Strange Harbors

While I was out of the office last week, the new issue of Two Lines arrived. This is the fifteenth volume of Two Lines, which is really impressive, and as always, the production quality and contents are both excellent.

The “theme” of this particular issue is “Strange Harbors,” which can be interpreted (like all of the Two Lines themes) in a number of ways. Pulitzer-nominated playwright and novelist John Biguenet and poet and Turkish translator Sidney Wade co-edited this volume, and, in my opinion, did a fantastic job in including established writers and translators and a host of new voices.

Some of the highlights include:

• an excerpt from Antonio Munoz Molina’s A Manuscript of Ashes (forthcoming from Harcourt);

• the short story “Poco-loco” by Rodrigo Rey Rosa (who New Directions published a few years back) and translated by Chris Andrews;

• some poems by the Catalan author Ernest Farres’s 2006 collection, Edward Hopper, as translated by Lawrence Venuti;

• the story “Four Children, Two Dogs and Some Birds,” by Portuguese author Teolinda Gersao, and translated by Margaret Jull Costa;

• a few poems by Algerian writer Jean Senac, translated by Douglas Basford;

• and, an excerpt from Ricardas Gavelis’s Vilnius Poker, translated by Elizabeth Novickas (and forthcoming from Open Letter).

Basically, I could just copy over the entire Table of Contents . . . In addition to all the great fiction and poetry included in each issue of Two Lines, I really enjoy this journal because it gives me a chance to find out about new translators, and to see what people are working on these days. And the trim size (approx. 5.5” tall by 8” wide) is strangely intriguing and appealing. Anyway, you can order copies online or find them at better bookstores everywhere.

And in terms of future issues, volume 16 will be edited by Margaret Jull Costa and Marilyn Hacker (wow!) and information about submitting is available online. The deadline is October 31st.