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Fiction

A foggy skyline across a body of water in Hong Kong
Photo by Hakan Nural on Unsplash
South Lantau Island, Hong Kong
By Wong Ching Hang
A researcher planning to emigrate explores the rural landscape of South Lantau Island with a friend in this quietly ominous story.
Translated from Chinese by Fion Tse & Chenxin Jiang
MultimediaMultilingual
A red double decker bus driving under a bridge
Photo by Pao Pattarapol on Unsplash
Clearing Out
By Chiu Chun Li
A newlywed remembers her childhood friend, a star student turned imprisoned political activist.
Translated from Chinese by Chenxin Jiang
Multimedia
Steam rising from a pan on a gas stove
Photo by Caroline Badran on Unsplash
Sliced Pork with Garlic Sauce
By Kay So
A mother brings home-cooked food to her incarcerated son in Kay So’s moving story.
Translated from Chinese by Catherine Xinxin Yu
MultimediaMultilingual
A foggy highway in Hong Kong
Photo by Stella P on Unsplash
Ashes to Ashes
By Cheung Yuen-man
Cheung Yuen-man’s dark story is set against an all-consuming fog in which a cat falls ill and a husband mysteriously vanishes.
Translated from Chinese by Michelle Chan Schmidt
MultimediaMultilingual
A row of ceramic bunny figurines
Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash
The Best Years
By Gigi Leung
Let the interest pile up and snowball. Let tomorrow’s me sob all night instead.
Translated from Chinese by Jennifer Feeley
MultimediaMultilingual
Jazz musician Ambrose Akinmusire playing the trumpet
Photo of Ambrose Akinmusire by Dirk Neven on Wikimedia Commons
Self-Portrait in Blue
By Katia Dansoko Touré
At just eighteen, she’s the most desirable young woman in all of Boké.
Translated from French by Maren Baudet-Lackner
A picture of Italo Calvino pasted onto a beige background
Photo of Italo Calvino on Wikimedia Commons
Mother Tongue
By Osdany Morales
Georges Perec had been our physics teacher the previous year.
Translated from Spanish by Esther Allen
MultimediaMultilingual
An open door in a gate in Afghanistan
Photo by Ali Shefi on Unsplash
Where is Musa?
By Zahedeh
It’s not the sorrow for this boy that will kill me—it’s the venom of people’s tongues.
Translated from Dari by Zubair Popalzai
An outstretched hand holding dirt
Photo by Jasper Wilde on Unsplash
My Khaterah Is No More
By Fatema Kay
I wish the Angel of Death had asked me first: “Shall I take your life or your son’s?”
Translated from Dari by Zubair Popalzai
A bonfire in the night
Photo by Edgar Chmylko on Unsplash
The Gun Thief
By Elahe
Either God hadn’t heard her, or if He had, He had looked the other way.
Translated from Persian by Zubair Popalzai
A group of chickens in a fenced-in area
Photo by Yorgos Triantafyllou on Unsplash
Not Many People Like This Quiet
By María Teresa Andruetto
Luis Ernesto doesn’t like talking to people.
Translated from Spanish by Anna Evelyn White & Alina Lazar
Multilingual
A sunset at Hallaz Rock
Photo by Michelle Couny
The Sandy Shore
By Goulc’han Kervella
His heart’s desires were as plentiful as pebbles on a beach. His heart was full of longing.
Translated from Breton by Michelle Couny
MultimediaMultilingual
Kangas drying on a clothesline
Photo by Flickr User Lall on Wikimedia Commons
Blood and Love
By Anna Samwel Manyanza
This blood-bound love unsettled my mind; this blood-bound love gnawed at my soul.
Translated from Kiswahili by Abdulrahman Ndegwa
A dense cluster of cacti
Photo on Freepik
Just a Game
By José J. Veiga
After he left, I realized how rude it was to appear like that and question me as if I were the suspect in some crime.
Translated from Portuguese by Thomas Mira y Lopez
A misty impressionistic scene of a tree over a river
"Branch of the Seine near Giverny (Mist)" by Claude Monet, 1897, on Art Institute Chicago, Public Domain
Words Unrising
By Raharimanana
Those years, going back over the details, returning to the faintest trace. Rewriting what was already written.
