Beat it at what? Speed chess?

I’m putting together a resource for folks applying to grad school programs in literature (English, Comparative Literature, Translation Studies, and similar disciplines). If you have materials you’re willing to share—Statements of Purpose, Writing Samples, CVs—please let me know. Thank you!

Finally created a stack of all the books I’m teaching this semester… so cool to see these writers next to each other.

Your strength shouldn’t have to be this lonely.

“Civil rights only work in societies that are civil enough to accept the rights.” — @surajyengde.bsky.social

Google Translate will never have my job. Guess why?

Watching Bandish Bandits S2 and wondering… why is there no cast credit for the role of Aalap Sir? Nothing on IMDb, or on Prime’s X-Ray feature. Swaroop Khan gets credit as the playback singer on Hitchki. But no acting credit. (End credits get skipped for next ep)

I’m getting so damn tired of the live, love, lehenga feminism you see in American Desi spaces.

Every time I listen to @ruha9.bsky.social, I get a little smarter. youtu.be/1VRCfuKEGdo?...

Multilingual friends… Do you ever feel like you are smarter in one language over the other(s)? I’m trying to see something.

Bring back the interrobang

Mint is cold spicy. No, I will not be taking questions on that.

Does anyone know of a student in Islamabad who might be interested in some very quick (paid) research assistance? I'm seeking a single file, approx. 160 pages, scanned (if permitted) from one of the special collections at the Pakistan National Archives. I can pay USD 20/hour for their time. 🗃️

That’s a lot of words to say “All Lives Matter”

Octavia Butler really knew what she was talking about, didn't she?

Is it just me or is the way Lucille Clifton ends a poem, just, so, piercing?

My love for the past is like my love for most things. I only feel it when I’m gone. — Fatimah Asghar, My Love for Nature

I would give my left arm for an aloo ka paratha right now.

"A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls." — Ursula K. Le Guin

“Tourists come to see our dolphins. They leave trash that kills the dolphins. Do the dolphins forgive them?” — Nalo Hopkinson, Clap Back

"writing is an extended homage to imperfection." — Jhumpa Lahiri, In Other Words

"Even the shape of my face changed when I began to live inside the English language." — Ilya Kaminsky

If you want an example of secure masculinity, go to your local saree shop and talk to the bhaiya there.

Just got a third email from my (American) university reminding me to return to campus *before* the inauguration if I travel internationally over winter break. In case of travel bans. I’m legit being told: this country is about to become hostile to you. Ensure you don’t get banned and miss out.

Calling all translators! We're building a Bluesky starter pack for emerging and established translators—so that we can follow each other and be in community together on the World Wide Web. If you want to be included, add yourself to this thread, and share this post far and wide with your networks :)

without tenderness, we are in hell. —Adrienne Rich * & so to tenderness I add my action. —Aracelis Girmay

Translation friends, have you ever come across (or perhaps even written) a translator’s note in the source language? I’m in a situation where I have to write one and it’s … unnerving. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one. Is this something that people do? Do you know anyone who’s done this?

Introduce yourself with your worst feedback from school 👇 I’m Saoirse. My English is not good enough for me to be in her (second grade) classroom.

Your homework. inthesetimes.com/article/toni...

I created a South Asian languages and literatures starter pack! I’m sure I missed many people. If you are a translator, linguist, scholar, or even a dabbler or dilettante, please let me let me know in the comments and I will add you. go.bsky.app/AFjHSX6

I thought I was reading the Onion for a second there

“We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist” James Baldwin

"In the face of everything that seems to me unattainable, I marvel. Without a sense of marvel at things, without wonder, one can’t create anything." — Jhumpa Lahiri, In Other Words