revolution has enemies.
Fiction from Japan
Ghosts, Dreams, and Visions
Spirit Summoning, Part I
by Sakumi Tayama
We weren’t just regular mediums, either—we were frauds.
Fiction from Japan
Ghosts, Dreams, and Visions
The Kiso Wayfarer
by Okamoto Kido
He’s a ghost. He definitely isn’t human.
Fiction from Japan
Ghosts, Dreams, and Visions
Compos Mentis
by Kanji Hanawa
The seat was wet because something had made it wet.
Fiction from Japan
Ghosts, Dreams, and Visions
The Hole in the Garden, Part I
by Sakumi Tayama
Well, now that I had the pig I had no choice but to raise her as best I could.
Fiction from Japan
Love Stories
Reunion
by Ryuichiri Utsumi
"She wants you out of her life. We'll look after the baby . . . "
Fiction from Japan
Love Stories
Cavities and Kindness
by Nao-Cola Yamazaki
It was almost Christmas, I had a cavity, and I was in the process of getting dumped.
Fiction from Japan
Love Stories
Where Have All the Sundays Gone?
by Mieko Kawakami
How do you say "shock" in Japanese?
Nonfiction from Japan
Ghosts, Dreams, and Visions
Director's Notes on "Sway"
by Nishikawa Miwa
"Give me a break. What is this?"
Fiction from Japan
Ghosts, Dreams, and Visions
The Trapped Boy
by Keiichiro Hirano
My heart has bared a set of fangs and they’re gnawing away at my chest.
Nonfiction from Japan
Memories
Walking the Keihin Factory Belt with Stuart Dybek
by Motoyuki Shibata
"He wants you to join him. To play baseball at the riverside."
Poetry from Japan
Memories
Riverwilt
by Nomura Kiwao
Can I get across—Walk across?
Fiction from Japan
Memories
The Memory
by Mitsuyo Kakuta
In the end, her beauty terrifies them.
Fiction from Japan
Memories
Stance Dots
by Toshiyuki Horie
“The sound of the pins. Listen when they’re bouncing around.”
Fiction from Japan
Leaving Home
The Farside
by Hideo Furukawa
“Hey, sister, you’ve got sharp eyes. It’s a natural talent.”
Fiction from Japan
Leaving Home
The Last Picture Show
by Ryu Murakami
I’d never forgive that film for making a man like Tatsumi cry.
Fiction from Japan
Leaving Home
Sentimental Education
by Kaho Nakayama
The woman gave birth to a baby girl at the maternity hospital and then disappeared the very same day.
Graphic Nonfiction from Japan
Leaving Home
A Drifting Life
by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
That's what you get for drawing manga every day.
Fiction from Japan
Transformation
Metamorphosis
by Fumiko Enchi
"But remember, no matter how upset you feel, you mustn't lose your composure."
Fiction from Japan
Transformation
When My Wife Was A Shiitake
by Kyoko Nakajima
"If I could go back in time to another age, I think I’d choose to go back to the time when I was a shiitake."
Fiction from Japan
Transformation
Face
by Asa Nonami
"Notice, please! Tell me that I’m beautiful!"
Fiction from Japan
Transformation
Narcissus
by Dazai Osamu
“People are going to laugh at you. Don’t go through with this.”
Poetry from Japan
Transformation
Do Not Tremble
by Hirata Toshiko
I did not know that the earth
Is an unruly cradle
Fiction from Japan
Transformation
Once Upon a Swing
by Shinji Ishii
I once had a baby brother. An oh-so-very strange one at that.
Graphic Fiction from Japan
Transformation
Tetsu of the Yamanote Line
by Osamu Tezuka
Those fingers of yours were the lightest the Yamanote Line ever saw. Or have you lost your touch?
Nonfiction from Russia
Love Stories
The Wondrous Deer of the Eternal Hunt
by Svetlana Alexievich
A Russian woman is prepared to suffer . . . But we're terrible dreamers . . .
Poetry from Russia
Love Stories
"To kiss a forehead is to erase worry."
by Marina Tsvetaeva
I kiss your forehead.
Fiction from Russia
Love Stories
Hello?
by Dmitry Biriukov
If we didn’t know love we would have withered and there would be plenty of room for everyone in the bus . . .
