Blog

Defending Freedom of Expression

August 24, 2022 - By Michel Moushabeck

At Interlink Publishing, my staff and I were shocked, devastated, and heartbroken to hear about the attack on Salman Rushdie and his interviewer on August 12th. Rushdie, a fellow member of PEN and past president of PEN America, has always been a fierce advocate for freedom of expression as we know all too well from his literary works and numerous speeches on the subject. Reese, his interviewer, is a longtime bookseller. We condemn this brutal attack and wish them a quick recovery and healing from this dreadful incident.

While this was a religiously motivated attack with unique circumstances, it is impossible to look at what happened without thinking about the numerous other incidents taking place around the world in order to silence writers, journalists, and human rights...

10 Questions for Armine Kotin Mortimer

August 23, 2022 - By Helen McColpin

“Denon’s mew position will turn out to be eminently strategic. When he writes to Isabelle that everyone was pleased with his appointment, he is being ironic. On the other hand, what he is quite right about is that it’s going to keep him busy constantly. An exhausting job.”
—from “The Masked Baron’s Louvre” by Philippe Sollers, Translated by Armine Kotin Mortimer, Volume 63, Issue 2 (Summer 2022)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you translated.
In the most ancient pre-history of my career as a translator, I did my first-ever rendition into English on a group of sixteenth-century comic tales written by Philippe de Vigneulles. Rather obscure, isn’t it? But I was asked to do the...

10 Questions for Diannely Antigua

August 16, 2022 - By Helen McColpin

"It was the summer of loss spanning the exact distance
my disease could reach—the degrees of longitude
and latitude, lonely numbers like decorations
for a forgotten graduation party in a church basement."
—from "Diary Entry #5: Self-Portrait as Revelations

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
One of the first poems I ever wrote was about a boy (of course). I was 11 years old. The poem was full of clichés like “hitting the dusty trail” and “setting sail.” It was essentially a goodbye poem to a boy I still liked but because of the religious rules placed upon me, we couldn’t be together. Very dramatic, very sad. Very me.

What writer(s) or works have...

2022 Chametzky Prize Interviews

August 15, 2022 - By Aviva Palencia

Summer Intern Aviva Palencia interviews translator Aga Gabor da Silva, winner of our annual Chametzky Translation Prize for her translation of Ewa Lipska’s “Can Always Happen” from its original Polish. Published in our Spring 2021 issue, Gabor da Silva’s masterfully translates this poem about longing for one’s country of origin. A transcript of this interview is available here.

Aviva also conducted an interview with...

Doctor's Orders: Waking Up the WSJ

August 9, 2022 - By Emily Wojcik

Two weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial—bylined by its editorial board—condemning the “woke” direction of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)’s new recommendations for medical schools. “...