The Dial

The Dial The Dial is an online magazine of culture, politics, and ideas with a focus on locally sourced writing from around the world.

Read the first batch of stories: www.thedial.world

“Illegal Alien,” by Jumaana Abdu — The Dial A short story.

In "Illegal Alien," Jumaana Abdu imagines another world in which to see this one: www.thedial.world/articles/lit...

“Hernando,” by Luciana De Luca — The Dial A short story.

In “Hernando,” by Luciana de Luca (tr. Kit Maude), the narrator lusts after a young man working at her shop: www.thedial.world/articles/lit...

“The Melody,” by Salomat Vafo — The Dial A short story.

In “The Melody,” Salomat Vafo describes a caretaker who has lost the old woman in her care: www.thedial.world/articles/lit...

Editors’ Note — The Dial Issue 31: Fiction

This month, we bring you an issue full of fiction! Many of the stories — which come from Poland, Brazil, Uzbekistan and elsewhere — take on "the most visceral and direct aspects of the self," Madeleine Schwartz writes in our Editors' Note: www.thedial.world/articles/iss...

“Hernando,” by Luciana De Luca — The Dial A short story.

In “Hernando,” by Luciana de Luca (tr. Kit Maude), the narrator lusts after a young man working at her shop: www.thedial.world/articles/lit...

“The Melody,” by Salomat Vafo — The Dial A short story.

In “The Melody,” Salomat Vafo describes a caretaker who has lost the old woman in her care: www.thedial.world/articles/lit...

Read Yau Ching's poem, "Highway," translated by Chenxin Jiang: www.thedial.world/articles/lit...

Following the fall of the Assad regime, Lynzy Billing traveled to Damascus to comb through the archives of the Syrian civil war. Up to 200,000 people were disappeared. She photographed objects of prisoners and records of those arrested or who have gone missing: www.thedial.world/articles/new...

Check out Lavender Au's recommendation, and donate today: www.thedial.world/summer-readi...

Summer Reading Campaign Get The Dial's exclusive summer reading list with 50+ global book recommendations. Support independent literary journalism with a $50 donation.

Today is the last day to get The Dial's reading list! Donate to our summer fundraising campaign, and we'll send you 50 recommendations from Dial contributors around the world. www.thedial.world/summer-readi...

Summer Reading Campaign Get The Dial's exclusive summer reading list with 50+ global book recommendations. Support independent literary journalism with a $50 donation.

The Dial was founded to bring more international voices into English-language media. If you value the essays, journalism and literature we publish please consider giving to our summer fundraising campaign, and we'll send you a reading list of more than 50 titles! www.thedial.world/summer-readi...

The Future of Climate Change Is on Mauritius — The Dial Freak tornadoes, “explosions” of jellyfish, flash floods and dried up pumps.

5/ Read Ariel Saramandi's essay, "The Future of Climate Change Is on Mauritius," published in our Fever issue: www.thedial.world/articles/new...

4/ Despite unanimous acknowledgement of the urgency of the climate crisis, Mauritius’ government is severely restricted by its weak economy. As many of the nation’s pleas to major polluters in the global North fall on deaf ears, Mauritians long to protect the beauty and vitality of their island.

3/ “There are shots of a flooded nursery, Mickey Mouse cribs rippling in filth. Another woman says she has nothing left. She cries as she recounts her misfortunes, which have come to her in quick succession."

2/ Towns are ravaged by freak tornadoes, and drowned by torrential rain and flash floods; clean water is in short supply. When the skies clear, excessive heat is commonplace. Under these climate pressures, Mauritius’ families are struggling to survive.

The Future of Climate Change Is on Mauritius — The Dial Freak tornadoes, “explosions” of jellyfish, flash floods and dried up pumps.

1/ Showing a friend along the coast of Mauritius, Ariel Saramandi felt like a “tourist guide of disaster, of death in the making.” All around the island, communities and wildlife are being crushed under shifting and intensifying weather conditions. www.thedial.world/articles/new...

The Future of Climate Change Is on Mauritius — The Dial Freak tornadoes, “explosions” of jellyfish, flash floods and dried up pumps.

