Description:
A bestiary for our (insane) times, featuring stories from Korea, Poland, Spain, Argentina, Catalonia, India, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Dark, surprising, and cheeky, the nine stories in Bewilder stray outside the bounds of domestic life to confront just what it means to be a living creature on this planet. A woman transforms into a camel whenever she gets the urge to end her life. A pig goddess decides to reincarnate as a human to spread her pig gospel. Rabbits come under the sway of a cultish leader, storks attack a city in a gruesome take on Hitchcock's The Birds, and a prisoner bitterly observes the rats that come and go from his cell. Exploring themes of violence, language, power, and liberation, these stories are no mere fables. They are a piercing warning cry.
The Calico series, published biannually by Two Lines Press, captures vanguard works of translated literature in stylish, collectible editions. Each Calico is a vibrant snapshot that explores one aspect of our present moment, offering the voices of previously inaccessible, highly innovative writers from around the world today.
Brief description: Jack Hargreaves is a translator and writer of Yorkshire extraction. His literary work, recognized by English PEN, has appeared in Asymptote Journal, Granta, The Southern Review, Samovar, The Dial, and elsewhere; it includes writing by Gu Qian, Hu Anyan, Chia Joo Ming, Lu Xiaoyu, Lu Min, Han Dong, Chai Jing, Chen Chuncheng, and many more.
Review Quotes:
Praise for the Calico series
"These Calico books are a total joy, both in form and in content. The books come in a curious trim size (or rather a couple curious trim sizes, although I think they've stabilized in their square format now after a few larger-sized volumes) that fits nicely in the hand and every single one of them promises a wealth of discovery for the internationally curious reader: Ukrainian poetry, Swahili fiction, queer Brazilian stories, Latin American horror, and so much more."--Lit Hub, "A Small Press Book We Love"
"Unbelievably exciting... These are poems to read and reread, repeating the lines as though they were a secret between yourself and the page."--The Paris Review on Home: New Arabic Poems
"This eclectic bilingual anthology from queer Brazilian writers, both living and dead, is as expansive and full of life as the country itself...enticing and poignant."--Publishers Weekly on Cuíer: Queer Brazil
"Visible approaches translation as an act that occurs not only between languages but also between media and disciplines... Thoughtfully curated... Past and present come together in a refreshingly collaborative spirit."--Brooklyn Rail on Visible
"An absorbing sampler of the literary feast available in Africa's most widely spoken language, No Edges should leave readers eager to discover more Swahili writers."--Shailja Patel, author of Migritude, on No Edges
"For the women highlighted in this collection, the act of writing is one of critical defiance that gives voice to voiceless women and, further, engages in the creation of a redefined Caribbean femininity that defies patriarchal or colonial coercion... Elektrik is translation operating as good translation should: as a megaphone for writers who might otherwise remain unheard in the Western canon."--Barrelhouse on Elektrik