Specimen

Einmal im Monat kommt er, nistet sich ein, bleibt drei Tage. Im Hals, wo sonst. Gurgle! raten Ahnungslose. Längst versucht, längst alles versucht. Er bleibt drei Tage.

Dreckfrosch.

Arg die dritte Nacht. Der weiß, daß es bald aus ist.

Mariangela Gualtieri: 5 poesie

Written in Italian by Mariangela Gualtieri

1.

Io guardo spesso il cielo. Lo guardo di mattino nelle ore di luce
e tutto il cielo s’attacca agli occhi e viene a bere, e io a lui, mi attacco,
come un vegetale che si mangia la luce.

Una volta ero piccola, ero

Yiorgos Chouliaras: Four Poems

Written in Greek by Yiorgos Chouliaras

ΠΡΟΣΦΥΓΕΣ

Από την άλλη πλευρά
της φωτογραφίας γράφω για να θυμάμαι
όχι το πού και πότε αλλά ποιος

Δεν είμαι εγώ στη φωτογραφία

Τίποτε δεν μας άφησαν
να πάρουμε μαζί μας
Μόνον αυτή τη φωτογραφία

Αν τη γυρίσετε από την άλλη θα

From La disdetta

Written in Italian by Anna Felder

Also in: French, German

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Le lezioni di canto cominciavano all’ora in cui i gatti si fanno inquieti e gli innamorati si sentono soli, all’ora in cui si aprono gli armadi di casa per cercarvi biscotti e vestiti.

Le signorine venivano a lezione in attesa di u

Fragments from a story of my life I’ll never write

Translated into English by Frederika Randall

Written in Italian by Ruska Jorjoliani

Also in: Italian, German, Georgian, French

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Horses

Among us, epic tales were like wedges to keep the workbench of daily life from wobbling, benches with cheap tools on top, all of us dragging ours behind us the way we did our long, grueling winters. When I was a girl, the

El Día del Oprichnik

Translated into Spanish by Yulia Dobrovolskaia and José María Muñoz Rovira

Written in Russian by Vladimir Sorokin

Also in: Russian, German, Polish

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Es hora de atender a los quehaceres.

El barbero a domicilio ya espera en el guardarropa. Voy hacia allá. El chaparro Sansón me invita reverencioso y sin mediar palabra a tomar asiento ante los espejos, me masajea la cara, me frota el

“Why did Orpheus turn back?”: Asli Erdoğan’s Speech at Babel Festival

Delivered in English by Asli Erdoğan

Also in: Italian

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“The City in Crimson Cloak” is a very old book, I wrote it 20 years ago, when I was 30 years old. I was still a young woman, and almost dying. After my return from Rio I became very ill, I was starving to death for a reason no doctor could find out. Later on I

Sargon Boulus, Poet and Translator

He Goes to the Place: Sargon Boulus Translates Himself and Others

Written in English by Mona Kareem

ملاحظات إلى السندباد من شيخ البحر

Written in Arabic by Sargon Boulus

Três poemas

Written in Portuguese by Edimilson de Almeida Pereira

MAIO

1/ CORTEJO DE BUSCA

Reis e rainhas se erguem
para o tempo adiado.

O nome fundo na terra
os corpos dentro da vida.

As guardas resgatam
os poros esquecidos.

2/ OS ESCRAVOS

Os meninos cansados

Как выглядел мой отец and Девственная жизнь моей матери

Translated into Russian by Elena Botchorichvili

Written in English by Sulaiman Addonia

Also in: English, French, Italian

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Кажется, я нашел способ представить, как выглядел мой отец. Да, наконец! Поймите мое волнение. Мой отец скончался, когда я был еще маленьким, и я никогда не видел его фотографий. Я пытался воссоздать его образ еще живя в лагере для беженцев на востоке Суд

5 poemas from Patria mea A4

Written in Romanian by Ana Blandiana

Also in: English, Spanish, Catalan

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BISERICI ÎNCHISE

Biserici închise
Ca nişte case cu proprietarul plecat
Fără să spună pe cât timp,
Fără să lase adresa.
În jurul lor oraşul
Roteşte tramvaie şi biciclete,
Claxoane, reclame,

Five Poems from Vitsvit

Written in Swedish by Athena Farrokhazad

Also in: English, Italian

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Min familj anlände hit i en marxistisk idétradition

Min mor fyllde genast huset med prydnadstomtar
Vägde plastgranens för- och nackdelar mot varandra
som om problemet vore hennes

