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On Translating Li Shangyin
To read Li Shangyin’s poetry is to be beautifully disoriented. It is to encounter a unique lyricism comprised of layer upon layer of mythological, historical, and symbolist imagery all… More
Five Poems from Derangements of My Contemporaries
For no reason: bitter envy, lingering resentment towards others. / Drunkenly calling on ghosts, spirits. / Grieving sons reciting song lyrics. / Dressing in deep mourning at a cock… More
Beauty is a Wound
[U]pon her departure, the nineteen other girls followed her into her room, gathered on top of her bed, and resumed their conversation about how to amputate a Japanese soldier’s… More
Welcome Home, Shi Tao
When I started at PEN nearly six years ago, Shi Tao was one of my first priority cases. Now, he's finally free. More
On Translating Eka Kurniawan
Beauty is a Wound is pointed about the havoc appetite has wreaked upon a place and people of idyllic beauty...Kurniawan implicates his readers, who can’t help but take pleasure… More
The PEN Ten with Julia Fierro
John F. Kennedy said, "Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names." I’d revise that message: "Forgive your enemy, but never forget their story." More
PEN Member Shi Tao Released from Prison
Chinese poet, journalist and member of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC) Shi Tao, 15 months before the end of his 10-year sentence. More
Selected Poems of Anna Piwkowska
They’ll bury us, bury, scatter to dust, / and you, little girl with the blue jump rope, / and the boy who likes to look at the portrait /of… More
On Translating Anna Piwkowska
t is easy to identify with Piwkowska’s poetry, but it is also easy to become enthralled by the incantatory rhythms, to want to stay forever in her world of… More
One Way of Doing Battle
When I touched my wrist to my chest / it was shorthand for love. // When I returned & the house was empty // I carried his body with… More
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