"I read books written mostly by white men in supremely rich countries on how to think about climate disaster. Some concepts I understand in my body ... heat like honey glistening all over my skin, so viscous that showering won’t remove the stickiness." www.thedial.world/articles/new...

The Future of Climate Change Is on Mauritius — The Dial Freak tornadoes, “explosions” of jellyfish, flash floods and dried up pumps.

In Mauritius, jellyfish are dying, the seas are boiling; the climate dystopia we fear for the future has already arrived, Ariel Saramandi writes: www.thedial.world/articles/new...

“My Name Is Sun,” by Suhbat Aflatuni — The Dial A short story.

“When you live long enough inside a scientific and technological marvel you start to get used to it.”

Read “My Name is Sun,” an Uzbek short story by Suhbat Aflatuni, that was recently featured at the Venice Biennale, translated by Sabrina Jaszi.

www.thedial.world/articles/lit...

Summer Reading Campaign Get The Dial's exclusive summer reading list with 50+ global book recommendations. Support independent literary journalism with a $50 donation.

The Dial is committed to paying journalists, writers and translators fairly. We need our readers to help us fulfill that mission! Join our summer fundraising campaign before August 1, and we'll send you a reading list of more than 50 titles: www.thedial.world/summer-readi...

J.M. Coetzee and Language — The Dial A review of Speaking in Tongues.

Carey Baraka, in his review of Mariana Dimópulos and J.M. Coetzee’s new book "Speaking in Tongues," expresses frustration that in Coetzee’s efforts to challenge the linguistic dominance of English, he is still blind to global power dynamics in translation. www.thedial.world/articles/new...

Syria’s Archives of Atrocity — The Dial Discarded documents from Assad’s regime offer clues to Syrians searching for lost family and friends.

Up to 200,000 people were disappeared or went missing under the Assad regime in Syria. After the fall of Damascus in December, Lynzy Billing visited newly opened prisons and government sites to photograph documents and objects of the victims of Assad’s brutality. www.thedial.world/articles/new...

More than 100 aid agencies warn of mass starvation in Gaza. Why has famine become a modern tool of war? Last year, Sarah Nouwen talked with the executive director of the World Peace Foundation and the UN's special rapporteur on the right to food: www.thedial.world/articles/sta...

The Curse of Carrara Marble — The Dial The luxury stone is being mined at the expense of the region and its people.

Meara Sharma reports on a local movement against the quarrying industry in Carrara. Not only has marble mining taken a toll on the area’s biodiversity and water quality, the industry is also damaging the region’s economy. www.thedial.world/articles/new...

Summer Reading Campaign Get The Dial's exclusive summer reading list with 50+ global book recommendations. Support independent literary journalism with a $50 donation.

The Dial has book recommendations! Lily Meyer recommends a memoir that is “horny, gossipy, intimate, bitchy, moving.” Lavender Au suggests a novel she returns to for “its clarity and its subtle treatment of personal responsibility.” Donate to receive the list: www.thedial.world/summer-readi...

Summer Reading Campaign Get The Dial's exclusive summer reading list with 50+ global book recommendations. Support independent literary journalism with a $50 donation.

Donate to The Dial before Aug. 1 and you’ll receive our exclusive reading list of more than 50 titles! As a nonprofit, we are proud to offer all our articles to readers for free. Your support allow us to continue to make our work accessible to all. Donate today: www.thedial.world/summer-readi...

For The Dial, I blurbed The Lucky Ones, by Zara Chowdhary. Check out all of The Dial's Best Books of Summer 2025: www.thedial.world/summer-readi... @thedialmag.bsky.social @awarazara.bsky.social ‬

The Dial is a super mag, which I've had the pleasure of contributing to a couple of times.

For its summer reading list I recommended one book I can't stop thinking about – Dirty Work by @epress.bsky.social

Check out the full list and donate to support unique and independent journalism :)

I recommended my favorite travel memoir—"The Way of the World" (originally "L'usage du monde") by Nicolas Bouvier—for @thedialmag.bsky.social's fundraiser-cum-summer reading list.

It's truly a wonderful and eclectic list, but you'll have to donate at the link below to get access!