World Literature Today

“Jacaranda’s archite𝑥ture fills in the gaping memories with the buried truths that imperil trusted friendships, vindicate familial intimations, and appease consciences.” – Sarah Davies Cordova

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Up on the WLT Weekly today, Mahdiyeh Ezzati analyzes Fereshteh Molavi’s 2019 novel, Thirty Shadow Birds, in the context of the Iranian diaspora.

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“With verse not atypically American in its kaleidoscope of reference and history, writers like Stefanescu come from ancient nesting dolls, breathing the blue flame poetry from worlds we learn of by reading . . .” – Candice Louisa Daquin

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Save the date, Oct. 20, for the opening event of the Neustadt Lit Fest: 3:30–4:30pm in the Meacham Auditorium of the Oklahoma Memorial Union. In addition to welcoming NSK Neustadt Prize winner Cherie Dimaline, there will be a Round dance.

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“Fisher’s translation of Pioneer Summer provides those who do not read Russian with a much-needed glimpse behind Putin’s toxic homophobia and xenophobia to see what other Russians read and how some Russians would love.” – Julie Cassiday

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“By choosing to examine the powers that bind us, we can empower ourselves.”

Amber M. Durst looks at 10 international new and upcoming horror novels for fall.

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“The Book of Records asks each of us how we might go on with our lives when our expectations and usual way of life are swept away in the blink of an eye.”

Miho Kinnas reviews Madeleine Thien’s fourth novel.

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“As a dyed-in-the-wool, first-page-to-last reader, I could not disagree more with Bayard’s theses; yet I have been amused, bemused, and invigorated by this book, despite the sense that the joke, inevitably, is on me.” – Warren Motte

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“It is a chance to trade urgent memos, pass along communiqués, and pour out our souls to each other before swiftly taking leave, once more, into the fray.”

Nour Eldin H. reviews this bilingual anthology of Arab poetry.

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“What makes LeBor’s book particularly valuable is the way he deploys sources that are often forgotten or neglected.”

George Gömöri reviews Adam LeBor’s new book.

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The Activist, the Scholar, the Thwarted Poet? Take a break from the serious study of the art of the review and enjoy a laugh with this humor piece from our September issue, in which Radhika Oberoi creates a taxonomy of book reviewers.

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Any one of these writers is reason enough to join us for this reading of prose and poetry, but all nine together is a can’t-miss event. Come listen, meet the writers, and get your books signed!

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“For Peixoto, poetry is the medium that allows us to slow down, reflect, and gather the threads that constitute our being.”

Irene Marques reviews José Luís Peixoto’s Homecoming.

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Up on the WLT Weekly today, Gretchen McCullough pays tribute to the prolific Egyptian writer Sonallah Ibrahim, best known as a leftist writer who began his career in the 1960s, during the reign of President Nasser.

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“Though The Emperor of Gladness attempts to crystallize charity and compassion in a world besot by violence, racism, cruelty, and indifference, it loses its way by embracing hypertrophic metaphors.” – Keith Garebian

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It’s International Translation Day, and we’re celebrating by opening submissions for the WLT Student Translation Prize! If you’re a student enrolled in a translation studies program, send your prose and poems in by 1/10/26. Find all the details here:
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“The ideal spectator, for all his will and ability to eliminate himself, necessarily relapses soon into personal reaction, and it usually happens that the critic assumes an attitude which is just a little hostile, just a little belligerent.” – Emil Lucka

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Did you know that Cherie Dimaline’s book The Marrow Thieves was named one of the Best YA Books of All Time by Time magazine? She’ll visit the University of Oklahoma Oct. 20–22 to receive the NSK Prize. Check out all the free events and join us!

www.neustadtprize.org/the-2025-neu...

“Ibrahim daringly narrates Nasser’s career in the second person, the ‘you’ being Nasser himself, relating his actions and his emotions as he performs them . . ."

M. D. Allen reviews this “sympathetic portrayal.”

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Es and Is, by Clelia Farris A writer faces a surprising request: to write a negative review.

“Dear Fada, I know you’re busy submitting Ouzegane’s latest book ... but I really need your help.”

Read Clelia Farris's story “Es and Is,” translated by Rachel Cordasco in @worldlittoday.bsky.social #TranslationMonth worldliteraturetoday.org/2025/septemb...

Voicing Sonoko Machida’s Convenience Store by the Sea, by Colton Boydston A review of an audiobook version of Sonoko Machida's The Convenience Store by the Sea, narrated by Yuriri Naka (trans. Bruno Navasky)

Instead of “What are you reading?” do you ever ask, “What are you listening to?” Colton Boydston reviews the audiobook version of Sonoko Machidas’s Convenience Store by the Sea, finding it “comforting yet still able to produce profound reflections.”

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“Hanne Ørstavik’s stark portrait of her narrator’s desperation feels maddeningly real and hard to forget.”

Elaine Margolin reviews this “haunting work.”

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“Sci-fi allows me to connect with people of all different backgrounds. It lets people in.”

Up on the WLT Weekly today, Emily Doyle interviews Elaine U. Cho, author of the adventure-filled Alliance series.
@emilydoyle.bsky.social

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In our September issue, Will Hagle compares the novel Spaceman of Bohemia to its film adaptation and relates the arcs of Czech history and Adam Sandler’s career, finding that both represent a blend of dramatic tragedy and absurdist comedy.

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“Central to this extraordinary novel is the relationship between humans and storytelling.”

Andrew Martino reviews this novel set against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
@andrewmartino.bsky.social

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When she writes in Malayalam, Arya Gopi describes creating verbal and visual art that is a “breathing record of the moment when language remembers its first heartbeat.” Read this new essay up on the WLT Weekly today.

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It’s #WorldKidLitMonth, and our September issue includes children’s book reviews by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp—four middle-grade novels and a picture book from five continents. Enjoy this globe-trotting tour of recent releases!

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“Household matters invariably make their way into Sengupta’s writing, infusing his ruminating tone with the microcosmic chaos of the macrocosmic world.”

Somudranil Sarkar reviews Kiriti Sengupta’s Selected Poems.

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“I dog-eared so many pages the book almost collapsed—I almost did.”
—Tommy Orange from Ocean Vuong’s On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

We’ve collected a handful of our favorite book blurbs. Whether they sell books or not, they can certainly be entertaining!

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