On Translating Vasily Kamensky
Approaching words as assemblages of letters, Kamensky employs the Futurist device of sdvig, or distortion, to inject modularity, pliability, and indeterminacy into the lexical field: by combining words, or… More
Tango with Cows
Tango with Cows is a key artifact in the history of Russian Futurism, modernist typography, visual poetry, and artist’s books. Printed in Moscow in 1914 on brightly-colored pentagonal wallpaper,… More
The Country of Planks
No one is the homeland, was the / apparent scream of the blind planks / in the dead homeland of the sea // This is how the chilean prisons… More
Announcing the 2013 PEN Literary Award Winners
PEN America announced today the winners and runners-up of the 2013 PEN Literary Awards, the most comprehensive literary awards program in the country. More
Death by Dominoes
The maximum-security prison was a depraved place, a hermetic kingdom of the damned, haunted by its own terrible spirit. It was a hulking brute of a building, stout as… More
Conviction
Ben didn’t know his way out, so I’ve had to show him. And I couldn’t have done it without your help. For that, I’m not going to kill you. More
PEN Announces 2013 Translation Fund Winners
The Translation Fund, now celebrating its tenth year, is pleased to announce the winners of this year’s competition. From a field of 180 applicants, the Fund’s Advisory Board has… More
Appeals from the Senseless
I’ll flood the courts with my appeals. / I’ll complain about my prison meals. // Here’s another thing I refuse to see. / The courts are slow because of… More
Murder is Murder
Murder is typically a desperate crime committed by desperate people who typically don’t think or care about the punishment options they might face if they are caught. More
People I Know
They are girls in buffalo stances, / that dance for men they hate, / who even sometimes hate themselves, / but still paint the pain on in the morning… More