All eyes are trained on Indonesia right now. Its tourism is flourishing more than ever; foreigners from the West are flooding there to work and live cheaply and healthily (for better or worse), and its art scene is finally being celebrated the world over. Some of the biggest names in poetry, … [Read more...]
8 translated books that transcend the limits of language to read now
March 24, 2024 by
Plunge into the world of translated fiction with a diverse curation of eight titles from different corners of the world—each carefully brought into the English language by dedicated literary translators. Jhumpa Lahiri called literary translation an “act of radical change”. Valeria Luiselli … [Read more...]
7 Indonesian Novels in Translation That Push Boundaries
September 15, 2023 by
Dias Novita Wuri, author of "Birth Canal" recommends Nusantara fiction that shines a light on the taboo. Growing up as a Javanese daughter, there was one word that was drilled deep into my head by my mother: malu, which means “shame.” I had a huge list of things that I shouldn’t do or say because … [Read more...]
Jezebels, Jazz and Rijsttafel
August 24, 2023 by
Dear readers, I never witnessed my grandmothers interact — I don’t think they were ever in the same time zone together, or even the same continent — but they managed to present a united front about some essential principles. Hardly anyone was entitled to privacy, and very few stories could get by … [Read more...]
New International Fiction: Dark Histories, Daunting Labors
July 1, 2023 by
CROOKED PLOW (Verso, 276 pp., paperback, $19.95), by the Afro-Brazilian author Itamar Vieira Junior (and translated by Johnny Lorenz), offers a salt-of-the-earth paean to a land where “the blood of history flows like a river.” Life is hard on the Água Negra plantation in northeastern Brazil in the … [Read more...]