På dagarna skiljde hon mellan långa och korta vokaler
som

Elle est un autre pays

Translated into French by Pascal Janovjak

Written in English by Saleh Addonia

Also in: English, Arabic, Italian

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1

Les autorités nous ont refusé l’asile, la cour d’appel a rejeté notre recours, et nous sommes entrés dans la clandestinité. La motivation de notre demande d’asile, c’était Elle. Sur les formulaires, nous avons déclaré qu’Elle ne se tr

Jolts

Written in English by Fernando Sdrigotti

If they don’t see happiness in the picture, at least they’ll see the black.
Chris Marker

Undated

A packed unmoving train in Clapham Junction. What happened before is beyond the p

Premio Babel-Laboratorio Formentini 2018

From Horcynus Orca

Translated into German by Moshe Kahn

Written in Italian by Stefano D’Arrigo

Also in: Italian

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Sein Blick verschwamm, wie wenn seine Augen, die unablässig das Profil von Don Luigi angestarrt hatten, unter diesem Gedanken, dem Gedanken an den sterbenden Orlando, irgendwann von alleine, von selbst eine Träne hervorgebracht hätten. Er fühlte eine Art Schl

Compagnia delle poete translates Jean-Charles Vegliante

Written in Italian by Jean-Charles Vegliante

Also in: Catalan, Croatian, English, French, German, Greek, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish

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A Silvia (un’altra)

Ti ho sognata Silvia stanotte –
da quanti anni… avevi due figli
e piegavi in silenzio vestiti
asciugamani calze calzini
intenta come allora ai tuoi studi
mentre toccavo la tua valigia
già pronta

From Incerta glòria

Written in Catalan by Joan Sales

Also in: English, French, Italian

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Hi ha tantes coses que irriten i bé les hem d’aguantar… La religió, per exemple; ja que parlem de frares i de convents, la religió ve com anell al dit en aquesta conversa. ¿Per què ens irrita tant la religió? Una religió falsa no irritaria, més aviat divertiria;

M'illumino d'immenso Poetry Translation Prize

Translated into Spanish by Eleonora Biasin Povoleri

Written in Italian by Umberto Fiori e Giorgio Orelli

Visiones

Vitrinas, coches:
es todo tan liso, tan brillante.
La gente alrededor,
apenas puede, mira su reflejo.

Mas afuera, en la última parada
donde termina el poblado
y más adelante, en lo

И пули купить было проще, чем цветы from Опера

Written in Russian by Elena Botchorichvili

Also in: Italian, French, English, Czech, Norwegian, Georgian

From L’estate muore giovane

Written in Italian by Mirko Sabatino

Prologo

Quando sei solo le cose ti succedono tutte intere.

In teoria questa legge dovrebbe valere anche per la felicità, ma non le si adatta per via di quella parola – solo – intorno alla quale la felicità, per quanto si possa sistemarla, tirarl

O peixe vermelho from Azul e dura

Written in Portuguese by Beatriz Bracher

Also in: Italian

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Tom e Guto largam as botas molhadas no quartinho de baixo. Falam alto, como se ainda estivessem no meio do vento. Barulho de porta de geladeira, cadeira sendo arrastada, mãe, cheguei, desce para comer com a gente. Comer, comer, sempre essa preocupação na mem

Grajdurile din Rosagarda

Translated into Romanian by Cerasela Barbone

Written in Italian by Giorgio Orelli

Also in: Italian, English, Jamaican Patois, German, French

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Grajduri numai din piatră, sau din lemn cu fundație, sau în întregime din lemn care s-a închis la culoare, aproape negru cîteodată; grupate răsfirat ca nişte sate embrionare, sau izolate, aproape pierdute în depărtare, încît, rătăcind fără ţintă, pri

From La chute du ciel. Paroles d’un chaman yanomami

Written in French by Davi Kopenawa and Bruce Albert

Also in: Italian

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Ce qu’ils nomment « la nature », c’est, dans notre langue très ancienne, urihi a, la terre- forêt, mais aussi son image, visible aux seuls chamans, que nous appelons Urihinari, l’esprit de la forêt. C’est grâce à elle que les arbres sont vivants. A

