Specimen

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On me parle et je ne comprends rien. Et quand je crois comprendre, je comprends mal, je comprends de travers, je comprends autre chose. Mieux vaut encore ne rien comprendre du tout. J’ai une satisfaction pourtant, je ne suis pas seul dans ce cas. Ainsi

Five Poems from Lies

Written in Gaelic by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

Also in: English, Italian

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rave

coschleiteach ar chosán
damhsaímid abhaile
le breacadh an lae,
dúidín deiridh na hoíche
á roinnt eadrainn,
dall ar shuansiúlaithe na traenach
beocht an doird fós ar preabadh
i gceol ár gcuislí
is dúgh

To Speak England in Different Languages: The Winners

A literary prize for any language but one

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THE WINNERS

The “To Speak England in Different Languages” award went to SJ Kim for “엄마 없는 집에 / Home Without Mom” and S. for “Tougouy Soko – Together – Amma Gina”.

Our panel of multilingual experts and jurors Elena Botchorichvili, Matteo

Le divers des cultures est le présent du monde from Moïse ou la Chine

Written in French by François Jullien

Also in: Italian

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Le divers des cultures est le présent du monde, à la fois son actualité et sa richesse. Moment fragile et fécond que le nôtre : le monde se croise suffisamment, désormais, pour que se rencontre sa diversité ; et celle-ci n’est pas encore enfouie sous le roulea

Iguanas y dinosaurios: América Latina como utopía del atraso

Written in Spanish by Juan Villoro

Also in: English, German

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A los cuatro años me encontré ante una disyuntiva que decidió mi vida. En el Colegio Alemán de la ciudad de México fui sometido a una prueba que no recuerdo pero que provocó que yo quedara en el Grupo A, es decir, en el de los alemanes. Durante nueve años sólo ll

Как мой отец подарил мне детство

Written in Russian by Elena Botchorichvili

Вот тогда я усадил ее на пуфик перед зеркалом. Обнял. Она обожала, когда я ее обнимал, целовал. Тут же начинала плакать: «Мой сыночек, мой красавчик, какой ты уже большой! Скоро женишься, что со мной будет? Забудешь свою мамочку, жена будет тебе мозги крутить!»

<

Prince of Asturias Award for Literature 2011: Acceptance Speech

Written in English by Leonard Cohen

Also in: Italian, Spanish

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Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Excellencies, Members of the Jury, Distinguished Laureates, Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a great honour to stand here before you tonight. Perhaps, like the great maestro, Riccardo Muti, I’m not used to standing in fr

Andare a vedere l’invisibile and Il masso erratico from Ufficio proiezioni luminose

Written in Italian by Matteo Terzaghi

Also in: Italian, English, French, German, Spanish

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Andare a vedere l’invisibile

Tra i ricordi di famiglia ho trovato una fotografia della fine degli anni Sessanta che potrebbe intitolarsi «Andare a vedere l’invisibile».

Tommaso d’Aquino – ammesso che non ci stia ricamando sopra – diceva c

5 Gedichte from die stunde mit dir selbst

Written in German by Reiner Kunze

Also in: German, English, Italian

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Verstummen

Die kleinen heimaten in fremden ländern
sind nicht mehr

Das vorratsfach für schwarzumrandete kuverts
ist leer

Die zunge wird vom schweigen schwer

. . .

Euretwegen

Wenn wir die Welt nicht wieder

Recorrido por Estados Unidos

Translated into Spanish by Belén Grosso

Written in English by Nathalie Handal

Also in: English, French, Italian

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Me hace llegar su voz, como lo hace la libertad, cuando abarca todas las rutas del sueño.

¿Cuánto me falta caminar para verle el cuerpo entero?

En la década de 1980, entre Little Havana y la avenida Collins, mi tío comía sándwiches Reuben

D21

Poethreesome 2020/21

Curated by Babel Festival

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6 poesie from In tutte le direzioni

Written in Italian by Laura Di Corcia

Also in: French, German

7 Poèmes from La Saison

Written in French by Rebecca Gisler

Also in: German, Italian

6 Gedichte from Eingesperrte Vögel singen mehr

Written in German by Michelle Steinbeck

Also in: French, Italian

Four Poems

Written in Bikol and Filipino by Kristian Sendon Cordero

Also in: Filipino, English, Italian

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Stabat Mater

Ini an babaying hahalian nin talukbong na itum
na garo baga papahanguson giraray
nin huli sa pagkabuhay kan saiyang aki.

Ini an babaying sa bilog na taon aadornohan ta,
kokoronahan, tatawan nin dakul na pangaran

عودة الأبناء غير الضّالين – في الكلام المعاد والمكرور

Written in Arabic by Hoda Barakat

Also in: Arabic, Italian

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لسنا نشكّل جماعة، نحن الذين خرجنا، نحن الذين بقينا خارج البلاد. لا نتشابه ولا تشدّنا أيّة روابط. قلّما نلتقي، وإذا حصل ذلك لصدفة ما، فسرعان ما نفترق ونتفرّق على إشارات من أيدينا بالتهاتف قريبا. ولأننا صرنا نعفي بعضنا بعضا من العتاب الكاذب.

La Traduction sans commune mesure

Written in French by Arno Renken

Also in: French, English

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Pour Raphaëlle,
qui crée la rencontre sans pareille

Ce texte est une traduction : je ne l’ai pas écrit, je ne serais pas même capable d’en comprendre le moindre signe. Ce que tu lis est l’ouvre de quelqu’un d’autre et le rapport avec le texte

Babel from Echolalias. On the Forgetting of Language

Written in English by Daniel Heller-Roazen | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: English, Italian, Japanese, Russian, Swedish

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Everyone knows the tale of the Tower of Babel, that archaic monument to the folly of men. According to the eleventh chapter of Genesis, which recounts the story in the briefest of terms, the edifice did not last long; and in one sense, it did not last at all,

Varietà e oscurità delle espressioni umane: Oltre Babele, il tempo

Written in Italian by Nunzio La Fauci | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: Italian, German

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Quando si pensa alla varietà linguistica, la mente corre facilmente a Babele e a tutto ciò che in proposito è stato detto e scritto in migliaia di anni. Babele è il nome di un luogo, come si sa. Per metonimia, tale toponimo è passato a designare un evento: la co

