“The city is a bad wind, / the suburbs, nauseating heat waves, / and the streets, breath wheezed out of fevered lungs,” from “We Count Humans by the Dead,” by Geet Chaturvedi (trans. by Anita Gopalan)
June 20, 2025
An interview with Karen Fang, whose new book, Background Artist: The Life and World of Tyrus Wong (Rutgers University Press, 2025), is a biography of the Chinese immigrant artist, centenarian, and Disney legend who helped make Bam
“Let the world know that we are ghosts indeed—since ghosts cannot be extinguished, nor can they be defeated.”
Before burning them, a writer reads through his diaries to recall disappointments, failed love stories, and the details of ordinary relationships.
“Dreaming of a clear sky, unmarred by airplanes. / Of clouds observing their own reflection in the windows’ tears. / An innocent day: no news of dead friends in the mail,” from “Dreaming of a Clear Sky,” by Nasser Rabah (trans. Wiam El-Tamami)
“A moment ago I was screaming under ash and rubble — / A final missile sent me vaulting up your way / and now I’ll inform you of what you’re incapable of / understanding!,” from “To That Final Missile, My Thanks,” by Hend Jouda (trans. Ali Al-Jamri)
“I have fingers, for feeling the shiver my friend described when her lover kissed each finger / Not for wiping away my nephew’s tears as his chest is eaten by the infection in the tent,” from “What I Have,” by Shrouq Mohammed Doghmost (trans. Omnia Amin)
Misfire
A Russian police officer tracks the surprising release of a prisoner to fight in the war against Ukraine. Recalling the prisoner’s capture, the officer regrets his gun’s misfire. Or was it?
A Cough
In this flash fiction from Argentina, a woman with a long list of symptoms empties herself during a medical exam.
Pizza
A mourner at a funeral reflects on the role of queer elders.
A writer living in Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza faces great loss with no way to say goodbye.
Myth lives on in Central Asia, but it has changed shape. Through multimedia projects, audiences become participants in rituals rather than mere participants, and multimedia artists create myth anew.
As Nettel’s principal English-language translator, Harvey shared insights from her translation of Nettel’s work, including how ambiguity makes readers active agents in meaning creation and the feature of doubling—of one thing containing, if you look closely and courageously enough, something else.
Traversing the Human/Simian Divide: A Conversation with Prateek Vats
A conversation with Prateek Vats, whose film Eeb Allay Ooo! is part of an emergent oeuvre of multispecies cinema from India.
Punishment Without Crime: A Conversation with Laila Lalami
A conversation between Emily Doyle and Laila Lalami, whose The Dream Hotel, takes a harrowing look at data-driven surveillance.
Doubt and Interpretation in Someone Like Us: A Conversation with Dinaw Mengestu
An interview with Dinaw Mengestu, whose latest novel Someone Like Us, is both “mystery and meditation” that “challenges [the] dominant narrative with a multiplicity of stories.”
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