The apricot border with Russia, or separatism on Skype
With the growing troubles in Ukraine, poet and dramatist Liubov Iakymchuk writes for PEN Atlas
Archive
Articles
North Korean love poetry
Shirley Lee writes for PEN Atlas, in a week when Korea is the Market Focus for London Book Fair 2014
My Literary Form(s)
In the run-up to London Book Fair 2014, where Korea is the market focus, Han Kang writes about women that turn into plants, the intuitive process in choosing between prose and poetry, and what the future holds for her writing
The suffering healers
Ahead of his appearances with English PEN at the Free Word Centre and London Book Fair 2014, Hwang Sok-Yong takes us into the shamanistic past of Korean culture, and how those creation stories can be used to write about globalisation and modern suffering.
Once I Was a Dog
Jacek Hugo-Bader writes about the scavenging life of the journalist for this week's PEN Atlas, and how living down and out in Moscow and Warsaw prepared him for his bicycle and Volvo journeys across Central Asia
Capturing the mood
In the run-up to the London Book Fair 2014, where South Korea is the market focus, we have the first in a series of pieces from the region: today Chi Young-Kim writes about the varied places translators go to, from baseball blogs to animal fables, when transporting the reader into the world of the novel
In their leaves
To celebrate World Book Day, we're publishing a short story by Carole Martinez, translated by Howard Curtis.
World War III: a dress rehearsal
In another exclusive dispatch from Ukraine, Andrey Kurkov describes the atmosphere of tension and surreality in Kiev and Crimea, the schizophrenia of the political situation, and the ominous absence of birds before the arrival of war.
The translator as literary activist
Jethro Soutar writes for PEN Atlas on the urgent case of Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel, the PEN-award-winning author whom he translates and is now trying to help protect, as Juan faces persecution from the regime in Equitorial Guinea
Imagining the past – a few notes on the art of the historical novel
Otto de Kat writes for PEN Atlas about the risks and benefits of using history in the novel, a device that when used badly can lead to over-writing and when used well serves the novelist like a butler.
Syria – the betrayed uprising
Samar Yazbek, journalist, author and winner of an English PEN Writers in Translation award, turns our attention back to Syria, the cynicism of the regime, the influence of outside powers, and how these combine at a great cost to the people.
Comics, cartoons and controversy
Michele Hutchison reports from the 41st Angoulême Comics Festival, the opportunities for, and resistance to, translation, and how the irreverent form of comics still finds plenty of time for controversy
Russian déjà vu at Sochi 2014 – who lost the games?
Mikhail Shishkin writes our second PEN Atlas dispatch on the Sochi Winter Olympics, a story of billion-dollar corruption, Soviet-style propaganda, and a regime bent on hiding opposition and urban decay behind sports kitsch and a new coat of paint.
What is the real cost of the Sochi Winter Olympics?
Hamid Ismailov investigates the underside of the Sochi Olympics for PEN Atlas: while the Western media focuses on LGBT rights, there is also the shocking unheard story of migrant labourers held in captivity, mercury and uranium deposits from construction work, jingoism, corruption and worse
Deadlock in Ukraine
Andrey Kurkov, author of the bestselling novel Death and the Penguin, writes about the ongoing turmoil in his country, the protestors braving bullets and abductions, the influence of Putin on the government, and the fate of Ukraine itself.
PEN Atlas: literary dispatches from Turkey
Maureen Freely introduces an exclusive new e-book from PEN Atlas, collecting some of the best journalism, memoir, essays and dispatches from Turkey, at a moment when the country is poised in the middle of great changes, both political and literary
Publishers’ highlights in 2014: part 2
Following last week's installment, PEN Atlas continues with another round-up of publishers' top picks for translated literature in 2014, including Iraqi science fiction from Comma Press, the return of Hitler from MacLehose Press, Finnish crime from Arcadia and much more...
Publishers’ highlights in 2014: part 1
Chase away those stormy blues with a new book for the new year.