As Translator, as Novelist: The Translator’s Afterword

Written in Japanese by Haruki Murakami and translated into English by Ted Goossen | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: English

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To the best of my recollection, I was in my late thirties when I started telling people I was going to translate The Great Gatsby when I turned sixty. Having made that pronouncement, I then conducted my daily affairs as if I were moving toward that fixed point,

Haruki Murakami and the Culture of Translation

Written in English by Ted Goossen | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: English

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Japanese culture is often characterized as a culture of translation. In fact, the Japanese language of today is the result of centuries of effort by translators struggling to match Chinese characters and Japanese words, affixing native pronunciation in some

La centralità della componente ritmica

Written in Italian by Franco Buffoni | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: Italian, English

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Una poesia originale non è una poesia che parli di cose di cui nessuno abbia mai parlato prima. Leopardi è unico quando parla della/alla luna, non perché l’oggetto sia originale (lo troviamo persino nelle lettere che il Colletta gli scrive), ma perché la sua

Lectio magistralis in occasione della consegna del Premio Pavese 2020

Written in Italian by Anna Nadotti | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: Italian, Bengali, German

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Dei suoi luoghi d’origine, Cesare Pavese scriveva: «È una terra che attende e non dice parole».

Le Langhe sono una terra bellissima e sobria, che conosco bene e di cui amo i colori e le malinconie. Ma le mie origini sono in una terra che si allunga pigrame

Le transfert d’Averroès from La langue d’Adam

Written in French by Abdelfattah Kilito | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: French, Italian, Greek

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Vers le mois de mars 1199, un cortège funèbre s’ébranla de Marrakech en direction de Cordoue. Durant des jours et des jours, le cortège chemina à travers monts et vallées jusqu’à la Méditerranée puis, ayant franchi le détroit, reprit sa marche lente et pénib

Observations et autres notes anciennes 1947 – 1962

Written in French by Philippe Jaccottet | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: French, Italian, Arabic

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Ces premières « observations » sont des notes, avec tout ce que le mot suppose d’hésitant et d’altérable, en vue d’une étude sur la Métamorphose poétique. Un Sage d’Orient, dont le nom m’échappe, prétendait qu’à force de sentir sous ses doigts, le front dans l

Tradurre Jaccottet

Written in Italian by Fabio Pusterla | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: Italian, French

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Una testimonianza, per quanto breve e imbarazzata, sul proprio lavoro di traduzione non può non considerare le condizioni di partenza che hanno propiziato, e forse orientato, quell’esperienza: tanto più se quella di tradurre non è stata una scelta professionale e i

Ruina Belfort

Written in Italian by Fabio Pusterla

Also in: Italian, French

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Camogli: si videro bare
smottare nell’acqua salmastra
discendere dal cimitero
in danza di cenere e d’ossa.

Si vide una ruspa azzannare
il giallo di un muro che a Chiasso
fu un tempo la povera casa
di un padre silenzio d’ab

From Via Lactea

Written in German by Noëmi Lerch

Also in: German, English, Italian

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Verwandlung

Der Wind geht. Der Wind kommt. Die Rinder gehen mit ihm. Ihre Glocken läuten Sturm. Mit vergnüglicher Wut schütteln sie ihre Köpfe, bocken, wie wenn der Wind auf ihnen ritte. Sie galoppieren über die vom Regen sumpfige Herbstweide. Erdsch

The Art of Losing. Polish Poetry and Translation

Written in English by Clare Cavanagh | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: English, Polish

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I’ve called my essay “The Art of Losing” for obvious reasons: according to many critics, losing things is what translators do best. And it seems to me—although this may just be my personal bias—that translators of poetry generally get the worst of it. “Why i

Voyage, écriture, altérité

Written in French by Nicolas Bouvier | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: French, German

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C’est la lecture des atlas, entre huit et douze ans, à plat ventre sur le tapis de la bibliothèque, qui m’a conduit au voyage. Et le voyage, ensuite, à l’écriture.

Au retour d’une absence qui avait duré presque quatre ans et m’avait conduit au Japon, j’ai

From Poesia come ossigeno

Written in Italian by Antonella Anedda and Elisa Biagini | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: Italian, English, Sardinian

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A.A. Sono d’accordo: tempi brevi e urlati con punti esclamativi, oppure un linguaggio che non si pone il problema di come parlare davvero della quotidianità. Per questo il lavoro sulla propria lingua non finisce mai. Come diceva Riccardo, c’è un’urgenza di farsi

From Le traducteur

Written in French by Jacques Gélat | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: French, English, Italian

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Je suis un traducteur. Au départ c’est un plaisir qui ressemble un peu au métier de comédien. On doit se faire à l’autre, l’écouter, le comprendre, s’en imprégner, avec cette différence qu’au lieu d’un personnage, c’est un roman qu’il va falloir traduire.

La traduction inquiète

Written in French by Mathilde Vischer | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: French, Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian

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Dans la petite ville aux maisons basses dans laquelle je vis, j’ai été frappée récemment, en revenant de l’université, par une porte donnant accès à l’une de ces maisons : au-dessus du cadre figuraient les numéros 51 et 2. L’écart entre ces deux chiffres m’e

From Das Gewicht der Worte

Written in German by Pascal Mercier | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: German, Dutch, Turkish

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Deine Übersetzungen habe ich alle gelesen, auch wenn ich es nicht immer sagte. Sie wurden besser und besser, selbständiger, sie besaßen einen eigenen Ton, man konnte sie Nachdichtungen nennen, und ich war nicht erstaunt zu erfahren, dass Du jeweils die

From Sur la traduction

Written in French by Paul Ricoeur | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: French, English, Italian

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Alors, comment font-ils ?

J’ai annoncé tout à l’heure un changement d’orientation : quittant l’alternative spéculative – traduisibilité contre intraduisibilité – entrons, disais-je, dans l’alternative pratique – fidélité contre trahison.