Fiction from Russia
Love Stories
Petroleum Venus
by Alexander Snegiryov
You can’t in fairness say it is ugly, but something like that just doesn’t get called beautiful.
Fiction from Russia
Leaving Home
Pears from Gudauty
by Ludmila Ulitskaya
The pears ran out at the same time as she ran out of peoples.
Fiction from Russia
Leaving Home
A Dream in Polar Fog
by Yuri Rytkheu
“We believe that we live on the best land in the world. That’s the beauty, that no one wants it except for us . . . "
Fiction from Russia
Leaving Home
The Bed
by Vladimir Vertlib
We made it into the country despite all the red tape and legal hurdles. If you believe in something strongly enough, it will come true . . .
Graphic Fiction from Russia
Leaving Home
The Only True Guide to Russia: Hidden Secrets Revealed
by Ilia Kitup
Everyone who has never been to Russia is well aware of the fact . . .
Fiction from Russia
Leaving Home
The Stone Guest
by Hamid Ismailov
"…the artistes, they can not to take part in big lyings."
Fiction from Mexico
Mothers
The Egyptian Tomb
by Beatriz Espejo
Every time she visited, she felt a crushing weariness, as though her entire life were caving in on her.
Fiction from Mexico
Leaving Home
The Gringo Champion
by Aura Xilonen
And to think I swore I’d stay out of trouble on this side of the world.
Fiction from Russia
Transformation
Milgrom
by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya
It's May, it's the year nineteen hundred and something, a hot spring and there's nothing to wear.
Fiction from Russia
Transformation
The Golem in the Mirror
by Nadezhda Gorlova
I followed the crazy old woman. It was my own dear grandmother.
Fiction from Russia
Transformation
None of Your Business
by Natalia Klyuchareva
By the time Yurka went into middle school, the disgrace had definitely come untucked, like a dirty shirt.
Nonfiction from Russia
Transformation
My Story of Chess
by Shota Iatashvili
And I wanted to play her so badly . . . I was just itching to play her . . . I had my stare ready . . .
Fiction from Russia
Transformation
Arm Wrestling in Chebachinsk
by Aleksandr Chudakov
"Think that's funny?" said Grandfather. "Think I've gone all weak? . . ."
Poetry from Russia
Leaving Home
Soul, you are a street
by Aleksey Porvin
I am a paving block and slipperiness.
Nonfiction from Russia
Leaving Home
On the Moscow Metro and Being Gay
by Dmitry Kuzmin
It is therefore useless to say here: “I’m gay and I have rights.”
Poetry from Russia
Leaving Home
An Uncoincidence, A Noncoincidence
by Larissa Miller
Someone rushes to a house that's been moved away.
Poetry from Russia
Money and Possessions
Unity of Form
by Regina Derieva
I've always received
kingly presents. I got
worn-out pans
and rusted teapots,
patched up bedsheets
and unstitched shirts . . .
Graphic Nonfiction from Russia
Money and Possessions
Slaves of Moscow
by Victoria Lomasko
“Why do the police not help us? Where do citizens turn when they have been deceived as we have? Does money really decide everything nowadays?”
Poetry from Russia
Money and Possessions
Fragments from the Dollmaker's Life
by Danila Davydov
—What happens in your shop
Why do you spend all night and day in there
Fiction from Russia
Money and Possessions
Grandmother's Little Hut
by Andrei Platonov
My father left us for a fat woman.
Nonfiction from Iran
Leaving Home
Hunger
by Salar Abdoh
The city is food.
I was fifteen back then and always hungry.
Fiction from Iran
Leaving Home
Ney Boulevard
by Ghazal Mosadeq
“So you’re suddenly so sensitive ever since you became gay?”
Graphic Nonfiction from Iran
Leaving Home
A Short Guide to Being the Perfect Political Refugee
by Mana Neyestani
This child has all the signs he'll have a promising future as a refugee. We should enroll him in French classes!
Fiction from Iran
War Stories
The Neighbor
by Goli Taraghi
We have no choice but to obey.
Poetry from Iran
Transformation
I Pity the Garden
by Forugh Farrokhzad
He carries his despair everywhere,
just as he carries his birth certificate
diary, napkin, lighter and pen.