From Nove Noites

Written in Portuguese by Bernardo Carvalho

Also in: Italian

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Isto é para quando você vier. É preciso estar preparado. Alguém terá que prevenilo. Vai entrar numa terra em que a verdade e a mentira não têm mais os sentidos que o trouxeram até aqui. Pergunte aos índios. Qualquer coisa. O que primeiro lhe passar pela cabe

From Um copo de cólera

Written in Portuguese by Raduan Nassar

A CHEGADA

E quando cheguei à tarde na minha casa lá no 27, ela já me aguardava andando pelo gramado, veio me abrir o portão pra que eu entrasse com o carro, e logo que saí da garagem subimos juntos a escada pro terraço, e assim

Il Pet Shop di Rua Tiradentes from Tetralogia della brevità

Written in Italian by Julio Monteiro Martins

Also in: Portuguese, English

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L’inferno può anche essere liquido, buio, freddo, silenzioso o vegetale. Pensavo al sommozzatore imprudente o inesperto che finisce per perdersi dentro uno di quei grovigli di alghe di centinaia di metri d’altezza e chilometri di estensione. Senza

Le livre que personne ne lisait jamais

Written in French by Laurence Boissier

Also in: English, German

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A la bibliothèque de Genève, le rayon des romans policiers nordiques est toujours noir de monde. Les livres ne restent jamais longtemps en rayon, tant ils sont attendus avec impatience. Par contraste, le rayon “auteurs suisses” paraît com

Der Raub der Suleika. Niederländisch, Ende 19. Jahrhundert from Der Untergang der Titanic

Written in German by Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Also in: Italian, Russian

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Klein, grau und krumm steht er, das Glas in der Hand,
kurz vor Ostern, ans Eisengeländer gelehnt,
mit dem Rücken zur Straße, als wär sie ein Meer,
vor seinem Haus in der Prinsengracht
— über die Treppe, die klein, grau und krumm ist,

Paesaggio from Le cose senza storia

Written in Italian by Fabio Pusterla

Eccomi qua nel buio from Bocksten

Written in Italian by Fabio Pusterla

Also in: German, Croatian, French

Sonno di Claudia e di Nina from Le cose senza storia

Written in Italian by Fabio Pusterla

Sept poèmes from Atemnot: IV. Territorien

Written in French by Marina Skalova

Also in: German, Romansh, Italian

Oath to the Queen from Lucifer Over London

Written in English by Xiaolu Guo

1.

Once I saw a newsreel of Queen Elizabeth II making a speech when I was still living in Beijing in the 1990s. I was puzzled by the way she spoke English, even though I could not understand half of what she said. I noticed that

Three Poems from Clous

Written in Hungarian by Agota Kristof

Szögek

A házak és az élet fölött
szürke könnyű köd

szememben a fák
jövendő leveleivel
vártam a nyarat

legjobban
a port szerettem a nyárban fehér
meleg port
bogarak és békák fúltak bele
mikor nem

النضال ذكوري

Written in Arabic by Najlaa Eltom

Also in: English, Swedish

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في عام 2006، بينما كنت اعمل في قسم الشئون الإدارية والمالية في المقر الرئيسي لإحدى وكالات الأمم المتحدة بالخرطوم، كُلفت بمتابعة بعض الشئون في مكتب المنظمة في كادقلي عاصمة جنوب كردفان. من بين المهام التي باشرتها المشاركة في تعيين بعض العما

Ikke graåt, due er kona mi nå from Sovjetistan

Written in Norwegian by Erika Fatland

Also in: English, Italian, Spanish

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Nitten år gamle Mariam var glad på bestevenninnens vegne da hun pyntet seg og gjorde seg i stand til forlovelsesfesten hennes. Datoen for bryllupet var alt bestemt, og Mariam skulle være forlover. Hun kjente ikke den vordende brudgommen særlig godt

Gabbiani, dunque and Questa è la mia preghiera del mattino

Written in Italian by Valerio Magrelli

“La poesia e la fogna, due problemi mai disgiunti”
– E. Montale

A Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Ho fatto male a dirne tanto male
e per questo si vendicano.
Scesi dall’alto de

دفاعا عن القارئ

Written in Arabic by Ahmed Shafie

Also in: English, German

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في مفتتح روايته “من قبوي”، يطرح فيودور دوستويفسكي سؤال:

ما الشيء الذي يجد المرء في الحديث عنه أكبر متعة؟

ويجيب:

ـ عن نفسه.