Translated from French by Allison M. Charette
A vague seated figure with two eyes staring out from the darkness
"Ik kijk van bovenaf op de vage vormen van een menselijke figuur" by Odilon Redon, 1896, Rijksmuseum, Public domain.
Mayai, Minister of Disease
By Euphrase Kezilahabi
He was wondering if his child was really dead.
Translated from Kiswahili by Richard Prins
A steel knife on a black surface
Photo by Octavian-Dan Craciun on Unsplash
Rare Goods
By Esther Karin Mngodo
What you really learn if you’re born an albino is how to survive today.
Translated from Kiswahili by Jay Boss Rubin
A hand holding a pair of brown chopsticks
Photo by Max Griss on Unsplash
My Interpreter
By Lee Langvad
My interpreter says: I don’t know what arthritis is in Korean.
Translated from Danish by Hazel Evans
MultimediaMultilingual
A Monumental Portrait of a Monkey with human features complete with a beard, pale eyes, and long,...
"A Monumental Portrait of a Monkey" attributed to the “Stipple Master," c. 1705-1710. Art Institute Chicago, Public domain.
Eye of the Monkey
By Krisztina Tóth
Where is the monkey? He turned toward Petra, who had just come in from the bathroom and was rummaging through the cupboard amongst the underwear.
Translated from Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet
A circular brick tower extends into a cloudy sky.
Photo by Vadym Alyekseyenko on Unsplash
Cloud Pavilion
By Jannie Regnerus
Inlanders with an artistic soul are best off hiding it as deeply as possible in the pocket of their overalls.
Translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison
A pencil sketch of a woman in bed with her head turned away from the viewer.
"Vrouw van Richard Roland Holst in bed met afgewend gezicht" by Richard Nicolaüs Roland Holst, 1903. Public domain, via the Rijksmuseum.
A World Penned In
By Laura Vogt
“So what’s wrong with Nora, exactly?” I ask.
Translated from German by Caroline Waight
Beige fabric with a colorful pattern of intricate embroidery
Photo by Nasim Keshmiri on Unsplash
Mordovian Cross
By Evgenia Nekrasova
Once again, Katya stated that the children were hers.
Translated from Russian by Marianna Suleymanova
Photo of a jujube tree.
Photo by lienyuan lee on Wikimedia Commons.
Jujubes
By Kim Yudam
Yeong-seok and I were cousins who’d grown up in the same area. We were born ten days apart, but Grandma recalled having a special dream only for him.
Translated from Korean by Sunnie Chae
Photo of people walking on gray concrete with trees and bikes in the background.
Photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash.
Suraiya
By Shibabrata Barman
I posted on Facebook: I would like to learn Turkish, who can teach me?
Translated from Bengali by Shabnam Nadiya
MultimediaMultilingual
A bundled-up child sets in the snow beside a baby reindeer. An older reindeer grazes in the background.
Photo courtesy of Kseniia Bolshakova.
Freedom
By Kseniia Bolshakova
Lulu and I jump into the snowy depths.
Translated from Dolgan by Kseniia Bolshakova & Ainsley Morse
MultimediaMultilingual
Image of train compartment and window with wintry background.
Photo by 2y.kang on Unsplash.
Passengers
By Milovan Radojević
As dusk approached, the train began to move off, leaving behind about twenty people in a ring of rifles at the station in that alpine wasteland.
Translated from Montenegrin by Will Firth
MultimediaMultilingual
A close up of a blue and yellow painting
Photo by Md. Hasanuzzaman Himel on Unsplash.
The Rite of the Sewers
By Daniela Catrileo
No one had a room of their own.
Translated from Spanish by Jacob Edelstein
A shadowy photo of people standing next to each other wearing sneakers.
Photo by Nik Radzi on Unsplash.
When Nikita Scored the Coke
By Miklós Vámos
We were in high school, and we didn’t like it.
Translated from Hungarian by Ági Bori
MultimediaMultilingual
A photo of red wilted flowers.
Photo by Joan on Unsplash.
A Chapan the Height of Noorjan
By Zahedeh
Noorjan would forget food and water, but she never stopped thinking about school.
Translated from Dari by Abdul Bacet
MultimediaMultilingual
Image of a window with shadows of vines reflected on yellow curtains.