Pour

La traduttrice e l’iceberg

Written in Italian by Silvia Pareschi | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: Italian, English, Georgian

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Tradurre Hemingway significa, fra le tante altre cose, toccare con mano come funziona il famoso principio dell’iceberg, un caposaldo della sua scrittura che egli enunciò per la prima volta in Morte nel pomeriggio: “Se un prosatore sa bene di cosa sta scrivendo, può o

Las mil y una noches

Written in Spanish by Jorge Luis Borges | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: Spanish, English

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Un acontecimiento capital de la historia de las naciones occidentales es el descubrimiento del Oriente. Sería más exacto hablar de una conciencia del Oriente, continua, comparable a la presencia de Persia en la historia griega. Además de esa conciencia del Ori

De vulgari eloquentia, Liber primus, VI-VII

Written in Latin by Dante Alighieri | A specimen of Babel: Stories on the loss of the earth’s one speech and the confusion of languages

Also in: Latin, English, French, Italian, Arabic

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VI

Quoniam permultis ac diversis ydiomatibus negotium exercitatur humanum, ita quod multi multis non aliter intelligantur verbis quam sine verbis, de ydiomate illo venari nos decet quo vir sine matre, vir sine lacte, qui nec pupillarem etatem nec vidit

From Der Zoo in Rom

Translated into German by Lydia Dimitrow

Written in French by Pascal Janovjak

Also in: French, English, Italian

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Mitte der 1920er Jahre durchschreitet der Besucher des Zoos ein wüstes Gelände, das rein gar nichts mehr mit der eingehegten Harmonie der ursprünglichen Vision zu tun hat. Wegen fehlender Mittel sind zahlreiche Wege gesperrt. Und so irrt er umher, hier und da

From L’Investigateur

Translated into French by Bernard Kreise

Written in Russian by Margarita Khemlin

Also in: Russian, English, Ukrainian

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C’est une noce qui m’a accueilli à Ostior. Un juif se mariait avec une juive. Les invités, disons- le franchement, étaient tous juifs. Non sans quelques camarades ukrainiens, d’accord, mais pas pour l’essentiel. On entendait des mots juifs venant de d

From Революция

Written in Russian by Viktor Martinovich

Also in: Russian, Belarusian, German

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Глава одиннадцатая, в которой я впервые отказываюсь выполнить просьбу

Однажды в мае, в час небывало жаркого заката, в Москве, на Патриарших прудах, появились два гражданина. Первый из них, одетый в летнюю серенькую пару, был маленького роста, упитан, лыс,

Language Poems

Written in Belarusian by Julia Cimafiejeva

Also in: Belarusian, English, Ukrainian

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Mother Tongue

У мяне мамін чырвоны язык.
Гутаперчавы хлопчык.
Ён
гнецца ва ўсе бакі.
Ён
скача праз кола зубоў.
Ён
узлятае
з мокрай арэны сківіцы
да паднябеннага купала.
(Зноў гэты цырк!..)

Sete poemas from Geografia

Written in Portuguese by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen

Also in: Portuguese, English, Italian

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Eu me perdi

Eu me perdi na sordidez de um mundo
Onde era preciso ser
Polícia, agiota, fariseu
Ou cocote
Eu me perdi na sordidez do mundo
Eu me salvei na limpidez da terra
Eu me busquei no vento e me encontrei no m

D20

Lvov Is Everywhere: Adam Zagajewski (1945-2021)

Edited by Specimen

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Table
of
Contents

A Few Personal Memories

Written in English by Matteo Campagnoli

Also in: Italian

Spróbuj opiewać okaleczony świat

Written in Polish by Adam Zagajewski

Also in: English, Italian

Jechać do Lwowa

Written in Polish by Adam Zagajewski

Also in: English, Italian

Senza flash

Written in Polish by Adam Zagajewski

Also in: English, Italian

El hombre sirena

Written in Spanish by Samanta Schweblin

Also in: Spanish, French, Italian

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Estoy sentada en el bar del puerto, esperando a Daniel, cuando veo al hombre sirena mirarme desde el muelle. Está sobre la primera columna de hormigón, donde el agua todavía no llega a la playa, a unos cincuenta metros. Tardo en reconocerlo, en entender qué es e

A Thousand Words For Snow

Written in English by Xiaolu Guo

Also in: English, German, Polish

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A great iceberg is drifting on the water. If you were a bird or a fish, and if you followed this iceberg long enough, you would arrive somewhere in Greenland. There you might see a dead seagull frozen on the snow, or the skeleton of a large musk ox on a hillside.

Патологически двуязычный

Translated into Russian by Elena Botchorichvili

Written in English by Aleksandar Hemon

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

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Я хорошо помню тот день, когда мой отец пришел с работы, и, снимая обувь в прихожей, объявил, что записал меня в библиотеку местного пионерского центра ( pionirski centar ), а также в кружок английского языка. Я уже был пионером, в свои семь лет. Я обрадовался

Un pont, une lagune… from Camarade Papa

Written in French by Gauz

Also in: French, German, Italian

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Un pont, une lagune, quelques immeubles, forêt, forêt, forêt… Le grand défilé du paysage m’est aussi étranger que le repas du perfide. La route fait le serpent noir dans la forêt inexplicable. De loin, on croit que les arbres le coupent. De près, il laisse un

Coney Island

Written in German by Peter Stamm

Also in: German, English, Italian

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Das Pappstreichholz abreissen, das Briefchen umdrehen, ohne hinzuschauen. Der Daumen erinnert sich. Er hat den unteren Rand des Umschlags erkannt und sich dann auf den Kopf des Streichholzes gelegt und ihn auf die Reibfläche gepresst. Ein Reißen, und sofort sc

Nathalie Handal: Four Poems

Written in English by Nathalie Handal

Also in: English, Arabic, Italian

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The Mirror

When you want to find me
you go to the mirror—

you unbutton your shirt slowly
the way I used to

you unbuckle your belt, a slight pull
the way I used to

you unzip your jeans
the way I used to

you ta

Il libro che non leggeva mai nessuno

Translated into Italian by Daniela Marina Rossi

Written in French by Laurence Boissier

Also in: French, English, German

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Alla biblioteca di Ginevra, di fronte al ripiano dei romanzi gialli scandinavi c’è sempre un grande affollamento. I libri sono attesi con una tale impazienza da non rimanere mai a lungo sugli scaffali. Al contrario, davanti al ripiano degli «autori svizzeri» non s