“May my enemy be assuaged…” from White Egrets

Written in English by Derek Walcott

22

May my enemy be assuaged by these waves
because they are beautiful even to his evil,
may the drizzle be a benediction to his heart
even as it is to mine; they say here that the devil
is beating his wife when the sun shines

Arabi in Romania. Una storia d'amore orientale

Translated into Italian by Roberta Gado

Written in German by Dana Grigorcea

Also in: German, English, Romanian

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Il primo torchio per la stampa a caratteri arabi arrivò in Siria più di trecento anni fa. Era un dono della Romania ai cristiani arabi di Antiochia. Il torchio restò in funzione per tre secoli e ancora recentemente era esposto ad Aleppo. La Romania non

דו-לשוני במידה פתולוגית

Translated into Hebrew by Tal Nitzán

Written in English by Aleksandar Hemon

Also in: English, Italian, Bosnian, French, Polish

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אני עדיין זוכר בבירור את היום שבו חזר אבי מהעבודה ואמר לי, בעודו חולץ את נעליו בכניסה, שרשם אותי לספרייה וגם לקורס בשפה האנגלית, במרכז החלוצים המקומי (pionirski centar). אכן, הייתי חלוץ, בן שבע. המינוי לספרייה מצא חן בעיניי, אבל לגבי הקורס בא

Pierre et le loup

Written in French by Éric Chevillard

Also in: Italian, English

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Bien, bien bien, c’est charmant, Pierre et le loup, je ne le nie pas, une bonne introduction à la musique d’orchestre pour le public enfantin auquel il s’agit de vendre cette manifestation incongrue et fastidieuse du génie humain, ce f

Голова моего отца

Written in Russian by Elena Botchorichvili

Also in: English, Georgian

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Голова моего отца находится на горе Чачубетского района Горийской области. Там раньше была наша дача, которую построил мой отец, а помогал ему я, и мы оба ругались и проклинали эти пронумерованные бревна, что годами сушились и мокли под открытым небом в

La rüsümada

Written in Italian by Giorgio Orelli

Also in: English, French

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La rüsümada, rosso d’uovo sbattuto con lo zucchero come nello zabaione ma il marsala cede al vino, l’abbiamo provata tutt’e due, io e mio padre, è bastato un sorso perché ci sbiadisse un urto di vomito. Mio padre aveva accettato più che volentieri

Aus und vorbei: Abschiedsgedichte von zwei Jahrhunderten

Written in German by Mascha Kaléko and Johann Gabriel Seidl

Großstadtliebe

Man lernt sich irgendwo ganz flüchtig kennen
Und gibt sich irgendwann ein Rendezvous.
Ein Irgendwas, – ’s ist nicht genau zu nennen –
Verführt dazu, sich gar nicht mehr zu trennen.
Beim zweiten Himbeereis sagt man

Venticinque e Quarantatré da Centuria

Written in Italian by Giorgio Manganelli

Venticinque

Il signore vestito di un completo blu un poco sgualcito, che in questo momento attraversa la strada male illuminata, e un poco barcolla, è in realtà completamente ubriaco, e il suo progetto è semplicemente di arrivare a casa. Non è singolare che

Vers midi from Les Heures du jour. 7 janvier

Translated into French by Christian Viredaz

Written in Italian by Vanni Bianconi

Also in: Italian, Russian

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Asie Mineure. Ou plutôt la Mysie,
le numéro n’est pas le bon, ils sont
au 6 de la Rue Appert (Nicolas,
oui, l’inventeur à la très longue vie
des conserves alimentaires hermétiques).
Ici règne Télèphe, l’époux d’Hiéra,
d’elle on dit q

Лекция 7-я from Взятие Измаила

Written in Russian by Mikhail Shishkin

Narratio est rei factae, aut ut factae, utilis ad persuadendum expositio.
– Квинтиллиан

В деле Крамер знаменитый Урусов добился оправдания подзащитной, несмотря на ее признание, на очевидную наличность corpus delicti и даже на вытянутый

Les plis dans la couverture

Written in French by Fabienne Radi

Also in: German, Italian

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Entre 20 et 24 ans j’ai passé beaucoup de temps à regarder des cailloux. J’essayais régulièrement de les casser avec un objet contondant, de les tremper dans de l’acide, de les brûler avec un briquet, de les griffer avec un bou