Photo by Kirthika Soundararajan on Unsplash.
Tongueless Speaker
By Tamanna Easar
She opens the curtains wide to imitate morning in her homeland, where the sun would pour through the window and light up the hand-woven carpet on the floor.
Translated from Dari by Abdul Bacet
Multimedia
A photo of flowing orange sheer fabric on a clear, light gray background.
Photo by Kaboompics.com on Pexels.
Rebellion
By Farishta Salehi
They started calling me crazy when I stopped caring. It's been many years since that moment.
Translated from Pashto by Abdul Bacet
Multimedia
Photo of a park lined with benches and trees with no leaves
Photo by Laércio Milani on Unsplash.
Calculations
By Thuận
Father had been directing my life all the way from Sài Gòn.
Translated from Vietnamese by Phương Anh
MultimediaMultilingual
Photo of a light green typewriter on a wooden table.
Photo by Dominic Tham on Unsplash.
The Typist
By Nguyễn Đức Tùng
Although she was ostensibly a typist, her job actually demanded more situational acumen, intangible finesse.
Translated from Vietnamese by Thuy Dinh
Multilingual
Pasargad, Iran
Photo by Afshin T2Y on Unsplash.
An Uprising in Ctesiphon
By Fahmida Riaz
That day, blood spilled for the first time on a sweeping path in Ctesiphon.
Translated from Urdu by Sana R. Chaudhry
Aerial Footage of Farmer
Photo by Dibakar Roy on Pexels.
A Working Man
By Abha Purbey
Nobody comprehended the storm raging within him.
Translated from Angika by Tejaswi Rawal & Shivangi Pandey
Multilingual
a dark hallway
Photo by Arvin Yuan on Unsplash.
Colonel Gulchand Singh’s Disputed Property
By Anuradha Sarma Pujari
He had many friends, but to pour his heart out to, he had no one.
Translated from Assamese by Aruni Kashyap
woman behind glass
Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash.
Menace
By Sema Kaygusuz
No, I began to realize, there was no escaping this woman.
Translated from Turkish by Nicholas Glastonbury
blurry photo of a person
Photo by lbyphoto on Pexels.
The Little Brother
By Yordan Slaveykov
We became an entity. Encapsulated. We isolated the world.
Translated from Bulgarian by Yana Ellis
MultimediaMultilingual
vintage classic television
Photo by Ross Co on Pexels.
1973–1978: The Green March
By Najwa Bin Shatwan
Nightmares are always quick to come true.
Translated from Arabic by Sawad Hussain
Soldier observing from an abandoned vehicle
Photo by AMORIE SAM on Pexels.
Colonel Ali at Wadi Doum
By Kawther Eljehmi
That day, I learned what it meant to run. And it was a race with no certain finish line.
Translated from Arabic by Ranya Abdelrahman
William James Müller painting
William James Müller, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Tripoli, 1911
By Aisha Ibrahim
“This is war, Halima. Everyone’s going to leave.”
Translated from Arabic by Nashwa Nasreldin
Color photo of books stacked in a fireplace.
Photo by Svetlana Gumerova on Unsplash..
Abusive Motherland
By Yulia Yakovleva
Her eyes keep staring sort of past and through me. It eventually dawns on me what the old woman is trying to communicate.
Translated from Russian by Lindsay Munford
shadow on concrete wall
Photo by Plato Terentev on Pexels.
By Any Other Name
By Kim Heejin
“That seems more accurate, yes. That’s what I’m like. A shadow.”
Translated from Korean by Paige Aniyah Morris
brown and black mold spots
Photo by Andrew Small on Unsplash.
The Brightest World I Knew
By Lim Sol-A
On days I wore sneakers, I was treated as abled, and on days I wore sandals, I was treated as disabled.
Translated from Korean by Clare Richards
MultimediaMultilingual
sound waves
Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash.
The Hearing-Aid Brigade
By Adèle Rosenfeld
Suddenly the world felt incredibly sad. What battle to fight, and for who, if each battle bore the seed of its own destruction?
Translated from French by Jeffrey Zuckerman
MultimediaMultilingual
Man riding a motorcycle
Photo by Aditya Rathod on Unsplash.