Two Poems for Joseph Brodsky

Written in English by Derek Walcott

Also in: English, Italian

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Midsummer, II

Companion in Rome, whom Rome makes as old as Rome,
old as that peeling fresco whose flaking paint
is the clouds, you are crouched in some ancient pensione
where the only new thing is paper, like young St. Jerome

Brasília from Todos os contos

Written in Portuguese by Clarice Lispector

Also in: Portuguese, English, Italian

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Brasília é construída na linha do horizonte. Brasília é artificial. Tão artificial como devia ter sido o mundo quando foi criado. Quando o mundo foi criado, foi preciso criar um homem especialmente para aquele mundo. Nós somos todos deformados pela adaptação à liberda

D19

To Speak Europe in Different Languages

Edited by Specimen

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To Speak Europe in Different Languages: Winner and Shortlist

Hybrid and Collective Writing Competition

York to Teheran

Written in English by Desta Haile

Also in: Tigrinya, Italian

መጀመሪያ ቃል ነበረ…

Written in Amharic by Yohanes Molla

Also in: English, German

Prendre Langue

Written in French by Souhail Chichah

Also in: Amazigh, Arabic

Africa is the Land of Wide Empty Spaces

Written in English by Asmaa Jama

Also in: Somali, Swahili

Кога заминав од „Карл Либкнехт“

Written in Macedonian by Lidija Dimkovska

Also in: Croatian, Italian

Alfabeto from I mirtilli del Moléson

Written in Italian by Giovanni Orelli

Also in: Italian, French

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È Natale!

Mi correggo: domani è l’ultimo giorno di scuola prima delle vacanze di Natale, e sono contento di avere pronta la poesia per quelli di prima. Per le altre classi si trova tutto nei libri, è come il salato che comperi sotto vuoto. È in p

D18

Premio Babel-Laboratorio Formentini 2020

Edited by Babel Festival

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Motivazioni della giuria

Written by Franca Cavagnoli, Yasmina Mélaouah, Ilide Carmignani

Discorso di accettazione

Written in Italian by Silvia Manzio

Oreo’s tutors from Oreo

Written in English by Fran Ross

Also in: Italian

From طائر أزرق نادر يحلق معي

Written in Arabic by Youssef Fadel

Also in: Italian

From La parte inventada

Written in Spanish by Rodrigo Fresán

Also in: Italian

Three Animal Poems from Field Work (1979)

Written in English by Seamus Heaney

Also in: English, Italian

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The Badgers

When the badger glimmered away
into another garden
you stood, half-lit with whiskey,
sensing you had disturbed
some soft returning.

The murdered dead,
you thought.
But could it not have been

D17

Voices From a World on Pause

Edited by Eventi letterari Monte Verità

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Table
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Contents

Intro: Voci dal tempo sospeso

Written in Italian by Paolo Di Stefano

Also in: English

Il sonno del fuoco

Written in Italian by Emanuele Trevi

Also in: English, German

Requiem per casa di riposo lombarda

Written in Italian by Fabio Pusterla

Also in: English, German

Das Haus der vielen Länder

Written in German by Nino Haratischwili

Also in: Italian, Georgian

Compagnia delle poete translates Carlo Bordini

Written in Italian by Carlo Bordini

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

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Colpo di sonno

La morte potrebbe arrivare
leggera, lieve, attutita,
come un colpo di sonno
per fare la pace con se stessi
ovunque
come una lumaca
la consistenza appiccicosa
o
un momento di panico
pentimento

D16

M’illumino d’immenso Poetry Translation Prize 2020

Spanish and Arabic Edition

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Table
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About the Prize

Written in English

Gli ireos gialli from Il male minore

Written in Italian by Luciano Erba

Also in: Spanish, Arabic

La carta delle arance from La carta delle arance

Written in Italian by Pietro De Marchi

Also in: Spanish, Arabic

From ქანაანის შვილები

Written in Georgian by Gabriel Tanye

Also in: Georgian, English, Russian

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ბარში ფანჯარასთან ყვითელთმიანი გოგონა პაპიროსს ეწევა და ქუჩაში კანტი- კუნტად მიმავალ გამვლელებს აკვირდება.

გოგონამ მისი მოსვლა ვერ გაიგო.

ფეხდაფეხ შემოყვა ბარის მეპატრონე, რომელმაც ცოტა ხნის წინ ხმაურით გააღვიძა.

თვითონ უხერხულად დარბაზი

D15

The Return of Imagination

Edited by Adania Shibli and Mika Buljevič

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The Return of Imagination

Written in English by Adania Shibli and Mika Buljevič

Ja, anarhista

Written in Bosnian by Damir Avdič

Also in: English, Italian

خرافات حقيقية

Written in Arabic by Haytham el-Wardany

Also in: English

As They Drew the Lines of Nation States

Written in English by Priya Basil and Sinan Antoon

Also in: Italian

في المنزل and الغابة التي حدثت في غيابك

Written in Arabic by Jalal al-Ahmadi

Also in: Croatian, English, French, Italian

From “Illegal” Traveller

Written in English by Shahram Khosravi

Also in: Finnish, Italian

Le Minotaure 504 from La Préface du Nègre

Written in French by Kamel Daoud

Also in: French, English, Italian

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À Alger, tout le monde vit avec mon argent, mon fric, les 1700 dinars qui m’ont été volés près de la gare des trains, il y a dix-sept ans.

Qu’est-ce que tu crois ? Qu’on arrive à Alger parce qu’on a pris le taxi et son cabas ? Tu m

Ink Dots

Translated into English by Alta L. Price

Written in Italian by Matteo Terzaghi

Also in: Italian, German, French

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When we write a diary page, a reflection or a story, we’re split into a me and a you: the former holds the pen, the latter evaluates what comes out. But in the concentration that writing requires, sometimes we’re cast into a more impersonal realm, above or b

L’uva agli uccelli from Liquida

Written in Italian by Anna Felder

Also in: Italian, French, German

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1.

−Metti il piede qui,− le dice Antonio con il proprio piede, e lei obbedisce.

Sono i passi a riconoscersi di casa; il resto, il paese, l’altopiano, il cammino sono nuovi.