Fiction from Iran
Transformation
Encounter
by Goli Taraghi
I have a feeling that it is a mistake to go to the party at Mr. M.'s, especially under the circumstances.
Graphic Nonfiction from Iran
Transformation
An Iranian Metamorphosis
by Mana Neyestani
Write why you drew that cartoon and why you chose a Turkish word.
Fiction from Iran
Leaving Home
Galileo
by Aliyeh Ataei
One wrong move and somebody was bound to shout, “Watch yourself! You’re in Iran now."
Fiction from Iran
War Stories
Rahman's Story
by Hossein Mortezaeian Abkenar
I am your friend. I like you, whoever you are. I have written in your language so that you will know I’m not dead.
Fiction from Iran
Memories
Green Sour Orange
by Neda Kavoosifar
I tell him I want a red ribbon. I hear my voice rippling in the air.
Fiction from Iran
War Stories
Like a Body Turned Inside Out
by Yaghoub Yadali
“Wouldn’t it be better if we went back? Something doesn’t feel right.”
Poetry from Iran
Memories
Elegy
by Ahmad Shamlou
And so we repeat the round
of night and day
in this way
even
now . . .
Nonfiction from Iran
Leaving Home
How to be a Woman in Tehran
by Habibe Jafarian
Any way you look at it, it’s this town that taught me to be ruthless.
Nonfiction from Iran
Leaving Home
A Year Among the Boat People, My People
by Amir Ahmadi Arian
What brings people together isn’t language. If anything, when times are hard, shared language can deepen divisions.
Nonfiction from Iran
War Stories
The Cleric and I
by Salar Abdoh
“Would I take a bullet for this man?”
Poetry from Iran
Love Stories
The Fish
by Ahmad Shamlou
I think my heart has never been
like this
so warm and red.Poetry from Iran
Love Stories
Connection
by Forugh Farrokhzad
I sensed him billow all around me,
radiating towards infinity
Nonfiction from Iran
Love Stories
For the Love of the Books
by Habibe Jafarian
I was determined; one day I’d marry a book.
Fiction from Korea
Food
Wizard Bakery
by Koo Byung-Mo
Give the cookie to someone you don’t like.
Poetry from Korea
Food
Injeolmi Rice Cakes
by Kim Sa-in
When Grandmother came home at sunset,
if her business had been good, I would be so disappointed.
Fiction from Korea
Food
The Vegetarian
by Han Kang
Before my wife turned vegetarian, I’d always thought of her as completely unremarkable in every way.
Fiction from Korea
Leaving Home
Ascending Scales
by Ae-ran Kim
I’m not sure how it occurred to my mother, who ran a dumpling store, to make me learn piano.
Fiction from Korea
Fathers
Tree of Kisses
by Kim Bi
“What’s wrong with this kid?”
It wasn’t a real question.
Fiction from Korea
Fathers
The Suit
by Young-ha Kim
“My father passed away. Or at least, that’s what I was told.”
Fiction from Korea
Love Stories
Dori and Jina
by Choi Jin-young
Don’t worry. We’re not bad people. No one’s infected, and we don’t eat kid liver.
Fiction from Korea
Love Stories
I'll Be Right There
by Kyung-sook Shin
“I thought you weren’t afraid of spiders anymore.”
Poetry from Korea
Love Stories
The Cupboard with Strawberry Jam
by Lee Hyemi
We stood on our tiptoes and fumbled around the top shelf for a taste of those red, red things. . . .
Fiction from Korea
Love Stories
Genesis
by Jeon Sam-hye
My only real fear might have been expulsion. But you know that never happens at our school. We don’t have anywhere to go.
Poetry from Korea
Leaving Home
Earning My Keep
by Jeong Ho-Seung
Mother,
I think I'll go pay a visit to Hell.
Graphic Nonfiction from Korea
Leaving Home
Grass
by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim
"Don't worry about me. I'm your daughter, ain't I? Ma, you just worry about yourself."
Graphic Fiction from Korea
Leaving Home
Tell Me Where to Go
by Kim Han-min
You're a born stranger. You'll feel out of place in every country.