Do Leukonoe. Dwadzieścia dwie ody

Written in Polish by Wisława Szymborska

Also in: Italian, Romanian

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Co nowego w polskiej poezji? A jest, jest coś nowego, wydano właśnie garść liryków Horacego w przekładzie Adama Ważyka. Nie najlepiej wiodło się w Polsce Horacemu przez ostatnie dwieście lat. Od romantyzmu poeci wybitni przestali widzieć w nim mistrz

Silens Moon

Written in French by Pierre Cendors

Also in: English, German

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En chacun de nous, une nuit souveraine flamboie, ne serait-ce qu’une seule fois dans nos yeux, avant de sombrer à nouveau sous la lumière ordinaire des jours. Il nous est alors accordé d’entrer dans le penetralia silencieux de notre vie

A todos, menos a ella, les dije que me iba, y me he quedado. Burlar al guardia de migración fue bastante fácil. Un golpe en la frente para significar el olvido y un brusco recordar; un discurso falso acerca de ciertas pastillas.

—Apúrese —me dijo el guar

Kimihurura Kandi from Marembo

Byahinduwe mu Kinyarwanda na Bahizi Olivier Uwineza

Written in French by Dorcy Rugamba

Also in: French, Italian, German

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Umuryango wanjye wazimiriye umunsi umwe, byamaze iminota itagera kuri mirongo ine n’itanu, hari kw’itariki ya karindwi z’ukwezi kwa Mata mu gihumbi kimwe magana cyenda na mirongo icyenda na kane, saa yine za mu gitondo. Ntibakubiswe n’inkuba cyangwa ngo batw

Australian Babel: A Conversation with Karrabing

Written in Pidgin by Karrabing

Also in: English

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1. And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. 2. And it happened that as they moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick

Five Poems

Written in English by Russell Edson

Also in: French

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The Adventures of a Turtle

The turtle carries his house on his back. He is both the house and the person of that house.
But actually, under the shell is a little room where the true turtle, wearing long underwear, sits at a little table. At one

Alma from La Lenteur de l’aube

Written in French by Anne Brécart

Also in: Italian

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Ce 4 juillet, alors que nous roulons sur la route de campagne, j’ai envie de dire à Alma combien je suis fatiguée de ma vie d’adulte. Mais je ne trouve pas les mots. Elle a toujours ce regard lisse et indifférent qui fait comme un mur entre elle et moi. Je n’os

From Buchi

Written in Italian by Ugo Cornia

Also in: French

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E la morte della mamma? (morta 11? Novembre ’95): per tanti anni, ricordare – oggi tre anni fa è morta la mamma – oggi dodici anni fa è morta la mamma – me la scorderò mai sta data? Telefoni alla zia Bruna, senza dirglielo che esattamente due anni prima è mor

How My Books Have Roamed the World

Translated into English by Helen Wang

Written in Chinese by Yu Hua

Also in: Chinese, Italian

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For this presentation, I counted the number of countries and languages, apart from China and Chinese (and China’s ethnic minority languages) that my books have been published in so far, and it came to 38 countries and 35 languages. The reason there are more co

Osten vs Westen, Vergangenheit vs Gegenwart

Deutsche Übersetzung von Anne Rademacher

Written in English by Xiaolu Guo

Also in: English, Chinese, French

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Ich oder wir? Waren oder sind? Vergessen sein oder vergessend? Ich kann mich noch erinnern, welch qualvoller Prozess sich vor mir auftat, als ich in London mit der Arbeit an meinem ersten auf Englisch geschriebenen Roman begann. Es war zu Beginn des Jahres 2

La femme de R. from La querelle des images

Written in French by Abdelfattah Kilito

Also in: Italian

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Quand un homme pénétrait dans notre rue (en fait une impasse qui formait un coude en son milieu), il voyait inévitablement, et quelle que fût l’heure du jour, une tête de femme disparaitre derrière une porte. Un étranger n’y prêtait pas grande attentio

Bureau des élucidations – Entrer sans frapper from Juste Ciel

Written in French by Éric Chevillard

Also in: Italian

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– Une petite plaisanterie innocente pour détendre les nouveaux-venus.
Albert a maintenant la porte dans le dos. Il cherche d’où vient la voix qui lui parle. Il doit avoir l’air dubitatif, car on croit bon de préciser :
– Entrer sans frapper, c’est pour r

From Agora e na hora da nossa morte

Written in Portuguese by Susana Moreira Marques

Also in: English, Italian

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Na mesinha de cabeceira, um relógio marca as horas da medicação. Ninguém parece reparar na ironia de ter um relógio à cabeceira de um moribundo.

