At the Movies
Now showing: a celebration of film around the world. We're offering a double bill of documentaries and features, with memoirs from international directors and screenwriters complemented by tales of characters immersed in a world of film. read more>>>
Also previewed in this newsletter: Poetry from Three Continents,the second installment of "Our Man in Madrid," the second chapter of The Secret of Frequency A, book reviews, and Dispatches from the Middle East and elsewhere.
By Domenico Starnone
Translated from Italian by Elizabeth Harris
This tiny, tiny kid shot down the right aisle, then under the screen, then popped up the left aisle, to the back of the theater, and started all over again—propeller going all the while. more>>>
Nur Jehan
By Saadat Hasan Manto
Translated from Urdu by Richard Murphy
The barber pulled out a sharpened razor, placed it in his friend's hand, and said, "Cut out any piece of my flesh that you like."more>>>
Diary from Antonioni's "Red Desert"
By Flavio Nicolini
Translated from Italian by Maggie Fritz-Morkin
Today the six characters will take off their shoes, one by one, and will take their spots on the bed. more>>>
Mastroianni Day
By João Paulo Cuenca
Translated from Portuguese by Jethro Soutar
The classic “Mastroianni Day” requires a three-piece suit, dark sunglasses, and, preferably, a hat. more>>>
Director's Notes on Sway
By Nishikawa Miwa
Translated from Japanese by Linda Hoaglund
The man might not escape the death penalty. And I had become deeply involved with him and with his crime. more>>>
(Bleep), You (Bleeping) (Bleep): Dubbing American Films into Canadian French
By Robert Paquin
There are two mortal sins in film dubbing. more>>>
The Last Picture Show
By Ryu Murakami
Translated from Japanese by Ralph McCarthy
It felt funny being called a delinquent by a yakuza. more>>>
Crossing
By Habib Tengour
Translated from French by Marilyn Hacker
Noon is an extravagant abyss. more>>>
Freeing Myself
By Nguyen Phan Que Mai
Translated from Vietnamese by Bruce Weigl
The wind hands me a pair of wings and tells me to free myself from wings. more>>>
From the Deep Earth
By Nguyen Phan Que Mai
Translated from Vietnamese by Bruce Weigl
Your gaze opens the sky. The sun rises and forgets to set.more>>>
Thangara
By Cobbin Dale
Translated from Yindjibarndi by Shon Arieh-Lerer
He roamed the land eating men. more>>>
The Reckoning
By<
span class="ecxApple-converted-space"> Jorge Eduardo Benavides
Translated from Spanish by Jonathan Blitzer
That Presence—long feared—was once again in our midst.more>>>
The Delayed Arrival of the Writer:An Interview with Jorge Eduardo Benavides
By Jonathan Blitzer
Translated from Spanish by Jonathan Blitzer
I have realized that when a writer emigrates, it takes much longer for him to arrive as a writer than as a person. more>>>
The Secret of Frequency A: An Incredible Disaster, Part Two
By Eom Jyung-Hui and Ko Im-Hong
Translated from Korean by Heinz Insu Fenkl
He was tried in absentia and sentenced to death! If they find out he's doing research for us, we're doomed! more>>>
The Selected Stories of Mercè Rodoreda
Reviewed by Anderson Tepper
Rodoreda’s characters struggle with the crushing realities of life—airless marriages, the shrinking of dreams and horizons brought on by war and poverty, illness and grief, separations and departures. more>>>
Dezsö Kosztolányi’s Kornel Esti: A Novel
Reviewed by Jean Harris
Esti is not a classic, Gothic doppelganger, not Jekyll to the narrator's Hyde, but more of a magician who can seem to lift a house by playing a magic flute. more>>>
For our archive of recent articles related to recent events in Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria click here.
Magdy El Shafee’s Metro to be Published in English
By Susan Harris
We're delighted to report that Magdy El Shafee's graphic novel,Metro, will be published by Metropolitan Books in early 2012. Readers will recall that WWB published an extract in February 2008, and that the book was seized on publication in Egypt and Magdy and his publisher put on trial. more>>>
From the Translator: Agnes Scott Langeland on Kjell Askildsen’s “Dogs of Thessaloniki”
By Agnes Scott Langeland
My first encounter with Kjell Askildsen’s marvelous short stories was in 1995, in an anthology called Et stort øde landskap (A Wide Empty Landscape), published by Oktober in 1991. Their effect on me was searing. The simple, low-key language had unexpected force, making it almost painful to read the stories. Askildsen’s penetrating insights into dysfunctional relationships threw every incident into relief and illuminated moments of unease and discomfort. more>>>
The City and the Writer: In the Bronx with Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
By Nathalie Handal
Part of the Special City Series / New York City 2011
1. Can you describe the mood of the Bronx as you feel/see it?
The Bronx, like everywhere else, has many moods and many realities:
Near Co-Op City, Mrs. Haywood leans over the counter ignoring the half dozen teenage coworkers that huddle nearby. The beaded chains looped down from the sides of her reading glasses, around her wrinkled neck. Her gray hair is neatly coiffed. Her pearl necklace rests on the lace collar of her blouse. She adjusts her readers. Looking around discretely she slips off her heels and pushes her tired feet into fuzzy slippers. more>>>
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