Saira Banu on Chacha’s Motorcycle
By Mridula Garg
Gul’s silky, delicately stitched gharara looked so gorgeous, she swooned at her own reflection.
Translated from Hindi by Aditya Vikram Shrivastava
Multilingual
florist shop
Photo by Anastasia Koren on Pexels.
The Paradise Lily
By Sirpa Kähkönen
I couldn't get my heart to calm down that morning no matter how much I breathed and built a day out of the pieces I had to work with.
Translated from Finnish by Lola Rogers
MultimediaMultilingual
space gray iPhone
Photo by Nicolas Thomas on Unsplash.
Viral
By Mahua Sen Mukhopadhyay
Not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine that Mukul would upload the video to Facebook. It went viral in a day.
Translated from Bengali by Sayari Debnath
A robotic hand emerges from the bottom of the image against a blue background.
Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels..
A Small Extinction: Part 2
By Bora Chung
“Even if there isn’t anyone next to me, there will always be people inside my head.”
Translated from Korean by Anton Hur
A black-and-white photo of a transparent mannequin.
Photo by Tara Winstead on Pexels..
A Small Extinction: Part 1
By Bora Chung
“But it makes no sense to become a robot so you can be a better parent! What is the child going to learn from a machine mother?
Translated from Korean by Anton Hur
A photo of the wing of an Ethiopian Airlines airplane.
Photo by Wolf T on Pexels.. Public Domain.
Special Flight 709
By Baalu Girma
We all know each other; we are all connected somehow, tightly or loosely. We are all from the same generation. Young, in a hurry, ambitious.
Translated from Amharic by David DeGusta & Mesfin Felleke Yirgu
A close-up photo of a puzzle on a table.
Photo by Maria Sol Ponce on Unsplash
A Brand-New Language
By Dinçer Güçyeter
After all, I was nearly seven and could take on some responsibility.
Translated from German by Lucy Jones
Low Angle Shot of the Ornate Facade of Ben Youssef Madrasa mosque, Morocco.
Photo by Uiliam Nörnberg on Pexels.. Public Domain.
The Imam’s Anxiety
By Mohamed Akounad
“How does it feel to hear the word of God in the language you understand?” 
Translated from Tamazight by El Habib Louai
Photo of a lit fireplace with newspaper and logs burning.
Photo by Anton Darius on Unsplash
Ravens’ Bread
By Azergui
In my country, dreams are monitored . . . One should only dream feasible dreams, and not exhaust oneself in the madness of impossible ones, like revolution!
Translated from Tamazight by Hamid Ouyachi
Multilingual
A white mug spilling milk onto an ochre mug, which is tilted towards a black mug.
Photo by Claudia Carbungco from Unsplash. Public domain.
Nameless
By Rema Hmoud
Ever since that particular night, I’d felt an entire universe taking shape inside my womb.
Translated from Arabic by Ibrahim Fawzy
Multilingual
A scorpion is on a rocky surface. The colours are inverted as the photo was taken under a UV light.
Photo by Shaan Hurley from Openverse. Public domain.
Vertigo
By Hisham Bustani
Once a week (sometimes more), he swallowed his pride and took money from his father, and he got used to it.
Translated from Arabic by Addie Leak
Multilingual
Sticks, leaves, and other foliage reflected in the surface of a pond
Photo by Ran Liwen on Unsplash
At the Edge of the Marsh
By Can Xue
“Uncle Ji is a sore point with your dad,” Mama said.
Translated from Chinese by Karen Gernant
A snail with a light brown shell crawling on a terrain that seems to be moss-covered concrete
Photo by Min An from Pexels. Public domain.
Snail Diaries
By Soňa Uriková
Miško wrote in his diary that snails are asinine.
Translated from Slovak by Magdalena Mullek
Multilingual
Sharpened pencils sit in a row.
Flickr
Kiêu
By Khuê Phạm
Let me begin this story with a confession: I don’t know how to pronounce my own name.
Translated by Daryl Lindsey & Charles Hawley
A wild boar bounds through a field.
Thomas Fuhrmann, CC BY-SA 4.0 Wikimedia Commons
City of Wild Boars
By Derek Chung
Whenever too many wild boars started to appear, or disturbed the citizens, there would be an “operation.”
Translated from Chinese by May Huang
MultimediaMultilingual