Jot Down
Translation: Teresa Galarza (Versión en castellano aquí) If we had to describe Fabiola Gianotti in a single word that would be vocation. If we had two, we could add: magnetism. If we were granted a third, it would be, undoubtedly: flair. The first woman to hold the position of coordinator of […]
(Versión en castellano aquí) In memory of Lorena Enebral Pérez «The really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline, and effort, and being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad petty little unsexy ways every day.» David […]
Translation: Teresa Galarza (Versión en español aquí) Shortcuts. On the shoulders of a country at war We were at the front of Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic State in Syria, when the terrible events of Barcelona took place. We found out when one of the fighters with whom we […]
Translation: Teresa Galarza (Versión en español aquí) Shortcuts. On the shoulders of a country at war Like in the rearguard, in the front of Raqqa it is usual to sleep on the roofs of houses. You should take some basic precautions such as not smoking, lighting a flashlight or using […]
Translation: Teresa Galarza (Versión en español aquí) Shortcuts. On the shoulders of a country at war Reaching a battlefront is much more complicated than it seems. Rarely, perhaps never, do we talk about the preliminary round after the bang-bang; the bureaucratic nightmare of special permits, photocopies, stamps, accreditations and meetings […]
Translation: Teresa Galarza (Versión en español aquí) Shortcuts. On the shoulders of a country at war Some village in Raqqa. Clay houses cooking under the sun, a lot of sun, in the middle of nowhere. In Serran there are no sidewalks, no roads, no streets, no shops; just a donkey […]
Translation: Teresa Galarza (Versión en español aquí) Shortcuts. On the shoulders of a country at war Two years have passed, but Amina remembers the day of the heads as if it was yesterday. Heads appeared punctured on garden trellises, traffic signs … There were also some in glass jars, up […]
Translation: Teresa Galarza (Versión en español aquí) Shortcuts. On the shoulders of a country at war The truth is that it’s not bad at all, twelve dollars a night for a room with a fan and a bathroom to yourself. We are the only guests of the only hotel in […]
Translation: Teresa Galarza (Versión en español aquí) Shortcuts. On the shoulders of a country at war They are 1,500 men, between the ages of 18 and 30, who graduate after their 45-day training. Many have a moustache, others are not old enough to grow one. They are Arabs and Kurds […]
Translation: Teresa Galarza (Versión en español aquí) Shortcuts. On the shoulders of a country at war On the world’s shoulders, the shortest distance between two points is rarely a straight line. Often, roads are blocked by checkpoints, mud walls or concrete blocks that require a diversion. It might also be […]
(Versión en español) We meet with Kim Stanley Robinson (Waukegan, 1952) in Barcelona, during the annual literary convention Kosmopolis. Robinson is a respected and popular hard science fiction writer, especially known for his trilogy dealing with martian colonization and terraformation (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars). After Mars, he imagined […]
(Versión en español) Desire, transgression, light. Nabokov. To keep a conversation with Lila Azam Zanganeh (Paris, 1976) causes genuine intellectual vertigo. This writer, born in Paris from Iranian parents, lives and works in New York and combines the creation of her literary works –The Enchanter was the first one, an […]