iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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American Literary Translators Association @littranslate.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

If you’re a fan of speculative fiction in translation, then you’re in luck! This site has your back with a list of 2026 translation publications. You can go and see what’s already come out, what October holds, and anticipated releases all the way up to the end of 2026. buff.ly/WP8qOK0

buff.ly

SFT Out In: 2026 – Speculative Fiction in Translation

Pedro the Vast by Simón López Trujillo, translated from the Spanish (Chile) by Robin Myers (Algonquin Books, January 13)

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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 26/08/2026

Just in time for tennis season to peak in New York City, 10 public tennis courts in Crotona Park — the only courts in the Bronx with lights for nighttime playing — are now fully renovated.

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

[cont'd] "but luckily Mtanga prefers to focus on the different behavior human beings have in situations of conflict, treating a moment of physical vulnerability with incredible gentleness." [2/2]

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

On "Attitudes" by @fadhymtanga.bsky.social, which I got to translate: "Other writers could have transformed what happens to Nela [into] a horror show, preferring scatology over a meaningful social interaction, or have turned a health issue into a degrading punishment for her personality ..." [1/2]

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

An enthusiastic new review of @twolinespress.com's NO EDGES: SWAHILI STORIES, with close attention to each story and novel excerpt in the collection. Asante sana @hachepueyo.bsky.social

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

A week from today: big release party at Mother Foucault's Bookshop in #Portland for big, new, summer issue of Portland Tennis Courterly. Issue theme: The Big Issue. It really is going to be big. Event link: www.motherfoucaultsbookshop.com/calendar-lis...

motherfoucaultsbookshop.com

🎾 Portland Tennis Courterly: Big Issue Release Party — Mother Foucault's Bookshop

Portland Tennis Courterly : Big Issue Release Party https://tenniscourterly.com/ Saturday, June 6, 2026 7:00 PM

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

For Asymptote, I reviewed NOTES TO A BLACK WOMAN by Françoise Ega, translated from the French by Emma Ramadan (out now from @yalepress.bsky.social). "I haven't read anything like it!" a character says at one point in this real-life story—neither had I. Link: www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2026/05...

asymptotejournal.com

For the Reader, It’s a Feast: A Review of Notes to a Black Woman by Françoise Ega - Asymptote Blog

. . . the agent seems astonished that the “woman of letters” is also a woman who makes lunch.

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Tony Hao @tonyhao.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

My translation of ADRIFT IN THE SOUTH, the debut memoir of Chinese worker-poet Xiao Hai 小海, out with Granta Magazine Editions today. A landmark work of the migrant worker literature movement, it showcases one of China’s liveliest emerging voices. #XiaoHai #chineseliterature #translatedliterature

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Book launch for Allison Markin Powell's fabulous translation of Kanako Nishi's SAKURA, tomorrow night at @literary-arts.org Bookstore & Cafe in Portland, Ore. I have the honor of wearing the interlocutor hat. literary-arts.org/event/sakura...

literary-arts.org

Sakura: Kanako Nishi and Allison Markin Powell

The Literary Arts Bookstore & Cafe is thrilled to welcome Kanako Nishi, author of the Japanese language novel Sakura and Allison Markin Powell, the English translator of the best-selling novel.

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Best Literary Translations 2026, guest edited by Arthur Sze and published by @deepvellum.bsky.social, is out today. What an honor to be included in this vibrant anthology. Order it here: store.deepvellum.org/products/bes...

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Center for the Art of Translation (CAT) @catranslation.org · 07/04/2026

Announcing the EXEMPLARY HUMANS Book Tour with stops in SF, DC, and NYC! 📗 Traveling from Brazil, author Juliana Leite and translator @zoeperry.bsky.social celebrate the English-language debut out from @twolinespress.com! 💚 More info and RSVP on our website: buff.ly/Gv0L0LI

Graphic announcing Exemplary Humans Book Tour April 21-24 in San Francisco, Washington, DC, and Brooklyn, NY.

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

I reviewed I WAS ALIVE HERE ONCE: GHOST STORIES for Asymptote. The collection, from @twolinespress.com's Calico series, features ghost stories from Korea, Yemen, Poland, Japan, Uzbekistan, Iceland, Tanzania and Thailand. Who knew the dead could be so lively www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2026/02...

asymptotejournal.com

Smorgasbord of Spirits: A Review of I Was Alive Here Once: Ghost Stories - Asymptote Blog

Layered, sensory passages and plainspoken, original metaphor co-exist in the collection; no one voice drowns out any of the others.