Vanno su terra secca, mai vista

Sleep

Written in English by Brett Darling

Also in: English, Arabic

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There were other ways of looking at it. This nightmare of hers, which, being both her nurse and her son I couldn’t rightly repeat out loud. But they were spoken non-the-less, or should I say, drooled. They formed in tiny globules, unrecognizable to anyone bu

From Asymetria

Written in Polish by Adam Zagajewski

Also in: Polish, English, Italian

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O mojej matce

O mojej matce nie umiałbym nic opowiedzieć –
jak powtarzała, będziesz kiedyś żałował,
gdy mnie już nie będzie, i jak nie wierzyłem
ani w „już“, ani w „nie będzie“,
jak lubiłem patrzeć, kiedy czytała modną pow

W-I-R From Schildkrötensoldat

Written in German by Melinda Nadj Abonji

Also in: German, French, Italian

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In dieser Pfannkuchen-Nacht ist etwas passiert, im flackernden Küchenlicht, ich habe Kugeln geformt aus zweiundzwanzig Kilo Teig, Kugeln im Durchmesser von vier Zentimetern, ich weiß zwar nicht genau, was passiert ist, aber sie haben sich, oh ja, sie haben si

From شريط صامت

Written in Arabic by Abdul Zahra Zaki

Also in: Arabic, English, Malayalam

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أسرع من الصوت

قبل أن يجيب
ينخله الرصاص

يصعد القاتل
يهدر المحرك
وتدور العجلات

بينما تنطبق الشفتان
على جواب
يهم أن ينطلق

*

هدف

Она - другая страна

Translated into Russian by Elena Botchorichvili

Written in English by Saleh Addonia

Also in: English, Arabic, Italian, French

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1

После того, как нам отказали в политическом убежище, а потом аппеляционный суд подтвердил это решение, мы перешли на нелегальное положение. Причиной нашего ходатайства было желание найти Ее. В прошении мы также указывали, что в стране, где мы выросли, Ее у

D14

It Is My Way of Going Around These Days

Edited by Specimen

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Preface

Written in English by Specimen

Also in: Italian

From Drinks With Dead Poets

Written in English by Glyn Maxwell

Sogno

Written in Italian by Vanni Bianconi

Also in: English, Arabic, Russian

Отец вошел в круглое здание цирка…

Written in Russian by Elena Botchorichvili

Also in: French, English, Czech, Georgian

ich bin zu gast bei einer frau…

Written in German by Michael Fehr

Dreams

Written in English by Stephanos Papadopoulos

Also in: Italian, Spanish

Dormo poco e male from Ora pro bonobis. Amen

Written in Italian by Luigi Serafini

Also in: Russian, Spanish

La notte si avvicina

Written in Italian by Matteo Campagnoli

Also in: Polish

Writers from the Old Days (Bolaño in Blanes 1996-1999)

Translated into English by J. S. Tennant

Written in Spanish by Enrique Vila-Matas

Also in: Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic

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What else is there / other than knowing how to get off the ropes
–Mario Santiago

Augusto Monterroso wrote that sooner or later the Latin American writer faces three possible fates: exile, imprisonment or burial.

I met Roberto Bolaño rig

D13

What Were You Doing in My Dream Last Night?

Edited by Specimen

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Preface

Written in English by Specimen

Also in: Italian

From Horae Canonicae: Prime

Written in English by W.H. Auden

Also in: Italian

A Dream

Written in English by Edward Thomas

Also in: Italian

Ein Traum

Written in German by Franz Kafka

Also in: English, Italian

The Season of Phantasmal Peace

Written in English by Derek Walcott

Also in: Italian

From Il deserto dei Tartari

Written in Italian by Dino Buzzati

Also in: English, French, Portuguese

Kubla Khan: Or, a vision in a dream. A Fragment

Written in English by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Also in: Italian

El sueño de Coleridge

Written in Spanish by Jorge Luis Borges

Also in: English, Italian

Любовь

Written in Russian by Joseph Brodsky

Also in: English

Zu nahe

Written in German by Walter Benjamin

Also in: English

Had I Not Been Awake

Written in English by Seamus Heaney

Also in: Italian

From Nights with my Frog

Translated into English by Michael Hofmann

Written in German by Markus Werner

Also in: German, Italian

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1

He comes once a month, makes himself at home, stays for three days. In my throat, where else. Have you tried gargling, comes the well-meaning advice. Tried that, tried everything. Never less than three days.

Filthy

4 poemas

Written in Portuguese by Carlos Drummond de Andrade

Also in: Portuguese, English, Italian

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Resíduo

De tudo ficou um pouco.
Do meu medo. Do teu asco.
Dos gritos gagos. Da rosa
ficou um pouco.

Ficou um pouco de luz
captada no chapéu.
Nos olhos do rufião
de ternura fic

The Dragon Can’t Dance: Prologue

Written in English by Earl Lovelace

Also in: English, Italian

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THE HILL

This is the hill tall above the city where Taffy, a man who say he is Christ, put himself up on a cross one burning midday and say to his followers: “Crucify me! Let me die for my people. Stone me with stones as you stone Jesus, I will love yo

From Zabor ou Les psaumes

Written in French by Kamel Daoud

Also in: French

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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

El traductor

Written in Spanish by Juan Villoro

Also in: Spanish, English, Arabic, German, Bulgarian, Italian

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a Susanne Lange

Conocer es, en buena medida, traducir. La condición siempre relativa de lo que sabemos obliga a entender poco a poco; las fases de la luna, la caída de una piedra y el vuelo de un halcón se ordenan en el archivo len

Viva la Calabria, viva Pinocchio il calabrese, il figlio del falegname from Il popolo di legno

Written in Italian by Emanuele Trevi

Also in: Italian, English, French

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Cari amici che mi ascoltate, figli e figlie del falegname, oggi desidero parlarvi di una musica: una musica di pifferi e colpi di grancassa, come sta scritto nel capitolo nove delle Avventure di Pinocchio, il Vangelo di noi calabresi, il popolo di

Żelane drzwi from Stambuł, Stambuł

Translated into Polish by Paulina Dominik

Written in Turkish by Burhan Sönmez

Also in: Turkish, English, Italian, German

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Dzień pierwszy – Opowiada Student Demirtay

– To długa historia, ale streszczę wam ją – powiedziałem. – Nikt nigdy wcześniej nie widział tyle śniegu w Stambule. Kiedy dwie zakonnice o północy były w drodze ze szpitala Świętego Grzegorza w Karaköy do kościoła

From МОНИТОР-1

Written in Russian by Shura Burtin

Also in: Russian, English

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60-летнего Оюба Титиева арестовали в январе 2018 года: в его машине якобы нашли наркотики. Правозащитники заявляют, что дело сфабриковано. Оюб Титиев, бывший учитель и тренер по боксу, возглавил чеченский «Мемориал» девять лет назад, после похищени

From Le noir est une couleur

Written in French by Grisélidis Réal

Also in: French, Italian, Spanish

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Nous prenons l’autobus jusqu’au terminus, aux confins de la ville, dans un quartier d’usines.

