Esther King
@esthermavis.bsky.social
320 followers 160 following 23 posts
Deputy editor, The Dial (@thedialmag.bsky.social)
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esthermavis.bsky.social
This was such a fantastic read, and a real pleasure to review for @wwborders.bsky.social
wwborders.bsky.social
“From the harsh, sterile confines of prison, the novel returns to the central question: Who gets to be a mother?” writes critic Esther King. For WWB, King reviews Brenda Lozano’s latest novel MOTHERS (tr. Heather Cleary).

Read the review: wordswithoutborders.org/book-reviews...
Book Review “With the echo of these looping, obsessive questions, the narrator suggests that both women already share the same all-consuming nightmare: the blunt injustice of the times in which they live.” “Redoubled Fire”: Fear and Love in Brenda Lozano’s Mothers by Esther King. Image: Black text with pink background, image of a fractured doll.
Reposted by Esther King
thedialmag.bsky.social
Over the 1990s, Washington transformed Guantánamo Bay into a theater of extraterritorial mass incarceration to hold tens of thousands of Haitian and Cuban asylum-seekers fleeing political violence and economic collapse. Miriam Pensack reports on this little-known history.
Guantánamo's Secret History — The Dial
Trump isn't the first president to use the military base for the U.S.'s dirty secrets
www.thedial.world
esthermavis.bsky.social
I translated Sabrina's great reporting from German for @thedialmag.bsky.social — read her dispatch here👇
thedialmag.bsky.social
Oil companies and developers in Peru are ignoring historic legislation which protects the country’s waves, reports Sabrina Weiss. With oil spillage and new infrastructure threatening wildlife and the local economy, activists are organizing to maintain clean waters.
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
Protecting Peru’s Waves — The Dial
A new law was supposed to shield beaches from development and oil spills. It’s not being enforced.
www.thedial.world
Reposted by Esther King
laurenelkin.bsky.social
I have a new translation up at @thedialmag.bsky.social, Lauren Bastide's Courir l'escargot, which we're calling Consider the Snail. I loved this book & was so happy to get to translate some excerpts from it, about slowness, failure, grief, alterity, cycles, & goo www.thedial.world/articles/lit...
Consider the Snail — The Dial
“In writing about snails, I wanted to write about slowness and strangeness, solitude and death, hibernation and estivation.”
www.thedial.world
Reposted by Esther King
thedialmag.bsky.social
1/ Dear readers,

The Dial is evolving. You talked, we listened — and have made a few changes to our magazine.
Reposted by Esther King
imogenwk.bsky.social
unexpected and very nice to have a piece I wrote for the dial about baseball last year selected for this anthology! ⚾

the piece is here: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
Reposted by Esther King
thedialmag.bsky.social
In “Burial at Sea,” a short story by Karim Kattan set in Palestine in the summer of 2019, the narrator loses a lover on a cruise vacation and reckons with their grief: www.thedial.world/articles/lit...
“Burial at Sea,” by Karim Kattan — The Dial
A short story.
www.thedial.world
Reposted by Esther King
alexzucker.bsky.social
🤩 Delighted to say my translation of Klára Vlasáková’s short story “The Cells” was published today as part of @thedialmag.bsky.social’s Fiction issue: bit.ly/4oQPrPB
esthermavis.bsky.social
What place is there for fiction when reality demands our constant attention? The writers in our fiction issue this month give possible answers. @thedialmag.bsky.social
www.thedial.world/articles/lit...
“Illegal Alien,” by Jumaana Abdu — The Dial
A short story.
www.thedial.world
Reposted by Esther King
esthermavis.bsky.social
"In the nearby women’s detention facility at Mezzeh Military Airport in Damascus, small clay heart decorations inscribed with messages were hanging alongside crayon-colored drawings of peaceful homelife — a kitchen table, a garden, a child’s bedroom." @thedialmag

www.thedial.world/articles/new...
Syria’s Archives of Atrocity — The Dial
Discarded documents from Assad’s regime offer clues to Syrians searching for lost family and friends.
www.thedial.world
Reposted by Esther King
thedialmag.bsky.social
More than 100 aid agencies warn of mass starvation in Gaza. Why has famine become a modern tool of war? Last year, Sarah Nouwen talked with the executive director of the World Peace Foundation and the UN's special rapporteur on the right to food: www.thedial.world/articles/sta...
www.thedial.world
Reposted by Esther King
willcoldwell.bsky.social
The Dial is a super mag, which I've had the pleasure of contributing to a couple of times.

