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The Color Purple and the Toppling of American Gods
"In The Color Purple lies the truth, in its pages lie glorious, flammable ideas: how many fires could be lit with the simple, indomitable truth that a Black girl… More
Free Expression Daily Digest: Tuesday, September 20
Thai court finds British labor activist guilty of defamation A Thai court on Tuesday found a British labor activist guilty of defamation and computer crimes, a verdict that some experts… More
On Translating Miljenko Jergović
Russell Scott Valentino is the recipient of a 2016 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant for his translation of Rod by Bosnian-Herzegovinian and Croatian writer Miljenko Jergović. Read an excerpt of the translation… More
Magic and History: On Translating René Despestre
Written while the author was in exile and inspired by childhood memories of the village where he grew up, this classic of the Haitian literary tradition enchants the reader… More
That Which Issues Forth: My Love Affair with Juana I
Ana Arzoumanian's poem cycle, Juana I (Alción Editora, 2006), offers an intimate look at the queen of Castille and Aragon, dubbed mad by her contemporaries for sake of political… More
Economy of Means: On Translating Gemma Gorga
Based on the concept of a medieval book of hours, Gemma Gorga's award-winning collection of poetry, Llibre dels minuts (Book of Minutes) distills the devotional and quotidien aspects of… More
Morocco’s Forgotten History: On Translating Ahmed Bouanani
Les Persiennes, by Ahmed Bouanani, a volume of prose poems that arc across geography, history, and folklore to rescue Moroccan cultural memory, an act of remembering in the face… More
His Craft of Narration: On Translating Geet Chaturvedi
First published in 2008, Geet Chaturvedi's lyrical, award-winning novella, Simsim, was recognized for its groundbreaking contribution to contemporary Hindi fiction. Simsim narrates the clash between two Indias—one old and… More
Bridging French Modernism: On Translating Marcel Schwob
Marcel Schwob's Vies Imaginaries (1896) is a collection of 22 fictio-documentary stories blending the fantastic and the biographical, and which would later influence Borges' A Universal History of Infamy. More
Free Expression Daily Digest: Monday, September 19
Cambodia sentences rights activists to six months in prison, a journalist 'physically restrained' by Trump campaign staff, and more. More
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