Après un pont, il faut encore marcher longtemps dans un étroit sentier de terre, au milieu des prés.

D’un no

5 Poems from Morning, Paramin

Written in English by Derek Walcott

Also in: English, 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

From Taş Bina ve Diğerleri

Written in Turkish by Asli Erdoǧan

Also in: Turkish, English, Italian

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Olgular açık, uyumsuz, kaba… Yüksek sesle konuşmaya hevesli. Dev taşlar gibi yıkılmış olguları, önemli şeylerle ilgilenenlere bırakıyorum. Beni çeken yalnızca aralarındaki mırıldanma. Belli belirsiz, saplantılı… Kayalar dolusu olguyu eşeleyerek eld

What Can Literature Still Do?

Written in English by Georgi Gospodinov

Also in: English, 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

Zwei Gedichte

Written in German by Robert Walser

Also in: German, French, Italian

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Ein Landschäftchen

Dort steht ein Bäumlein im Wiesengrund
und noch viele artige Bäumlein dazu.
Ein Blättlein friert im frostigen Wind
und noch viele einzelne Blättlein dazu.
Ein Häuflein Schnee schimmert an Baches Rand
und

From მელია-ტულეფია: FOXTROT

Written in Georgian by Zurab Karumidze

Also in: Georgian, English, Russian

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ნუ მკითხავთ, როგორ აღმოვჩნდი სვანეთში, იმ ადრე-შუასაუკუნოვან წესჩვეულებათა მიმდევარი ხალხით დასახლებულ მაღალმთიან რეგიონში, მე _ ახალგაზრდა და ფრიად წარმატებული ბიზნესმენი ფილადელფიიდან, რუსეთში კონცესიების შესაძენად ჩასული. დამეთანხმებით, ფრიად შთამბეჭდავი “ვირაჟი” გამიკეთებია! ი

From This Little Art

Written in English by Kate Briggs

Also in: English, French, Italian

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When it comes to making a table, Robinson Crusoe is a novice, a beginner. He has never made a table before. But others have. He is fortunate in the sense that he has a model in mind: this, along with the many items he salvages from the ship (the tools,

5 Poems from 40 Sonnets

Written in English by Don Paterson

Also in: English, 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

Otros retratos de soledad

Translated into Spanish by Clara Moreno Vivot

Written in English by Susana Moreira Marques

Also in: English, Italian, Portuguese

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Piensa en esto: llegas a una ciudad nueva, a otro país, a otra parte del mundo. Tratas de comprender todo en unos pocos días, escribir sobre ello, condensarlo. Quieres construir un puente y cruzarlo, aunque la cultura y la historia no te lo permitan. Quieres di

From Kraft

Written in German by Jonas Lüscher

Also in: German, Dutch, Russian

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

Das Rumsfeldporträt hängt direkt in Krafts Blickachse. Wenn er wieder nicht weiterweiß und sein Blick

Tre poesie from Da una crepa

Written in Italian by Elisa Biagini

Also in: Italian, English, Spanish

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La gita

devo rassegnarmi a non potere qui
raddrizzare nulla
–Nathan Zach

Un vento che m’impasta
col soffione, che mi
fonde le suole mentre
faccio la mia cern

D12

Babel 2019 | You Will Not Speak My Language

Edited by Babel Festival

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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

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

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

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Angst was kommt
Denken vor Angst was kommt
Angst vor dem Denken was kommt
Angst vor dem Denken

Wenn es kommt
kommt es wegen der Angst
wegen der Angst vor dem Denken
die mir Angst macht

أقليات

Written in Arabic by Ra’ad Abdul Qadir

Also in: Arabic, English, French

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أقلية أولى

المترجم الكلداني ينظر إلى سائق الشاحنة
من المحتم أنها أقلية، لقد كان لها مجد غابر
السائق الصابئي يوقف الشاحنة قرب شجرة
ويقول لحامل الشعلة: احفر هنا
من المحتمل أن لا ينكشف الأ

5 Poems on Fear and Courage

Written in English by Charles Simic

Also in: English, 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

From Nove Noites

Written in Portuguese by Bernardo Carvalho

Also in: Portuguese, 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

The Second Time

Translated into English by Frederika Randall

Written in Italian by Maurizia Balmelli

Also in: Italian, French, Arabic

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March 1, 2018

Yesterday I had an appointment with Abdul. He’s 23, Egyptian, undocumented, and I’m his binôme, his ‘study buddy’ (according to my dictionary). We meet once a week to talk and, as he says, ‘do the verbs’. I left home a

Compagnia delle poete translates Antonella Anedda

Written in Italian by Antonella Anedda

Also in: Italian, Catalan, English, French, Greek, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish

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Povertà. Cronache, 2019

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

Di nuovo voi case dal terreno nero. Voi muri neri eretti sui confini.
Zolle nere. Tende nere.

Povera è questa pove

Cinque poesie from The Occasional Demon

Written in Italian by Primo Levi

Also in: Italian, English

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Nel principio

Fratelli umani a cui è lungo un anno,
Un secolo un venerando traguardo,
Affaticati per il vostro pane,
Stanchi, iracondi, illusi, malati, persi;
Udite, e vi sia consolazione e scherno:
Venti miliardi d’anni pri

From Бегун и корабль (Шишкин о Владимире Шарове)

Written in Russian by Mikhail Shishkin

Also in: Russian, English, French

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Канон учит работать резцом, как Бунин, отсекая от увиденного все лишнее. Ты — ткач. Твоя проза обволакивает.

