Posts by The Blog Team

Celebrate International Women’s Day with Women’s Writing!

Join us as we highlight the vital contributions of women to literature and translation.

March 8th is International Women’s Day, and we wanted to take the opportunity to lift up the work of women in world literature. Below, find a selection of pieces published on the blog in the past year, across essays, reviews, translations, and interviews, curated to represent the breadth and brilliance of women working in writing.

Interviews

A Conversation on Kurdish Translation with Farangis Ghaderi
by Holly Mason Badra

But when you look deeper, when you look at archives, and look at early Kurdish periodicals, you find women. You discover these forgotten voices. An interesting example of that is Zeyneb Xan, who published under the pseudonym of Kiche Kurd (“Kurdish girl”). In 2018, when a publisher was reprinting Galawej (the first Kurdish literary journal published in 1939–1949), they decided to have sections on contributing writers. They came across this name, and one of the researchers working on the project uncovered that the identity of the writer was Zeyneb Xan (1900–1963), the eldest sister of Dildar—a very well-known figure of Kurdish literature who wrote the Kurdish anthem. Although her family was a literary family and at the center of literary attention, her manuscript remained unpublished until 2018. Her truly fascinating poetry collection covers a wide range of themes from patriotism to women’s education and liberation.

Wild Women: An Interview with Aoko Matsuda and Polly Barton
by Sophia Stewart

For me, films and television programs, as well as books and comics, have always been the places where I can meet outsider women, weirdo women, rebel women, sometimes scary women. When I was a child, I didn’t care if these women were human beings or ghosts or monsters, and I didn’t care if they were from Japan or other countries. I was just drawn to them, encouraged by their existence.

To Protect Oneself From Violence: An Interview with Mónica Ojeda
by Rose Bialer

Maybe if I was born in some other place, I would be writing about something else, but I do believe that Latin America is a very violent continent, especially for women, and in all of our traditions of women’s literature, there have always been women writing horror stories in Latin America. . .  I do believe that it’s because you can’t write about anything else. That’s how you live life. You are afraid for your life. You are scared of the violence in your family, the violence between your friends, the violence in the street. You can’t think about anything else except how to protect yourself from violence.


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Submission Call

Send us your best, most critically engaged writing on vital contemporary matters.

As the world stands attention to the cacophonous onslaught of news, literature continues to reach towards an understanding. In this merciless attention economy, now is a more pivotal time than ever to work across language and prescribed boundaries. In our continual mission to forward thinking, empathy, and curiosity, we at the Asymptote blog are looking for contributions that participate in the global dialogue around literature and translation.

We have published pieces on topics ranging from global cinema to the ethics of review to the literature of revolution. Apart from essays, we run dispatches from international literary events, interviews, weekly new translations, book reviews, and more. Like our journal, we are looking for creative, original, and highly engaging work that considers the role of translation in literature, the arts, and the fabric of everyday life.

We encourage writers of all stripes and colours to engage with global issues as well as particular interests. At Asymptote, we’re all about breaking borders and boundaries, and we’re looking for writing that does the same.

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We Want to Hear from You!

The blog is looking for original writing that tackles world literature from a singular perspective.

The work of literature, as Umberto Eco said, is “a sweet mission in this world dominated by disorder and decay.” In that spirit, the Asymptote blog is looking for fellow thinkers and readers in furthering our mission, by contributing to the global conversation on literature and the arts in translation.  

Showcasing new translations and daily writings on world literature and culture, the Asymptote blog is on the constant lookout for individual voices, probing analysis, and topicality in our postings. We have published pieces on topics ranging from global cinema, to the ethics of review, to the literature of revolution. Apart from essays, we run dispatches from international literary events, interviews, weekly new translations, book reviews, and more. Like our journal, we are looking for creative, original, and highly engaging work that considers the role of translation in literature, the arts, and the fabric of everyday life.

We encourage writers of all stripes and colours to engage with global issues as well as particular interests. At Asymptote, we’re all about breaking borders and boundaries, and are looking for writing that does the same.

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Recent highlights from the blog include:

Peera Songkünnatham on the persistence of Thai literature under the nation’s censorious lèse majesté law.

Jovanka Kalaba on the New Sincerity movement in Serbian poetry, and how it confronts the nation’s social traumas.

Rainer Hanshe speaking with Rachel Allen on his independent publishing house, Contra Mundum, and its commitment to Modernist works and principles.

MARGENTO reporting from the ground at the immersive and multi-media Brussels Planetarium Poetry Fest.

Renowned Dantist and professor Hideyuki Doi on the beginnings of Dante in Japan.

Send your submissions, pitches or queries to our blog editors at blog@asymptotejournal.comSend us your best, most critically engaged and creative writing on the most important matters of the dayRolling deadline.

Asymptote Blog Wants YOU to Lead the Conversation!

Asymptote blog is on the constant lookout for individual voices, probing analysis, and topicality.

Fran Leibowitz once said: “Magazines all too frequently lead to books and should be regarded by the prudent as the heavy petting of literature.” In that spirit, the Asymptote blog is looking for more book-lovers like yourself to contribute to the global conversation on literature and the arts in translation.  

Showcasing new translations and daily writings on world literature and culture, Asymptote blog is on the constant lookout for individual voices, probing analysis, and topicality in our postings. We have published pieces on topics ranging from pop music and children’s books to political calls-to-action. Apart from essays, we run dispatches from international literary events, interviews, weekly new translations, book reviews, and more. Like our journal, we are looking for creative, original, and highly engaging work that considers the role of translation in literature, the arts, and the fabric of everyday life.

We encourage writers of all stripes and colours to engage with global issues as well as particular interests. At Asymptote, we’re all about breaking borders and boundaries, and are looking for writing that does the same.

READ MORE…