Well, it took us awhile to decide between all of the amazing entries to our "Translation Nexus" short fiction contest, but we finally narrowed it down to one single winner.

We are going to move forward and begin translation on "East Meets West," by Isla McKetta -- a sharp little tale about shoplifting in a Polish supermarket.



You can read her story here. We will start building the translation wiki around "East Meets West" immediately, and soon you will be able to add to the "Nexus" by offering your own translation or by correcting the translation of someone else.

We liked the international rhythm of "East Meets West." We liked the slyness, the bemusement, and the casual larceny.

Is this not a story for the world? Don't we all feel fairly comfortable shoplifting from a place that was never made for human beings or human things?


***


This was nearly an impossible decision.

I feel like this contest provoked some damn good stories out of our participants, stories which will definitely go on to have impressive lives of their own somewhere else.

Here are five of my favorites, which you can check out online and which you should read immediately:

"Sunday Morning," by Christopher Herz

-- an amazing, transcontinental photo-spread about revolution, evolution, and the way we all interpenetrate one another's lives. Herz solicited twitter pitures from all over the world on one single day and then wove these pictures together into a story that shows how revolution in one place means revolution everywhere.

"Do Sheep Scream?" by Heather Hampson

-- can you still fuck a man who would do something so terrible to such an innocent sheep?

"Professorial Types," by Tom Bradley

-- a nasty, wonderful look at the academic world and all its little obsessions and great big hypocrisies

"Enough for Everyone," by Shawn Longworth

-- board game players in Houston share secrets and despair

"Feel the Music," by Rebecca Besser

-- a story about a deaf girl visiting her first orchestra


***


We will keep building our Nexus until we have translated this story into every language that we can touch.

If you can speak or write in a language other than English, or if you have a friend who does and who might have an hour to contribute toward forging a global network of storytellers and translators, please pass this idea along.

Posted by miracle on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 06:57:58 -0600 -- permanent link