This book, Tamil Terrains: poems, translations, reflections, edited by Nedra Rodrigo and Geetha Sukumaran (Trace Press, 2025), emerged from “Root, Branch, Driftwood,” which were Tamil literary translation workshops held on Zoom but rooted in Toronto.
The Translation Chain Project by Logan Kennedy is a literary experiment that began with a spontaneous question: what happens if a piece of prose is translated repeatedly, with the previous translation used as the source? But what began as a playful idea led Kennedy to consider one the most pressing matters of our time: the rise of artificial intelligence.
In recent years there has been a wealth of Argentinian horror collections from writers such as Mariana Enríquez, Samanta Schweblin, Augustina Bazterrica, as well as the anthology Through the Night Like a Snake. Added to their ranks is Tomás Downey, author of the taut and frightening Diving Board, wonderfully translated by Sarah Moses.
The unnamed narrator of this slim, stark novel is travelling by train from a small coastal town in southeastern Europe to Berlin.
Blood Bound: Unlacing Secret Ties by Marie-Josee Poisson is a work of historical fiction that reimagines the life of Madame de Pompadour, the chief mistress of King Louis XV.
Whose love story is this? In English, `you’ is many-gendered, can denote singularity, plurality, a finger-pointed other, a reflective self.
Solitaria is clear about the story and who it’s for, as well as who it’s criticizing.
One Book, Two Reviews: The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Sarah Moses
At a museum in an unnamed African city, librarian turned cotton farmer turned security guard Toby Kunta takes a hostage — a freelance journalist originally from this country, now based in Berlin.
In G, Klara du Plessis and Khashayar “Kes” Mohammadi look at a single sound that connects two parts of the world that we rarely imagine in proximity, Iran and South Africa. They do so by exploring the voiceless uvular fricative and its close cousin, the voiced velar fricative, which are presented phonetically by the Greek letters chi (x) and gamma (ɣ) and are generally transposed into a roman alphabet as ch (e.g., loch) or kh (e.g., Khalil).
The structure offers a fresh twist on whodunnits in that the lead detective operates mostly in the background and the story unfolds by recounting the daily lives of central characters, many of whom do not hide their trans or queer identities.
Graeme Macrae Burnet’s A Case of Matricide is a beautifully written noir novel.
My second time reviewing GauZ’ for TMR is another success; I sincerely hope to read more of his work in translation in the future.
Playing satirist, tragedian, humorist, and social historian, Lambert produces a unique book that contains a complete world.
Silken Gazelles is a translated work of literary fiction that demands slow and careful attention while reading to catch all the beauty.
© 2025| THE Miramichi Reader
