Rain and Bamboo
Juan Tomas Avila Laurel writes from Equatorial Guinea about local literature and languages of faraway places
Archive
Articles
Yule love these books in translation 2014
Roasting chestnuts on an open fire, taking the first whiff of mulled wine, and cracking open a great work of literature in translation: find your stocking-filler or winter-cheerer with these recommendations
Memory and Responsibility
Having won the 2014 Jan Michalski Prize for Road to Donbass, Serhiy Zhadan writes for PEN Atlas
But why do you write your books in English and Turkish?
Elif Shafak investigates what makes the bilingual author choose to write in one language and not another
'I can read': life and death in Guerrero
Juan Villoro writes about the recent abductions and murders of students in Mexico
PEN Atlas Q&A: Helle Helle, author of ‘This Should Be Written in the Present Tense’
Helle Helle is one of Denmark’s most widely read writers. In This Should Be Written in the Present Tense, her first novel translated into English, she writes about a young woman, Dorte Hansen
To speak or not to speak, that is the question
Boualem Sansal charts the history of Algeria and how it ties into the history of free expression in his country
PEN Atlas Q&A: Per Petterson, author of ‘I Refuse’
PEN Atlas talks to Per Petterson about violence, absence, and the ongoing popularity of Norwegian literature
Life and Fate Redux
Robert Chandler writes from the first Russian conference on Vasily Grossman, author of the monumental Life and Fate,
PEN Atlas Q&A: Arno Camenisch, author of The Alp
Tasja Dorkofikis interviews Arno Camenish about his bilingual novel
The Weight of Language
Elena Ferrante writes for PEN Atlas about the impact of reading Madame Bovary
Art and Culture from the Frontline: In the hope that Syria Speaks even more!
Syrian journalist and short story writer Rasha Abbas interrogates the role of art and literature in conflict
Soldier No. 9
Andrey Kurkov reports on the latest news from Ukraine,
'You must keep feeding the lake'
Michelle Bailat-Jones writes for PEN Atlas about Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, a contemporary of Robert Walser
Identity and durability
Paulo Scott writes for PEN Atlas about the need for Brazilian authors to move away from stories about 'white guys, living in the big urban centres', and how a vain desire for durability has stunted the literature of his country
'While the Gods Were Sleeping'
To commemorate the centenary of The Great War, PEN Atlas takes us to Belgium
When my cat tried to have breakfast at Tiffany's
To celebrate International Cat Day, Lena Devani writes from Greece for PEN Atlas
Spelling out FLIP
Sophie Lewis writes for PEN Atlas about the once sleepy and secluded town of Paraty, Brazil, now home to one of the continent's best and most varied literary festivals