Тебе нужен разгон. Ты не можешь дать героям сразу их полный голос. Ты всегда начинаешь с чьего-то письма, дневника, воспом

D11

Oca Babel at Flip 2019

Curated by Babel Festival

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5 poemas

Written in Portuguese by Ricardo Aleixo

Also in: German

5 poesie

Written in Italian by Vanni Bianconi

Also in: English, French, Portuguese, Polish, Spanish

Antes do céu cair

Written in Portuguese by Jaider Esbell

Also in: Macushi

3 Gedichte

Written in German by Michael Fehr

Also in: English, Portuguese

3 Poems

Written in English by Yumi Ito

Also in: Portuguese

Café

Written in Portuguese by Simone Spoladore

Also in: English

Sou Auritha cordelista

Written in Portuguese by Auritha Tabajara

Also in: English

خطبة “الهندي الأحمر” -ما قبل الأخيرة- أمام الرجل الأبيض

Written in Arabic by Mahmoud Darwish

Also in: Arabic, Spanish, Mazatec, Chinantec, Mixe, Zapotec, Yucatec, English

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…أَسْماؤُنا شَجَرٌ مِنْ كَلامِ الإِلهِ، وَ طَيْرٌ تُحَلِّقُ أُعَلْى
مِنْ الْبُنْدُقِيَّةِ. لا تَقْطَعوا شَجَرَ الاسْم يا أَيُّها الْقادمون
مْنَ الْبَحْرِ حَرْبَاً، وَلا تَنْفُثوا خَيْلَكُمْ لَهَباً في السُّهول
لَكُمْ رَبُّكُمْ

Os Involuntários da Pátria

Speech delivered in Portuguese by Eduardo Viveiros de Castro

Also in: Portuguese, English, Italian

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

Hoje os que se acham donos do Brasil — e que o são, em ultimíssima análise, porque os deixamos se acharem, e daí a o serem foi um pulo (uma carta régia, um tiro, um lib

3 Poems from Sk’eoj Jme’tik U/Cantos de Luna

Written in Tzotzil by Enriqueta Lunez

Also in: Tzotzil, Spanish, German

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Ta po’ko mochibal li jme’e tsmak sba,
li snopbenale bak’intik kochuk k’ok’ tax chuchbe sk’ak’al.
Li jme’e, stusbun jol, stitun xchi’uk ta xcha pech’anan li k’usi ta snop ta yut yo’nton:
li k’ambail mukul ta yolon tasiletik
ti oy ak’o mi yi’jil an

From Gehen, ging, gegangen

Written in German by Jenny Erpenbeck

Also in: German, English, Italian

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Eine Grenze, denkt Richard, kann also auch plötzlich sichtbar werden, kann plötzlich an einem Ort erscheinen, wo sonst nie eine war — was in den letzten Jahren an den Grenzen Libyens ausgefochten wurde oder an den Grenzen Marokkos oder Nigers, find

M’illumino d’immenso Poetry Translation Prize 2019

Written in Italian by Gianni D’Elia and Fabio Pusterla

Also in: Italian, Spanish

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Gianni D’Elia

LXI

Ma l’antinferno esiste; basta si spenga
la luce delle scale, mentre risali, senza
più sacchetti, la sera del rifiuto quotidiano;

d’improvviso, il buio più pesto e fitto
ti assale, e vai a memo

Den uppstoppade sjöelefanten i Bukarest

Written in Swedish by Fredrik Sjöberg

Also in: Swedish, English, German

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Under en av mina dagliga promenader till naturhistoriska museet i Bukarest, vars uppstoppade sjöelefant lockade till ständigt nya besök, slog det mig att rumänska elektrikerförbundets julfester måste vara något utöver det vanliga. Den utmattade glädjen;

From Z213: Exit

Translated into Spanish by Luis Miguel Isava

Written in Greek by Dimitris Lyacos

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

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[…]

Al comienzo no ves, sólo imaginas, luego crees que ves –despliegas en tu mente un espacio donde todavía nada es visible. Sólo espacio y niebla. Luego aíslas una parte de él e intentas discernir un paisaje en tu campo visual, al punto

Der Nachbar

Written in German by Gerhard Meister

Also in: German, English, Russian

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Nein, es wäre wirklich kein Problem gewesen, auf das Spiegelei zu verzichten. Ich hatte noch Brot und Konfitüre und auch Kaffee, und Kaffee ist am Morgen ja das wichtigste. Aber genausowenig ein Problem war es eben auch, bei meinem Nachbarn zu klingeln un

Seis poemas from O martelo

Written in Portuguese by Adelaide Ivànova

Also in: Portuguese, English, Italian

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o gato

a delegada não me levou a sério
em nada e perguntou escorregadia
se eu queria mesmo que se
instaurasse inquérito vestia um
conjuntinho maravilhoso e
horroroso calça e camisa
jeans com jeans
d

Introduzione: La scrittura resistente

Written in Italian by Laura Pugno

Also in: Italian, English, Spanish

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A vent’anni sono stata traduttrice. Vivevo già tra molte lingue, avevo appreso quel residuo che ciascuna lingua lascia, che non si scioglie nel bicchiere, che si deposita nel fondo come un sasso bianco, la materia porosa di cui parla Juan Villoro, la

5 Poems

Written in Urdu by Fahmida Riaz

Also in: Urdu, Spanish, Italian

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اقلیما

اقلیما
جو ہابیل کی قابیل کی ماں جائی ہے
ماں جائی
مگر مختلف
مختلف بیچ میں رانوں کے
اور پستانوں کے ابھاروں میں
اور اپنے پیٹ کے اندر
اپنی کوکھ میں
ان سب کی قسم

From El factor Borges

Written in Spanish by Alan Pauls

Also in: Spanish, English, French, Italian

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No todo el mundo ha leído a Borges. Todos, sin embargo, lo han oído. Todos saben cómo hablaba, todos sabrían reconocer su voz. A cierta altura de sus vidas, cuando los toca la fama, los escritores, por lo general ya algo cansados, tienden a relajarse y a

¿Lengua propia o apropiada?

Written in Spanish by Fernando Savater

Also in: Spanish, Italian

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¿Lengua propia o apropiada?