—

No país para onde emigrou diz‐se que as pessoas vão para o céu. Em casa, em pequena, ouvia dizer:

Poethreesome 2016

Curated by Babel Festival

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Table
of
Contents

5 poesie

Written in Italian by Laura Accerboni

Also in: French, German

4 poèmes

Written in French by Odile Cornuz

Also in: German, Italian

5 Gedichte

Written in German and English by Ulrike Ulrich

Also in: French, Italian

From Zabor ou Les psaumes

Written in French by Kamel Daoud

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Je l’ai maintes fois vérifié. C’est ma muette malédiction. La loi de ma vie que personne ne devine. Je le dis (écris) : Quand moi j’oublie, la mort se souvient. Confusément mais abruptement. Je ne pourrais pas expliquer cela, mais je me sens lié à la Faucheu

The Blogosphere’s Protective Edge: Entries from Palestinian Blogs

Edited by Shadi Rohana

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Table
of
Contents

لعبة

Written in Arabic by Majd Kayyal

Also in: English, Spanish

ورقة من غزة — 2054

Written in Arabic by Mahmoud Omar

Also in: English, Spanish

Fragments from Gaza / Manal Miqdal

Writtten in Arabic by Manal Miqdal

Also in: English, Spanish

Fragments from Gaza / Mahmoud Jawda

Written in Arabic by Mahmoud Jawda

Also in: English, Spanish

Running Orders

Written in English by Lena Khalaf Tuffaha

Also in: Spanish, Arabic

From Bambini di ferro

Written in Italian by Viola Di Grado

Also in: Japanese

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L’Accudimento Artificiale aveva una durata di tre anni. Nei primi tre mesi, la testa dell’Unità Materna veniva regolarmente collegata a una calotta sulla testa del bambino. Così intercettava immediatamente tutte le sue necessità: conosceva i segnali elettrici della s

Pingvini u računovodstvu

Translated into Croatian by Koraljka Crnković

Written in Greek by Christos Ikonomou

Also in: Greek, English, Italian, French

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Jutros je otac progutao pet čavala. Željeznih čavala, onih velikih. Čim je vidio Petrosa u lisicama i policajce kako ga vode izvadio je iz džepa čavle i progutao ih. Odjedanput. Kao bombone. Sjedio sam do njega ali uopće nisam primijetio. U jednom sam trenutk

O homem que sabia javanês

Written in Portuguese by Lima Barreto

Also in: Italian

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Em uma confeitaria, certa vez, ao meu amigo Castro, contava eu as partidas que havia pregado às convicções e às respeitabilidades, para poder viver.

Houve mesmo, uma dada ocasião, quando estive em Manaus, em que fui obrigado a esconder a minha qualidade de ba

From Дознаватель

Written in Russian by Margarita Khemlin

Also in: English, Ukrainian

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Остёр встретил меня свадьбой. Женился еврей с еврейкой. И гости, будем откровенны, сплошь евреи. Не без украинских товарищей, но в основном и целом. Слышалась еврейская речь, особенно со стороны пожилых.

Веселье уже дошло до такой степени, что танцевать вывалил

La princesa y el pene

Traducido al español por Fernando Sdrigotti

Written in English by Joanna Walsh

Also in: English, Italian, Irish Gaelic

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A pesar de que estaba en el centro de la ciudad, las noticias sobre la invención de las máquinas sexuales no habían llegado aún al castillo. Además del rey, y hasta hacía un tiempo la reina, allí vivía una princesa que estaba siempre buscando un verga de verda

5 Poems on Fear and Courage

Written in English by Charles Simic

Also in: Italian

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Much grief await us, friends.
From this day on
We’ll be testing our courage
Like those men who stretch a wire
Between two skyscrapers,
And set out to walk on it,
Bringing along an open umbrella
Which the wind may ta

Рыбы и другие близкие from Кристалл в прозрачной оправе. Рассказы о воде и камнях

Written in Russian by Vasilij Avchenko

Also in: English, Japanese

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Около двадцати первых лет моей жизни я не замечал моря и не мог сказать, люблю ли я его. Как можно любить или не любить воздух, которым дышишь, воду, из которой, если верить школьным учителям, в основном состоишь? Море всегда было рядом, и мне казалось, что любой гор

What Can Literature Still Do?