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Philip Leventhal @philipleventhal.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

In an interview w/ @africasacountry.bsky.social, Ainehi Edoro discusses her new book, FOREST IMAGINARIES: HOW AFRICAN NOVELS THINK and how indigenous storytelling and cosmology expands what the novel can do. bit.ly/4rRlY8A @brittlepaper.bsky.social @columbiaup.bsky.social

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

This Saturday ❤️2/14❤️ at Browsers Bookshop in Olympia, Washington: a special "love"-themed reading from THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI AND OTHER STORIES by Esther Karin Mngodo. Reading starts at 4 p.m. Karibuni :)

Digital flyer for a literary translation reading at Browsers Bookshop in Olympia, Washington, at 4 p.m. on Saturday, February 14th.

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

And much gratitude to the Best Literary Translation series co-editors: @wendycall.bsky.social, @kolatubosun.bsky.social, Noh Anothai and Öykü Tekten. Asanteni sana.

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Honored to be included in BEST LITERARY TRANSLATIONS 2026, guest-edited by U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze, to be published by @deepvellum.bsky.social on 4/14. Thanks to @koimolove.bsky.social for writing the beautiful story; thanks to @commonmag.bsky.social for publishing it and nominating it to BLT.

Cover of BEST LITERARY TRANSLATIONS 2026, guest-edited by U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze.

An interior page of BEST LITERARY TRANSLATIONS 2026, featuring the opening sentence of "The Fish Market" by Esther Karin Mngodo, translated from the Swahili by Jay Boss Rubin, and originally published in THE COMMON. "The smell of fish at the ferry landing is so different from how they smell at home, stored away in the freezer, you tell your driver Ibrahimu as the two of you walk toward the fish market."

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Deep Vellum @deepvellum.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

BEST LITERARY TRANSLATIONS 2026 is available for preorder! Guest edited by National Book Award winner Arthur Sze, BLT 2026 is compiled from over 450 submissions written in 62 original languages and features poetry and prose written in languages both widely spoken and critically endangered.

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Bruce Springsteen @brucespringsteen.net · 28/01/2026

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

youtu.be

Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Hats off to Shaina and Rodrigo, alums of @artomi.bsky.social's Translation Lab 2024, for this new spin on a magic kingdom story.

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Fictionable @fictionable.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

#Winter is here with #ShortStories from Cynthia Zarin, Rodrigo Urquiola Flores translated by Shaina Brassard, Tim Conley, Cynthia Banham and Samuel Rigg – and Joanna Kavenna on the non-truth truth of #fiction Catch them all at fictionable.world #books #reading #writing #comics #translation #blog

The contributors for Fictionable's Winter 2025 issue from top left: Rodrigo Urquiola Flores, Cynthia Zarin, Tim Conley, Shaina Brassard, Cynthia Banham, Joanna Kavenna and Samuel Rigg

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Suzette Smith @suzettesmith.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

me when my friends want to hang out

A screengrab of new Portland City Council President Jamie Dunphy at a city council meeting, responding to the idea of electing him president by saying "This is not something that I have been seeking and not something I'm excited about."

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Translation Tuesday #literarytranslation reading, one week from today at Mother Foucault's Bookshop in #Portland. Featuring three translators, poetry and prose, Swahili, Hungarian, and Spanish. www.motherfoucaultsbookshop.com/calendar-lis...

motherfoucaultsbookshop.com

TRANSLATION TUESDAY — Mother Foucault's Bookshop

Translation Tuesday at Mother Foucault's! Tuesday, January 20, 2026 7:00 p.m.

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Diachroneity Books @diachroneity.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

What a list! Our eye is immediately drawn to "the first collection of Swahili Afro-Speculative fiction in English, The Witness of Nina Mvungi and Other Stories by Esther Karin Mngodo", but this collection of reccos could keep us going for all 2026, pretty sure #booksky #weird #literature

heavyfeatherreview.org

“Cheers to the Weirdos!”: Jesi Bender Presents a Heavy Feather Favorites List for 2025

Here we go again! Putting together this year brings me such joy and I hope you find something beautiful here, too. Sometimes, it can seem as if no one reads anymore but making this list reassures m…

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Asante sana kwa pongezi, Prof. Mabala. Heri ya Mwaka Mpya!

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Wrapping up 2025 with translations of three poems by Euphrase Kezilahabi, published today in The Fortnightly Review. Happy New Year / Heri ya Mwaka Mpya to all!! fortnightlyreview.substack.com/p/translatio...

fortnightlyreview.substack.com

Translation: "Learning to Steer" and Two Other Poems by Euphrase Kezilahabi

Translated from the Swahili by Jay Boss Rubin.

