This week, our editors bring news of new publications continuing long-running literary genealogies, notable awardees of the PEN Translates grants, and the process of turning a lauded Greek writer’s home into an exhibition space.
Sofija Popovska, Editor-at-Large, reporting from North Macedonia
Going back to one’s roots can be an exercise of remembering what moves us. In her novel Tri Marii (The Three Marias), published recently by Ars Lamina Press, Macedonian author Olivera Kjorveziroska examines multiple iterations of the origin concept: as literary influence, as folk practice, and as the force from and towards which all human life is drawn—love.
Originally from Kumanovo, Kjorveziroska (b. 1965) now lives and works in Skopje. Her writing has been translated into many languages, including English, French, Hungarian, and Albanian, among others, and she also works as an editor and literary critic. Being someone who reads for a living is a crucial aspect of Kjorveziroska’s life; in her own words: “If . . . I had to choose between doing something else and writing a lot more, or working in publishing and not writing at all, I would probably choose the latter, because this is the only industry I feel at home in.” This love of and proficiency in reading finds its embodiment in her writing, including in Tri Marii, which is intertextual and allusive both literarily and culturally.
One of the most obvious allusions here, for anyone familiar with Macedonian literature, is the nod to Slavko Janevski’s 1956 novel, Dve Marii (The Two Marias). This homage plays into Kjorveziroska’s interest in “the development of literature, generational connections . . . ‘surprising/betraying’ those who wrote before us.” In this, Tri Marii makes references to Kjorveziroska’s own oeuvre (satisfying certain archeological impulses), but remains legible to those who are unfamiliar with her other work. Her interest in genealogies is also manifested in the work’s subtitle: “A basma novel”; in the Macedonian (and broader Balkan) context, basma denotes a tradition of healing poetry—“secret words [that] can cure . . . illnesses.” Tri Marii, in which the three main characters are either undone or metamorphosed by love, is both healing and unsettling, like an incantation, or love itself. Both Biblical and modern, the love of the three Marias calls for sacrifices and transformations. “We all live through and for love,” Kjorveziroska declares: “there is no escape from. . . love. . .”
Carol Khoury, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Palestine
English PEN’s latest round of PEN Translates grants brings attention to Children of the Dew by Palestinian writer Mohammed Al-As‘ad, a powerful work soon to debut in English in maia tabet’s and Anaheed Al-Hardan’s translation. While we await the English edition forthcoming from Tilted Axis Press in 2026, this insightful conversation between tabet and scholar Yasmeen Hanoosh offers a glimpse into the complexity and beauty of this unique text.
Children of the Dew resists straightforward classification; tabet describes it as a “genre-bending” text, a poetic meditation that weaves together prose, poetry, historical fiction, and magical realism. The narrative centers on the Nakba as experienced through the eyes of a young child who grows up as a refugee in Baghdad, remembering and reconstructing displacement from a female perspective. tabet also highlights that although the Arabic original calls it a novel, its form closely resembles the French récit—a telling or recounting that unfolds without a traditional novel’s arc or character development.
The book journeys fluidly between the child’s village of Umm al-Zenat (depopulated since 1948), Arab folk tales, references to The Thousand and One Nights, and historical markers like UN resolutions, producing a layered and lyrical portrait of memory, exile, and trauma. This blending of personal and collective histories is led by a nuanced female voice navigating the bounds of storytelling and history.
Alongside Children of the Dew, English PEN is also supporting Palestine -1, coming from Comma Press in September. An anthology of ten Palestinian authors that reimagines the lead-up and aftermath of the 1948 Nakba through speculative fiction, this inventive collection explores historical trauma with fantastical and supernatural elements, further enriching the landscape of Palestinian literature available in English translation.
Christina Chatzitheodorou, Editor-at-Large, reporting from Greece
Recently, the Hellenic Authors’ Society has sought to preserve the memory of the poet Kostas Karyotakis by transforming his last residence into a “space of culture and poetic memory,” taking the form of a museum, cultural space or even an archive. Having often highlighted the importance of houses in the lives and work of writers within the Greek literary heritage, the Society is now in the process of preparing a relevant proposal to local government bodies and the Ministry of Culture.
The National Library of Greece, on the occasion centennial of left-wing writer Manolis Anagnostakis’s birth, will exhibit material from its general collection related to his life and work, including rare editions of his poetry collections, anthologies, and writings translated into other languages.
The 11th International Tinos International Literary Festival took place on between July 24 and 26 in Tinos with great success. On the first day, a poetic film by Thodoris Gkonis was screened, and several Greek writers read excerpts from their works—including Kalliopi Anastasaki, Anastasis Vistonitis, Lana Mandyla, and Ioanna Bourazopoulou—as well as the Palestinian author Carol Sansour.
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