How much do you really know about the history, cuisine, art, and culture of Romania? A country often defined by the legend of Dracula and a handful of medieval castles, Romania is so much more than that. The nation fell under the reigns of communist dictatorship and only broke free in 1989. Romanian cuisine is …
Paul B. Preciado is a gargantuan figure in so many ways. A Spanish, French, and English-speaking transgender – and rather nomadic – philosopher, essayist, and writer with an enormous scope of expertise in the realms of sexual politics and identity. An Apartment on Uranus is a collection of chronological essays which begin in March 2013 …
Love is often seen as a language that transcends boundaries, but does that make it universal? Love means different things to different people, and reading romance novels from different countries, backgrounds, and sexualities can help us become a little more fluent in the language of love. To that end, here are fifteen timeless romance novels, …
We have fervently celebrated not only our ten best translated books of 2019, but also the best indie publishers of 2019. Now, it’s time to look to the future and see what 2020 has to offer in the wonderful world of literature in translation: the most exciting translated books of 2020. Translated Books of 2020 …
It’s that time of year again: the time when everyone obsesses over lists and gets deeply frustrated if someone else’s list is different from their own. And in keeping with that delightful spirit, prepare to get frustrated by our list of best translated books of 2019! In all seriousness, though, I love a good list. …
Rather than digging into the necessary and fascinating history surrounding Every Fire You Tend right off the bat, it’s perhaps more important to lead with this: Every Fire You Tend is an astonishing work of art. An experimental piece of storytelling that blends fact and fiction, history and folklore, religious parables and superstitions, to create …
I had never read any of Hrabal’s poetry or prose before this book, which makes All My Cats an interesting place to start, being a non-fiction confession of sorts. All My Cats is a sliver of a book that recounts, with great pain and suffocating guilt, an ageing life spent with cats. It is, as …
The landscape of indie publishing is so rich and diverse right now. Risk of failure might be high, but that hasn’t stopped so many courageous people fighting to forge, and make roaring successes of, some of the best publishing companies in the world right now – all with nothing but their own blood, sweat, and …
Language is highly politicised, it can be used as a weapon, used against us – as we’ve seen time and again in our current political climate. The simple use of a certain language or dialect can also be a dangerous, rebellious, or illegal act the world over. Both today and throughout history, people have died …
So many of our greatest stories of terror and the supernatural come from faraway lands. A nation’s laws, customs, traditions, politics, and religion will have a profound effect on what kinds of stories they want to tell. Horror is a magnificent genre that takes heavy themes, chews them up, and spits them out as something …
