“Readers have stopped regarding the most established writers as godlike figures, and they want more truthful documentations of life.”

My conversation with Xiao Hai about his debut memoir #AdriftInTheSouth. Thank you @thebaffler.com thebaffler.com/latest/poetr...

Years ago, I wrote about the Mythical English Reader whose gaze I’m supposed to translate for. It has just been “reprinted” by Lithub and is now available to read online for the first time.

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

I will be at National Taiwan Normal University 师大 to do a class visit at the Graduate Institute of Translation and Interpretation on Thursday. I'll be sharing some translations of all five poets including in The Lantern and the Night Moths, and discussing poetry translation.

Just received my advance copy of 𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑀𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 by Gigi L. Leung 梁莉姿 (tr. by me), a powerful novel about the everyday lives of ordinary people during the 2019 Hong Kong protests, out from @riverheadbooks.bsky.social on Feb. 10, 2026. Thank you @ohanzhang.bsky.social for your brilliant editing!

Yan Lianke may not be a Nobel laureate (yet!!) but he's the hedgehog of my heart 🦔 🦔 www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/10...

Philadelphia: worldeditions.org/event/jeremy... Pittsburgh: cityofasylum.org/litfest-2025/ Vancouver: writersfest.bc.ca/2025-festiva... Toronto: festivalofauthors.ca/festival-202...

“Granny Liu squats by the grave and says, ‘Look, say you’re right and women do live longer, then fine—you can die first, but you’re making lunch tomorrow.’ “ From “Plants, Stones, Dirt, and Sky” by Yan Lianke, translated by @jeremytiang.bsky.social. buff.ly/RtunfjN

"She held nothing back, writing with such force that it felt as if she were ripping through the paper. When I began writing fiction, I felt that only by tearing the paper could I leave evidence that I had existed in this world." ~Zhang Yueran on Eileen Chang www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/09...

The Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles is collaborating with @littranslate.bsky.social to host the ALTA Emerging Translator Mentorship Program. Applications are open until Nov. 30 for one English-language translator of literature from Taiwan, who will undertake the mentorship in 2026.

From 1949 to 1987, Taiwan has spent 13,936 days under martial law. Since 1987, the country has now spent 13,938 days and counting experiencing democracy and rule of law. 就在今天，台灣的「解嚴時間」終於超越了「戒嚴時間」。

📣 The 2026 Emerging Translator Mentorship Program submission portals are open! The ALTA Emerging Translator Mentorship Program is designed to establish and facilitate a close working relationship between an experienced translator and an emerging translator. Apply by 11/30: buff.ly/cpduT69

Understanding Taiwanese Literature and Films with Jenna Tang (Zoom) Starts Thursday, January 8th, 2026 writing-workshops-org.myshopify.com/collections/...

With Ting Guo, I’ve co‑authored a new article titled “The ‘Ueno Chizuko Phenomenon’: Translating Feminist Modernity Across East Asia” in the “Translation Studies as Methods” special issue uof Chinese Literature and Thought Today (Vol. 56, Nos. 1–2). See www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.....

My translation of poetry and prose by Liu Chen-Chun 劉宸君, the late Taiwanese transgender poet and writer whose life was tragically cut short by a mountain trekking incident at age 19. from “Before the Snowmelt” 我所告訴你關於那座山的一切

Election worker: “Emily Mandel. Isn’t that a writer’s name?” Me: “I’m a writer.” Election worker: “Oh, I was thinking Hilary Mantel, never mind”

Writing represents an act of resistance: it militates against all that is base and hateful, against death and annihilation. If writing is life, and life itself has turned into war, what more is left for us to write? ~Nasser Rabah, interviewed by Alex Tan proteanmag.com/2025/06/16/t...

It's pub day for Rosa Mistika—and here is a lengthy interview about the novel (and much else!) with @chicagorevbooks.bsky.social chireviewofbooks.com/2025/06/17/t...

"Just like how in the novel’s opening there’s this household within a village, village within an island, and island within a lake, there are...different kinds of telescoping points of views." Ian Battaglia's interview with @jaybossrubin.bsky.social is out now. chireviewofbooks.com/2025/06/17/t...

‘A number is a mystery, which God solves.’ For Bloomsday, James Joyce and Adolf Hoffmeister argue about a Czech translation of Finnegans Wake, in a rare interview from 1930. granta.com/the-game-of-...

I wrote about translating the opening sentence of Rosa Mistika for the Asymptote Blog www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2025/06...

My review of @jeremytiang.bsky.social’s fabulous translation of HUNTER, short story collection by Dongbei (Northeastern Chinese) writer Shuang Xuetao. Thank you @fullstopmag.bsky.social www.full-stop.net/2025/06/04/r...

