Dear Reader, It’s been a fairly grim month of reading here in Litro’s Ivory Towers. But in a good way! We’ve toured cash-strapped theocracies and corporate caliphates, corrupt monarchies and ...
Dear Readers, We come back to writing from Brazil this year for a moment of betweenness. The World Cup is a year away. The Pope’s July visit came in the ...
I have a two-year-old nephew, and he’s already somewhat disappointed with the world. He stands in front of televisions and microwaves and ovens, jabbing at the screens and doors with ...
Dear Reader, Once again I find myself in a most absorbing, and, I confess, somewhat indulgent state of contemplation. I am fortunate indeed in my position! And so I sit ...
A poet’s confession, gruesome crime, the perseverance of human spirit, illicit sex, family history and a glimpse at the underworld of cannabis production – a collection of texts that ...
Willkommen! At the helm of European policy, champion of the Euro, home of the largest economy in the union, Germany would appear to be one of Europe’s biggest success stories, ...
Welcome to Issue 124 of Litro It’s difficult to define what we mean by transgression. That’s partly because transgression is a relative term – there are some acts and ideas ...
Mysteries are quantum events, occurring but only existing for a time, until they are resolved and disappear. Those gaps appear literally, too, as dark spaces – shadowy alleyways between buildings, ...
According to Arthur C. Clarke, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. And by that token, these days we’re surrounded by the mystical – from particle accelerators underground to ...
How much do you know about Africa? We tend to speak of it as though it’s one giant, inscrutable territory, and yet Africa contains 54 different countries, all with different ...
What are ghosts, if not the dark residue of memory? Their form is shaped by our own, their fears our fears grotesquely inversed. They mirror our own lives—a warning, or ...
China is impossible to describe. An ancient civilization, a vast nation, the largest population in the world. All true, but what is it actually like? How can we attempt to ...
America, that slippery beast. One nation, one constitution, one currency: a framework for arguably the most diverse, remarkable and undefinable country in the world. But short stories are something of ...
“All the world’s a joke and man is born clown.” – from Falstaff, by Arrigo Boito. It takes two to make a good joke: someone to tell it and someone ...
Work. We all have to do it (unless we’re royalty, or very rich). We all spend many waking hours at it. But how do we really feel about it? For ...
Rio de Janeiro is not quite a “world city”. It is too laid back, too full of switchbacks, so many roads ending at the beach. Yet in the coming years, ...
Welcome to the first in Litro‘s World Series of issues in translation: the lekker Dutch issue. Once again, we step into the breach to bring you a great selection of contemporary ...
Food! Glorious food … we just can’t get enough of it, especially at Christmas time – on our plates, in our dreams, and especially in our books. Every December the ...
The relationship between the English and the French—our one-time conquerors, trade rivals, enemies, allies, and nearest neighbours in Europe–has always been complicated. Since 1066 France and the French have been ...
