In this inaugural anthology, contemporary and historical poetry and prose originally written in nineteen languages are translated into English by thirty-eight translators. Coeditors Noh Anothai, Wendy Call, Öykü Tekten, and Kọ́lá Túbọ̀sún, along with guest editor Jane Hirshfield, selected the poems, short stories, essays, and hybrid pieces included which were all published in U.S. literary journals during 2023. The anthology series aims to celebrate world literature, and honor the brilliant work of translators and the literary journals that publish this work. “Best Literary Translations exists thanks to the work of translators who tirelessly search for the most unique, engaging, and necessary literary voices from around the world—both those working today and those from other eras,” write the coeditors in the introduction. Hirshfield highlights the capaciousness of the anthology in her introduction: “The translations found in this volume…hold specific experiences, yes, to be tasted and walked inside of, but carry also translation’s fundamental increase of perspective, perception, and possibility, of what can be said, and how.”
