Hubert Klimko-Dobrzaniecki

2 months ago | wordswithoutborders.org | Tobias Carroll |Małgorzata Gorczyńska |Hubert Klimko-Dobrzaniecki |Julia Fiedorczuk

The Watchlist: November 2024 Tobias Carroll on the five books in translation that should be on your radar this month, from Egypt, India, Poland, and more.

Dec 11, 2024 | wordswithoutborders.org | Dinçer Güçyeter |Nisrine Mbarki |Hubert Klimko-Dobrzaniecki |Igiaba Scego

Dinçer Güçyeter’s autobiographical novel Unser Deutschlandmärchen (Our German Fairy Tale) depicts the experiences of a Turkish guest-worker family near Cologne from the perspective of alternate characters, mostly the young son and his mother. It’s 1984, and my first day at kindergarten. I don’t say a single word to the other children, I just sit in the corner like a sculpture. They speak a different language. Though we live in Germany, I still find it strange that they speak German here.

Jan 11, 2024 | wordswithoutborders.org | Iris Jamahl Dunkle |Chiara Marchelli |Hubert Klimko-Dobrzaniecki

For the past few years, I’ve experienced the world through the perspective of my biographical subject, Sanora Babb. Babb was a member of the League of American Writers (founded by the Communist Party of America) and went on a tour of Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union in 1935 with a group of fellow communist writers. Babb’s recollections of Poland populated my mind as I read Mira Rosenthal’s translation of Tomasz Różycki’s 2016 poetry collection, To the Letter (Archipelago Books, 2023).

Nov 28, 2023 | wordswithoutborders.org | Hubert Klimko-Dobrzaniecki |Denise Phé-Funchal |Tobias Carroll |Alexander Aguayo

Here I am again. They say that talking, talking about events from across one’s entire life, will make things easier. Yesterday, right after I left here, I cycled to Sandvig. I still remember how we used to go there together when I was little. A small, peaceful bay. Some sand on the one side, and on the other, toward the cliff, just flat rocks. I was always drawn to the rocks. I didn’t like the sand, it seemed so rough and scratchy. When I lay down on it, I felt like I was lying on sandpaper.