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The Evergreen Review @evergreenreview.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

“Brother Morpheme had succeeded in keeping his emotions out of his work for the 150,982 assignments he’d handled prior to Ms. Mvungi.” Up now: “The Witness of Nina Mvungi” by @koimolove.bsky.social, translated by @jaybossrubin.bsky.social. Art by Valerie Hammond. evergreenreview.com/read/the-wit...

evergreenreview.com

The Witness of Nina Mvungi

Evergreen Review

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

Very fine essay on teaching Kiswahili in Istanbul, by Abdirashid Diriye Kalmoy. Because of its hybridity and ability to connect Africa and the wider world, teaching Swahili in Istanbul is "not an accidental exercise, but a continuation of this cosmopolitan spirit." www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-e...

dailysabah.com

Connecting Africa and Türkiye: Teaching Kiswahili in Istanbul

Teaching Kiswahili in Istanbul builds a bridge of shared humanity between Africa and Türkiye

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

"[They] show us that an original is perhaps just a façade, that art is not made in intellectual solitude but through connections, molded together in community. Because translation is built on such connection, it becomes much easier to recognize it as a human act instead of a mechanical one" [end].

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Cont'd: "The Witness of Nina Mvungi and Other Stories seems to state that they can ... Mngodo and Rubin push back on the idea that a translator could somehow 'interfere' with the original, but they call to question the very idea of an original."

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Suzuki on the subject-witness, author-translator parallel: "Like a Witness, translators work behind a curtain, expected to adhere to the strict rule of not 'interfering' with the original. But what is the benefit of a translator’s disappearance? Could the translator stand alongside the author?"

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Just published on the Asymptote Blog: a beautifully crafted and incredibly insightful review of THE WITNESS OF NINA MVUNGI AND OTHER STORIES by @koimolove.bsky.social. Review by Rebecca Suzuki—hybrid forms specialist + fellow translator www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2025/12...

asymptotejournal.com

More Than a Witness: A Review of The Witness of Nina Mvungi and Other Stories by Esther Karin Mngodo and Jay Boss Rubin - Asymptote Blog

Across the collection, these stories are unforgiving and gut-wrenching, a reminder that reality is often the same.

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Love-love. There will always be a home for pun-laden, politically attuned tennis reporting in our pages!

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

I did! As did PTQ Editor-in-Chief Tyler Pell. We texted each other the link at the exact same moment.

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

We at Portland Tennis Courterly are honored and humbled to feature the brilliant writing + brave reporting of @marisakabas.bsky.social in our latest issue. This is a reprint of her dispatch from the US Open, which first appeared in The Handbasket on September 8th www.thehandbasket.co/p/trump-us-o...

thehandbasket.co

Why I had to see Trump at the US Open with my own eyes

Staring straight across the court at a fascist is bad for the soul, but certainly instructive.

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Thanks for the shoutout, Marisa, and keep up the incredible work!

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

And the final piece in the collection—the title story, "The Witness of Nina Mvungi"—is out today in @evergreenreview.bsky.social, accompanied by beautiful artwork from Valerie Hammond. Thanks to Africa Editor Jeffery Renard Allen for all the support. "Ninaaaaaaa!" evergreenreview.com/read/the-wit...

evergreenreview.com

The Witness of Nina Mvungi

Evergreen Review

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

evergreenreview.com

The Witness of Nina Mvungi

Evergreen Review

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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

subscribe to the handbasket, a one-person operation that produced both of these stories in one day. www.thehandbasket.co/subscribe

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Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Honored to be featured along with @koimolove.bsky.social on Jill! (a Women+ in Translation reading series organized by @larissakyzer.bsky.social). If anyone can tell me on which product the slogan on my shirt used to appear, I'll send them a free copy of our new book! www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYAF...

youtube.com

Jay Boss Rubin & Esther Karin Mngodo Read from “The Witness of Nina Mvungi”

YouTube video by Jill!

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Terese Svoboda @tsvoboda.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

A whole chapter of Hitler and My Mother-in-Law at Evergreen Review @evergreenreview.bsky.social. Order the rest of the book or ebook @ORbooks.bsky.social evergreenreview.com/read/witch-h...

Jay Boss Rubin @jaybossrubin.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

"Rare Goods" just recently appeared in @wwborders.bsky.social, under the banner of "New Kiswahili Writing." Big, warm thanks to Editorial Director Susan Harris and Senior Editor @ninaperrotta.bsky.social for their truly excellent work on this grisly tale wordswithoutborders.org/read/article...

wordswithoutborders.org

Rare Goods - Words Without Borders

The first thing every albino learns is that they are rare goods. And I mean “goods” in the literal sense. We don’t need a special cram course to understand we’re precious commodities; people hunt us d...

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