Nonfiction from Korea
Food
A Meal of Solitude for a Restless Heart
by Jeon Sungtae
I had never paid so much attention to the act of eating.
Fiction from Korea
Leaving Home
Garden of My Childhood
by Oh Jung-hee
Hold on tight. And when I held on to his hair, as he told me to, I got his sticky and greasy hair tonic all over my hands.
Poetry from Iran
Memories
The Poem
by Mohsen Emadi
the poem is riding a bicycle;
trembling and in haste.
Poetry from the Caribbean
Love Stories
If I could live on the vision without trying to say it
by Pedro de Jesús
My bet is that what’s real
is infinitely beautiful.
Fiction from the Caribbean
Transformation
Swimming Upstream
by Eduardo del Llano
“I came to see you, doctor, because sometimes my soul leaves my body and reappears in the body of a baseball player in a tight situation.”
Fiction from the Caribbean
Leaving Home
Cinderella's Secret Dream
by Ena Lucia Portela
She had a secret dream: To be an actress in soap operas.
Poetry from the Caribbean
Resilience
There is No Theorem (A Regguetón)
by Omar Pérez
everything I hear seems to be a slogan
to be or not to be, I think therefore I am
Poetry from the Caribbean
Resilience
The Marilyn Monroe of Santo Domingo
by Frank Báez
I go to the four cardinal points looking for myself
in a procession with all the women I’ve been
Fiction from the Caribbean
Resilience
La Belle Amour Humaine
by Lyonel Trouillot
I suppose it’s the same where you come from, one town after another and all different. There are towns that yammer and others that whisper.
Nonfiction from the Caribbean
Disaster
January 12, 2010
by Lyonel Trouillot
The noise, first of all. As if some unknown monster were crashing through everything beneath us to get to the surface.
Fiction from the Caribbean
Leaving Home
Detour
by Évelyne Trouillot
You can’t go on living in this country if you care about everybody . . .
Fiction from the Caribbean
Resilience
Primal Needs
by Évelyne Trouillot
Yes, it was time for him to follow his dreams and to quit trying so hard to please others. But first he would stop by the kitchen to grab a few of the cheese biscuits that Josette always left sitting on the counter.
Graphic Nonfiction from the Caribbean
Transformation
Black Spring
by Maxence Emery and Thomas Humeau
"Shouldnta made fun of me, moron! That'll teach you!"
Nonfiction from the Caribbean
Disaster
The World is Moving Around Me
by Dany Laferrière
“I’d like to write something about this . . ."
Poetry from the Caribbean
Disaster
Port-au-Prince on an IV Drip
by Louis-Philippe Dalembert
drip drop
port-au-prince’s life slips away
Poetry from the Caribbean
Resilience
Kriol Soldier
by Emiliana Bernard-Stephenson
Some do not know it . . . and some do not like it.
Poetry from the Caribbean
Resilience
Self-Portrait
by Frank Báez
I’ve been knocked cold. Slapped. Slandered.
Booed. Stoned.
Nonfiction from the Caribbean
Leaving Home
We Cried a River of Laughter
by Marie Moïse
I spoke my first words in the language that forced my father, his sisters, and my father’s father to forget theirs.
Fiction from the Caribbean
Leaving Home
Nothing to Declare
by Anabel Enríquez Piñeiro
There’s not a single human on the ship besides us.
Poetry from the Caribbean
Love Stories
Women's Fantasies
by Suzanne Dracius
After all, what’s the danger
in doing these things that you say—
if by chance we should do them—
as long as we do them
while wildly insane?
Fiction from the Caribbean
Resilience
Bruises
by Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro
I've come to the conclusion that purple is the color of secrets.
Poetry from the Caribbean
Disaster
Poem for Children with Trouble Sleeping
by Jean D'Amérique
don’t beat yourself up
that’s why the cops have jobs
Fiction from the Caribbean
Love Stories
Interstellar Biochocolate Mousse à la solitaire . . . For Two
by Yoss
Set aside four containers to chill (but not in the freezer or in outer space).
Fiction from the Caribbean
Resilience
Carnival Life
by Gisèle Pineau
Four days when they'd show the world that even though life had left them by the wayside, they hadn't been beaten yet . . .