Hace varios lustros asistí en la Universidad de Minnesota a un congreso sobre las nacionalidades en la España actual (o sea, en la de entonces que es también la de ahora, agravada). Asistían representantes de ca

Il diario, Il racconto, Lo scambio from In altre parole

Written in Italian by Jhumpa Lahiri

Also in: Italian, English

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Il diario

Arrivo a Roma con la mia famiglia, qualche giorno prima di ferragosto. Non conosciamo questa abitudine di partire in massa. Nel momento in cui quasi tutti scappano via, in cui quasi tutta la città è ferma, proviamo a iniziare un nuovo capitolo de

Il meno pensato dei capolavori. 10 note su Pinocchio

Written in Italian by Marco Stracquadaini

Also in: Italian, English, Romanian

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1. Sventurato. Monello. Candido. Generoso. Coraggioso (vuol dare la vita per Arlecchino; piuttosto che cedere le monete che ha in bocca si lascia impiccare e spenzola vivo per tre ore, ma non apre la bocca). «Svelto e nervoso», come i piedi che gl

Mariangela Gualtieri: 5 poesie

Written in Italian by Mariangela Gualtieri

Also in: Italian, English, German

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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.

2.

Una volta ero piccola, ero

Yiorgos Chouliaras: Four Poems

Written in Greek by Yiorgos Chouliaras

Also in: Greek, English, French

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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: Italian, 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: English, 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

D9

Sargon Boulus, Poet and Translator

Edited by Mona Kareem

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

Written in English by Mona Kareem

Also in: Arabic

الذاهب إلى المكان

Written in Arabic by Sargon Boulus

Also in: English

ملاحظات إلى السندباد من شيخ البحر

Written in Arabic by Sargon Boulus

Also in: English

Look, Stranger

Written in English by W. H. Auden

Also in: Arabic

We Too Had Known Golden Hours

Written in English by W. H. Auden

Also in: Arabic

Love After Love

Written in English by Derek Walcott

Also in: Arabic

Três poemas

Written in Portuguese by Edimilson de Almeida Pereira

Also in: Portuguese, Italian

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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: Romanian, 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,

Le lingue di mia zia from La gelosia delle lingue

Written in Italian by Adrián N. Bravi

Also in: Italian, Spanish, Arabic

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Sono partito da una lingua e senza volerlo sono approdato a un’altra. Due lingue simili e senza confini precisi tra di loro. Non so darmi una ragione della mia partenza (non sapevo nemmeno quanto tempo sarei rimasto fuori dal mio paese – ancora ho l

Five Poems from Vitsvit

Written in Swedish by Athena Farrokhazad

Also in: Swedish, 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

Jolts

Written in English by Fernando Sdrigotti

Also in: English, Spanish, Italian

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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

D8

Premio Babel-Laboratorio Formentini 2018

Curated by Babel Festival

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Discorso di accettazione

Written in Italian by Elisa Tramontin

From Dejen todo en mis manos

Written in Spanish by Mario Levrero

Also in: Italian

From L’effacement

Written in French by Samir Toumi

Also in: Italian

From Nos richesses

Written in French by Kaouther Adimi

Also in: Italian

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: Italian, 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: Catalan, 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

Also in: Italian

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Umberto Fiori

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

D7

Homage to Georgia

Edited by Nausikaa Angelotti and Elena Botchorichvili

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Homage to Georgia

Introduction

სულიკო

Written in Georgian by Akaki Tsereteli

Also in: English, French, German

არკადი from წმინდა წყვდიადი

Written in Georgian by Levan Berdzenishvili

Also in: English, German, Russian, French, Italian, Norwegian

В эмиграцию…

Written in Russian by Elena Botchorichvili

Also in: Danish, English, Georgian, Italian

И пули купить было проще, чем цветы from Опера

Written in Russian by Elena Botchorichvili

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

The House

Written in Georgian by Mikheil Kakabadze

Also in: English, Russian

From L’estate muore giovane

Written in Italian by Mirko Sabatino

Also in: Italian, French, Spanish

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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: Portuguese, 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: French, 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 Um copo de cólera

Written in Portuguese by Raduan Nassar

Also in: Portuguese, English, Italian

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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: Italian, 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

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

Written in German by Hans Magnus Enzensberger

Also in: German, 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,

D6

Fabio Pusterla

Curated by Babel Festival

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Cinque poesie da Bocksten

Written in Italian by Fabio Pusterla

Also in: Portuguese

Paesaggio from Le cose senza storia

Written in Italian by Fabio Pusterla

Also in: French, English

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

Also in: French, Serbian

Madonna dei Campi

Written in Italian by Fabio Pusterla

Also in: French, German

Congedo from Argéman

Written in Italian by Fabio Pusterla

Also in: French, German, English, Croatian, Serbian, Portuguese

D5

Poethreesome 2018

Curated by Babel Festival

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A Hall of Poetic Mirrors

Written by Babel Festival

Sept poèmes from Atemnot: IV. Territorien

Written in French by Marina Skalova

Also in: German, Romansh, Italian

Set poesias

Written in Romansh by Gianna Olinda Cadonau

Also in: German, French, Italian

Sei poesie from L’ora zero

Written in Italian by Prisca Agustoni

Also in: Romansh, French

Oath to the Queen from Lucifer Over London

Written in English by Xiaolu Guo

Also in: English, Italian

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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

Also in: Hungarian, French, Italian

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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: Arabic, 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: Norwegian, 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

Also in: Italian, English

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I. Gabbiani, dunque

“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

D4

Homage to Philippe Rahmy

Edited by Monica Pavani and Luciana Cisbani

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Ritratto

Written in Italian by Monica Pavani and Luciana Cisbani

Also in: French

Cellules souches

Written in French by Philippe Rahmy

Also in: Italian

Pélican, un roman américain

Written in French by Philippe Rahmy

Also in: English, Italian

Allegra

Written in French by Philippe Rahmy

Also in: Italian, Spanish

دفاعا عن القارئ

Written in Arabic by Ahmed Shafie

Also in: Arabic, 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

Also in: English, Italian

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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

Pierre et le loup

Written in French by Éric Chevillard

Also in: French, 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: Russian, 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: Italian, 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

Also in: German, English

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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

Also in: Italian, Bulgarian, English

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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

Also in: Russian, Italian

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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: French, 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: Polish, 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: French, 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

La peor parte

Written in Spanish by Rodrigo Rey Rosa

Also in: Spanish, Arabic, Italian

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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