I was interviewed by Paraphraxis Podcast (Harvard Comp Lit) about translating Bora Chung’s YOUR UTOPIA out now from @algonquinbooks.bsky.social “Writing and translation is a private act… PUBLISHING is collaborative.”

feeling really sad/angry about the arrest of BL authors in China who write for Haitang

Shuang Xuetao's Hunter reviewed in Harper's Magazine harpers.org/archive/2025...

“The tragedy, the novel suggests, is not that people prefer their shackles but that they are trapped by hope—hope that love or duty will transcend pain.” Tammy Lai-Ming Ho reviews Hon Lai Chu’s new dystopia. @myetcetera.bsky.social‬ worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/book-re...

Along with many other nonprofit arts organizations, we learned last night that our grant from the National Endowment for the Arts—$40,000 toward the publication of our books in 2025—has been terminated. While this news was not unexpected, its message was chilling.

Every day I buy a can of pineapple with an expiration date of May 1 because May loves pineapple and May 1 is my birthday. I tell myself that if she doesn’t come back by the time I’ve bought 30 cans, then our love will expire too Chungking Express 重慶森林 dir. Wong Kar Wai #everynightapoem #ofsorts

I have already forgotten what I said on this podcast and will not be listening back because I hate the sound of my own voice, but YOU might enjoy me going on about Communists in the rainforest mynahmag.substack.com/p/survivor-t...

My translation of Taiwanese novelist 童偉格 Tong Wei-Ger’s fiction, from his magnum opus 西北雨 The Northwest Rain. Thank you @grantamag.bsky.social

Join us next Friday! Registration: harvard.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Zheng Zhi interviewed in @parisreview.bsky.social www.theparisreview.org/blog/2025/04...

Xi Xi's Mourning a Breast, translated by Jennifer Feeley, is on the shortlist of the Baifang Schell prize for Translated Literature from Chinese. This is a much-needed prize. Congrats to the authors, translators, and jury. Check out the list! @chinabksreview.bsky.social @asiasociety.org

Un millier d'écrivains taïwanais, dont Li Ang, Wu Ming-yi et Yang Shuang-zi, signent un appel en faveur de la révocation des députés KMT. Ils dénoncent des coupes et gels budgétaires (touchant en particulier la culture) contraires aux besoins de développement du pays.

Google Translate thinking aromantic is 芳香的 (aromatic) lmao

a ⟡starred⟡ review for DELICIOUS HUNGER in Publishers Weekly, this is a victory for Communism ☆☭☆ www.publishersweekly.com/9781917126021

"1. Gather artifacts / remnants of home / an altar: a black & white photograph: ancestors on the beach in their homeland movie star smiles and ‘40s swim suits" Lenna Jawdat for our #10Questions, available on our Substack: themassachusettsreview.substack.com/p/10-questio...

"What We're Reading" this month is hot off the presses! Don't miss @jaybossrubin.bsky.social on Abdulrazak Gurnah’s new novel THEFT, and Jeanne Bonner on Cecile Desprairies' "shocking" portrait of Vichy France.

my translation of The Hedgehog by Zheng Zhi 郑执 is in The Paris Review www.theparisreview.org/fiction/8386...

A very thorough and interesting feature on Taiwanese Manga (or Manhua). It discusses the unsual prominence of historical Manga in Taiwan, the Taiwan Manga museum in Taichung, and the government efforts to get the word out about our vibrant Manga industry. Bravo! www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2025...

Becky Burke of Book Island (a picture book publisher in the UK founded by my fellow Tokarczuk translator Greet Pauwelijn) was "detained" by ICE at the Canadian border on 2/28. Her father asked that her story be shared in case someone can help her. He writes:

This is devastating. IWP's impact on international writing and translated literature can't be understated. I have no words.

Apps are open for the 2026 ALTA Fellowships at Vermont Studio Center! There are 2 fellowships next year: 1. For a BIPOC translator who identifies as queer, woman, non-binary, LGBTQ+ 2. For a mid-career translator (3+ published book-length translations) Deadline: 3/31. Learn more: buff.ly/3K0JaNb

New Substack post on English as an official language, Zelenskyy, and the Broadway play English englishbway 🔗 Substack link in comments 🔗

Today we publish Granta 170: Winners. Read the winter edition online for free for the next five days or subscribe today and receive unlimited access to this issue, as well as our archive. granta.com/products/gra...

If you - like me - missed TiBE this year, check out Michelle Chan's @arghpoetica.bsky.social thoughtful writeup on recent works in translation highlighted there and how the translator is both 譯者 and 異者, "subverter of places and spaces." 🇹🇼 www.asymptotejournal.com/blog/2025/02...