Words Without Borders

About Words Without Borders

Words Without Borders (WWB) is an international magazine devoted to international exchange through the translation, publication and promotion of the world's best writing by authors not easily accessible to English-speaking readers. Founded in 2003 and based in Brooklyn, New York, it publishes a free monthly digital magazine of literature in translation and has grown into the largest free digital repository of contemporary literature in translation anywhere in the world. Its archive features work by more than 4,600 writers translated from 139 languages, and it counts nine Nobel laureates among its contributors. The organization also runs an education program, WWB Campus, that brings global literature into hundreds of classrooms, and it organizes free public events with international authors, translators and critics. Its website is wordswithoutborders.org.

Founding in 2003

Words Without Borders was the brainchild of Alane Salierno Mason, a senior editor and vice president at W. W. Norton who is also a translator of the Italian writer Elio Vittorini. Mason had conceived the idea as early as 1999: frustrated by her inability, like most American editors, to read the international writing she wanted to acquire, she imagined a publication that would offer translations of sections from international books for editors who could not read the source languages. She was joined by the founding editor Samantha Schnee, who had worked at the film and literary magazine Zoetrope, and by Dedi Felman, then at Oxford University Press. By the time WWB launched in 2003, the concept had morphed from a quasi-trade publication into a monthly magazine offering novel excerpts alongside short stories, poetry and nonfiction.

Susan Harris, who became the magazine's editorial director, joined a few months before the launch, and the first issue appeared in July and August of 2003. The founders were animated by a sense of urgency: the magazine was launched to counter the cultural isolationism that followed the September 11 attacks, at a moment when fewer than three percent of books published in the United States were translations. They believed that a free, online literary magazine could enable more English-speaking readers to engage with other cultures and perspectives through literature, building empathy across linguistic and geographic borders.

The Three Percent Problem

The statistic that defined WWB's founding mission was stark: at the turn of the millennium, translations accounted for less than three percent of books published in the United States, a figure far below the rates in most other major publishing markets. American readers, the founders argued, were cut off from the literatures of the rest of the world not by lack of interest but by lack of access, and the publishing industry's lagging interest in translation compounded the isolation. WWB set out to address the gap directly, seeking out new writing from around the globe and making it accessible to readers of English through a free monthly digital magazine.

Two decades later, the profile of literature in translation in the English-speaking world is considerably higher. New presses devoted to translation, such as Deep Vellum, New Vessel Press and And Other Stories, have emerged; reviews increasingly name translators; and readers have shown growing interest in international writing. The WWB community has worked tirelessly to advocate for these changes, from insisting that publishers credit translators prominently to bringing international authors before American audiences. The organization describes its mission as cultivating global awareness by expanding access to international writing and creating a bridge between readers, writers and translators.

The Monthly Magazine

At the heart of WWB is its free monthly digital magazine, which publishes fiction, poetry, essays, novel excerpts and nonfiction in English translation. Each issue is typically organized around a theme, a region, a language or a literary community, and the magazine has a track record of publishing authors who have gone on to become international sensations. It often provides the first English-language exposure for writers working in other languages, and it serves as an essential platform for literatures overlooked by mainstream publishing. The New York Times critic David Orr once praised the intelligence and idealism of the enterprise.

The magazine's editorial vision has been driven by a sustained focus on marginalized voices and underrepresented literatures. Recent features have highlighted Afghan women writers, Sami authors of the Arctic north, and writing in Indigenous languages such as Guarani and Mapudungun, alongside literature from every inhabited continent. The organization supports its contributors with competitive fees, a notable commitment in a field known for low wages and professional precarity, and offers valuable exposure through publication and participation in free literary events. Each year the website welcomes some 700,000 visitors, more than sixty percent of whom live outside the United States.