Written in English by Georgi Gospodinov

Also in: French, German, Italian

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The book, thanks to which I have the honor of speaking in front of you, is called The Physics of Sorrow. An editor gave me a friendly advice to change this title because nobody would want a novel with such a name. The sorrow doesn’t sell. Have you seen a melancholy Me

5 Poems

Written in Hebrew by Tal Nitzán

Also in: English, Spanish

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– נֹאמַר שֶׁאַתָּה שׁוֹכֵב עַל הַצַּד, הָמוֹן זְמַן, עוֹד מְעַט נוֹבֶמְבֶּר וְאַתָּה עַל אוֹתוֹ הַצַּד, הַלְּחִי כְּבָר כּוֹאֶבֶת לְךָ, גַּם הָאֹזֶן כּוֹאֶבֶת, הַצַּוָּאר מְעֻקָּם, הַצְּלָעוֹת נִמְחָצוֹת וְכֹל הַגּוּף שֶׁלְּךָ צוֹעֵק דַּי.

Einen Wasserfall malen

Aus dem Französischen von Katja Meintel

Written in French by Jérémie Gindre

Also in: French, Italian

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Wenn ich mich draußen in der Natur auf die Erde setze, bin ich immer erstaunt, wie genau ich unter meinem Hintern jedes Detail des Bodens spüre. Ich habe einen ziemlich breiten Hintern, und ich trage Jeans, trotzdem könnte ich problemlos auflisten, was

From Book of Thunder

Written in English by Chloe Aridjis

Also in: German, Italian

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Even on days I didn’t leave home the city wouldn’t let me forget it and forced its way through the windowpanes. Our street wasn’t busy but even so, silence simply didn’t exist. The city’s din was too constant, too insistent. Car horns, the cries of s

¿Por qué escribo?

Written in Spanish by Abilio Estévez

Also in: English, Arabic

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Después que los periodistas agotan todas las posibles preguntas sobre Fidel Castro y su futuro, surge siempre la pregunta ¿por qué escribes? Si sobre Fidel Castro y su futuro no sé casi qué decir, a propósito de esta última pregunta me quedo con una

5 Poems from 40 Sonnets

Written in English by Don Paterson

Also in: Greek, Italian

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For months I’d moved across the open water
like a wheel under its skin, a frictionless
and by then almost wholly abstract matter
with nothing in my head beyond the bliss
of my own breaking, how the long foreshore
would hear my fu

From A Boneca de Kokoschka

Written in Portoguese by Afonso Cruz

Also in: Croatian, Italian

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AOS QUARENTA E DOIS ANOS, mais concretamente, dois dias depois do seu aniversário, Bonifaz Vogel começou a ouvir uma voz. A princípio pensou que fossem os ratos. Depois, pensou chamar alguém para acabar com os bichos da madeira. Alguma coisa o im

10 ottobre from Absolutely Nothing

Written in Italian by Giorgio Vasta

Also in: French

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Lasciato l’Ufo Museum di Roswell ci dimentichiamo di voler raggiungere il cratere dell’ufo crash, passiamo dal New Mexico al Texas e arriviamo ad Allamoore. Lungo la strada ci siamo fermati in un drugstore dove Ramak e io, furtivi, fingendo che Silva non se n

5 Poems from Morning, Paramin

Written in English by Derek Walcott

Also in: French, Italian

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Along the cemetery wall of Lapeyrouse
in Port of Spain, Trinidad, he saw this truth:
a fellow walking with a floral umbrella
that seems both parasol and parachute―
all our wishes are still rooted in ground,
but solid as a hydrant on

Rovine

Tradotto in italiano da Gabriella Soldini

Written in German by Gertrud Leutenegger

Also in: German, Russian

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A tanto siamo arrivati: facciamo visita alle rovine dei nostri ghiacciai. Mentre valichiamo il passo della Furka sentiamo l’esigenza di vedere ancora una volta da vicino il ghiacciaio del Rodano. Quello che ci attende è uno scenario bizzarro. Dove è finita la l

"With riverbanks of frozen chocolate, a city" from Nativity Poems

Translated into English by Derek Walcott

Written in Russian by Joseph Brodsky

Also in: Russian, Italian

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to E.R.