For its summer reading list I recommended one book I can't stop thinking about – Dirty Work by @epress.bsky.social

Check out the full list and donate to support unique and independent journalism :)
thedialmag.bsky.social
This summer, if you donate to The Dial you’ll receive our exclusive book list from 35 of our contributors. The diversity of the list reflects the diversity of our writers and reporters, who are based in China, Turkey, India, Switzerland and elsewhere. www.thedial.world/summer-readi...
Summer Reading Campaign
Get The Dial's exclusive summer reading list with 50+ global book recommendations. Support independent literary journalism with a $50 donation.
www.thedial.world
Reposted by Esther King
thedialmag.bsky.social
Donate to The Dial before Aug. 1 and you’ll receive our exclusive reading list of more than 50 titles! As a nonprofit, we are proud to offer all our articles to readers for free. Your support allow us to continue to make our work accessible to all. Donate today: www.thedial.world/summer-readi...
Summer Reading Campaign
Get The Dial's exclusive summer reading list with 50+ global book recommendations. Support independent literary journalism with a $50 donation.
www.thedial.world
esthermavis.bsky.social
thedialmag.bsky.social
1/ The stories in this month’s issue, Fever, take on various issues that have reached peak intensity. We’ll bring you a report on the UN’s liquidity crisis, snapshots from Mauritius where climate disaster brings freak tornadoes and jellyfish “explosions,” a photo essay of swimming horses and more.
The Dial
The Dial is an online magazine of culture, politics, and ideas with a focus on locally sourced writing from around the world.
www.thedial.world
esthermavis.bsky.social
"For Coetzee, Speaking in Tongues is part of a larger project of fighting the hegemony of English in world literature. It’s a worthy cause, but unfortunately his approach to it is both highly idiosyncratic and highly unproductive." A thoughtful critique from Carey Baraka for @thedialmag.bsky.social
thedialmag.bsky.social
In a review of J.M. Coetzee’s new book, about language and translation, co-written with the translator Mariana Dimόpulos, Carey Baraka delves into questions of authorship, mother tongues and the dominance of English as a global language: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
J.M. Coetzee and Language — The Dial
A review of Speaking in Tongues.
www.thedial.world
esthermavis.bsky.social
Fantastic news and great work by Ryan Lenora Brown & Majirata Latela for @thedialmag.bsky.social !
oneworldmedia.bsky.social
🎥One World Media Awards-Print Winner🎉
The True Price of Sportswear exposes abuse faced by female factory workers in Lesotho, from bullying to assault, and pressure to lie to inspectors.
📺Watch: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
The True Price of Sportswear — The Dial
Workers at an athletic apparel factory in Lesotho that make clothes for Reebok, The Greg Norman Company, and others allege assault, humiliation, intimidation, and bullying.
www.thedial.world
Reposted by Esther King
thedialmag.bsky.social
On Monday, Israel struck Iran’s Evin prison, known for the intellectuals, activists, artists and students who have served time there—many of whom are fighting for democracy. In 2024, we published five Iranian women’s accounts of their life behind bars in Evin. www.thedial.world/articles/new...
Letters from Inside Iran's Evin Prison — The Dial
Five Iranian women, all human rights activists, write of life behind bars.
www.thedial.world
esthermavis.bsky.social
“I’m happy that you called, ah, you see, it’s nice when you remember.” The subtle gut-punch of this new fiction by Valérie Mréjen (tr. by Katie Assef) on @thedialmag.bsky.social www.thedial.world/articles/lit...
“Hello Sweetheart” by Valérie Mréjen — The Dial
A translation from “Eau Sauvage.”
www.thedial.world
Reposted by Esther King
thedialmag.bsky.social
While Donald Trump makes noises about colonizing Greenland and Canada, son-in-law Jared Kushner is busy developing a luxury resort on an island off the coast of Albania. Marzio Mian visited Sazan and talked with Kushner to learn more about the development: www.thedial.world/articles/new...
The Trump Family’s Island of Dreams — The Dial
A new resort on the remote Albanian island of Sazan promises “high-end luxury.”
www.thedial.world
esthermavis.bsky.social
"Whatever sort of intelligence I have stored in my muscles flared to life to avoid a harmless bump in upstate New York, fearing that it might pose the same danger as the bump in the Talaeiah minefield." Amir Ahmadi Arian on war zone scars and raising a son.
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
The Bump — The Dial
Proximity to war and minefields left a scar. Will I pass it on to my son?
www.thedial.world
esthermavis.bsky.social
A pleasure to translate the text for Ophélie Loubat's powerful photo essay on becoming a mother without a father for our latest issue, Fathers.
thedialmag.bsky.social
1/ Since her parents’ divorce, and having grown up in shared custody, Ophélie Loubat has been fascinated by family relationships. Now a photographer, Loubat spent time with single-parent families to understand the challenges they face.
www.thedial.world/articles/new...
The Choice to Become a Mother Alone — The Dial
It’s one fewer burden.
www.thedial.world