An Archive Without Parallel

WWB's archive is the largest free digital repository of contemporary literature in translation in the world. As of the organization's twentieth anniversary in 2023, it featured work by more than 4,600 writers translated from 139 languages, a collection that spans Arabic to Luganda, Welsh to Guarani. Earlier counts put the figure at more than 2,500 pieces by writers from 136 countries translated from 116 languages, and the archive has continued to grow with each monthly issue. For students, scholars, translators and general readers, it constitutes an unparalleled resource for exploring the contemporary literatures of the world in English.

The archive's depth reflects the magazine's editorial method: rather than chasing only established names, WWB's editors and guest editors seek out writing from literary cultures that rarely reach English-language readers. The result is a collection that documents not only the celebrated authors of world literature but the working literatures of dozens of languages and regions, from stateless languages to the national literatures of small countries. The magazine has been described as the rare publication brave enough to operate on the literary frontier, bringing readers stories from borders, from countries under siege, and from languages with few other outlets.

Nobel Laureates and Literary Stars

Among the most striking markers of WWB's influence is the company its contributors keep. The organization counts nine Nobel laureates among the writers it has published, including Olga Tokarczuk and Jon Fosse, and it has a well-earned reputation for identifying major international authors before they reach wider fame in English. For many writers, an appearance in WWB has been the first step toward English-language book publication, as editors and publishers discover new voices in its pages.

The magazine's ability to spot consequential writing early reflects the expertise of its editorial network, which draws on translators, scholars and writers around the world. Its guest-edited issues and special features allow deep dives into particular literary scenes, and its commitment to publishing across genres means that poets, novelists, essayists and dramatists all find a home in its archive. The twenty-year record of the magazine reads as a parallel history of world literature in the twenty-first century, assembled one translation at a time.

Recognition and Awards

In 2018, Words Without Borders received the inaugural Whiting Literary Magazine Prize, a major recognition of its contribution to American literary culture. The organization celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2023 with a gala at the Edison Ballroom in New York City, hosted by acclaimed writers and translators, with executive director and publisher Karen M. Phillips describing literature as the vital connective tissue through which readers can experience a shared humanity. The anniversary highlighted both the scale of what WWB had built and the continued urgency of its mission.

In 2026, WWB received the Aficionado Award, the international publishing prize honoring individuals, organizations and initiatives that make a lasting difference to the industry, presented at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The award recognized the magazine's work in making literary voices from around the world more accessible, with a particular focus on Indigenous, endangered and otherwise overlooked languages, and honored the central role of translators in fostering international exchange. Executive director Elisabeth Jaquette accepted the award on behalf of the organization's team. WWB is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Lannan Foundation and many other funders.

WWB Campus and Education

Beyond the magazine, Words Without Borders runs WWB Campus, an education program that brings global literature into hundreds of classrooms worldwide. The program develops materials for high school and college teachers and provides an online resource center for contemporary global writing, giving educators tools to teach literature in translation alongside their existing curricula. Its visiting-author program brings international writers into schools: the Quechua Peruvian author Marco Aviles, for example, has led bilingual workshops for New York City high school students through the program.

The education work extends the magazine's founding logic into the classroom. If translation is the best way for readers who cannot read other languages to learn about the rest of the world, then students are among its most important beneficiaries, and WWB Campus aims to make global literature a normal part of literary education rather than an exotic supplement. The program serves the magazine's diverse, multilingual and international audience, which ranges from publishing professionals to casual readers with minimal experience of literature in translation.

Why Translation Matters

The case for Words Without Borders is ultimately the case for translation itself. Much of the world is known to English-language readers through a strictly political prism; literature provides access to the lives of people in other cultures and countries in a register that journalism and policy analysis cannot reach. Translation matters, the magazine's editors argue, because it is the best available way for those who cannot read other languages to encounter the rest of the world on its own terms, in its own voices.

After more than two decades of monthly publishing, WWB has demonstrated that an audience exists for that encounter, and that a free digital magazine can sustain it. Its archive, its education program, its events and its advocacy have made it the premier destination for a global literary conversation, in the Poetry Foundation's phrase. For readers who want to move beyond the three percent, the magazine remains the essential starting point. Visit wordswithoutborders.org to browse the current issue, search the archive and learn about WWB Campus.