With riverbanks of frozen chocolate, a city
mixes its reflections with milk. A chiming of bells.
A room with a lampshade. Distantly
clouds burst open like kitchen doors with busy angels.
I am writing you this from the

Dossier

D1

alPestine

Edited by Adania Shibli

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Table
of
Contents

(الفصل ٥ : ١١ . ٢٠١٦ طبعة محدّثة (مقرصنة ومزيّفة

Written in Arabic by Adania Shibli

Also in: Italian, English, Russian

لحظة لا بدّ من ورودها

Written in Arabic by Mays Dagher

Also in: English, Spanish, Javanese, Greek, Korean

سنة أولى لندن

Written in Arabic by Mahmoud Omar

Also in: English, German

المختلَسون: مقتطف من رواية

Written in Arabic by Abd Maqbul

Also in: Italian, Spanish

Der Übersetzer

Written in German by Clemens Umbricht

Also in: French, Romansh, Italian, English, Indonesian

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Für José Aníbal Campos

Sein Reisepass ist eine Weltkarte.
Jeder Text fordert ihn auf, sich auszuweisen.
Eines Tages werde ich einen Satz finden,
der in allen Sprachen gleich lautet –
bis dahin bleibt meine Arbeit Stückwerk.
Die

SpecimenThe Babel Reviewof Translations

Specimen The Babel Review of Translations

Żelane drzwi from Stambuł, Stambuł

Translated into Polish by Paulina Dominik

Written in Turkish by Burhan Sönmez

Also in: Turkish, English, Italian, German

Dzień pierwszy – Opowiada Student Demirtay

From МОНИТОР-1

Written in Russian by Shura Burtin

Also in: English

From Le noir est une couleur

Written in French by Grisélidis Réal

Also in: Italian, Spanish

From Taş Bina ve Diğerleri

Written in Turkish by Asli Erdoǧan

Also in: English, Italian

American Camino

Written in English by Nathalie Handal

Also in: French, Italian

Zwei Gedichte

Written in German by Robert Walser

Also in: French, Italian

Ein Landschäftchen

From Poena Damni Ζ213: ΕΞΟΔΟΣ

Written in Greek by Dimitris Lyacos

Also in: Dutch, English, Romanian, French, German

[…]

Angst vor der Angst

Written in German by Erich Fried

Also in: German, Persian, Belarusian, Bengali, English, French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Kurdish, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Slovak, Spanish

Otros retratos de soledad

Translated into Spanish by Clara Moreno Vivot

Written in English by Susana Moreira Marques

Also in: English, Italian, Portuguese

From მელია-ტულეფია: FOXTROT

Written in Georgian by Zurab Karumidze

Also in: English, Russian

M’illumino d’immenso Poetry Translation Prize 2019

Written in Italian by Gianni D’Elia and Fabio Pusterla

Also in: Spanish

Gianni D’Elia

LXI

From This Little Art

Written in English by Kate Briggs

Also in: French, Italian

From Kraft

Written in German by Jonas Lüscher

Also in: Dutch, Russian

Wir haben alle schon mit Liebe zu tun gehabt, von der wir dann einsehen mussten, dass wir sie uns nicht leisten können. –Paul Ford

Babel 2019 | You Will Not Speak My Language

Edited by Babel Festival

You Will Not Speak My Language

Compiled by Babel Festival in: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and invented languages

L’inizio della civiltà

Written in Italian by Luigi Serafini

The Gift

Written in English by Saleh Addonia

Also in: Italian

Punti d’inchiostro da La Terra e il suo satellite

Written in Italian by Matteo Terzaghi

Also in: German, French

Traductores esclavos

Written in Spanish by Valeria Luiselli

Also in: Italian

La stanza infinita from La straniera

Written in Italian by Claudia Durastanti

Also in: English, Dutch

Tre poesie from Da una crepa

Written in Italian by Elisa Biagini

Also in: English, Spanish

La gita

devo rassegnarmi a non potere qui raddrizzare nulla –Nathan Zach

أقليات

Written in Arabic by Ra’ad Abdul Qadir

Also in: English, French

أقلية أولى

The Second Time

Translated into English by Frederika Randall

Written in Italian by Maurizia Balmelli

Also in: Italian, French, Arabic

Specimen
The Babel Review
of Translations

Wir haben alle schon mit Liebe zu tun gehabt, von der wir dann einsehen mussten, dass wir sie uns nicht leisten können.
–Paul Ford

devo rassegnarmi a non potere qui
raddrizzare nulla
–Nathan Zach

Non so quale nuovo rigore mi abbia portato a voi, case dal terreno nero
–Amelia Rosselli

Desta terra, nesta terra, para esta terra. E já é tempo.
– Oswald de Andrade