Asymptote World Literature Translation

Asymptote is the recipient of the 2015 London Book Fair International Literary Translation Program Award and the leading website for literary translation worldwide. Our name comes from the dashed line on the graph, which mathematical functions may tend towards but never reach. Similarly, the translated text may never fully replicate the effect of the original text; This is its own creative behavior.

Our mission is simple: to unlock the world's literary treasures. (Watch Asymptote's video introduction here.) So far, our magazine has collected works from 130 countries and 116 languages, all of which are unprecedented poems, novels, essays, dramas, as well as interviews with writers and translators such as Haruki Murakami, Lydia Davis, Laszlo Krasnaholkai, Edith Grossman, Emily Wilson, Ilya Kaminsky, Gitanjali Shri, Michael Hofmann, Mary Gaitskill, C é sar Aira Thomas Bernhard、Valeria Luiselli、Tomaž Šalamun、Adonis、Chang Kuei-hsin、Dubravka Ugrešić、Viet Thanh Nguyen、Kim Hyesoon、Can Xu、Eliot Weinberger、Mircea Cărtărescu、Etel Adnan、Yiyun Li、Mahmoud Dowlatabadi、Douglas Kearney And Bruno Latour. We are honored to provide our contributors with 19 Nobel laureates, including Olga Tokachuk and Jon Foss, who were awarded in 2018 and 2023, respectively.

Since its establishment thirteen years ago, we have continuously expanded our service offerings, including daily blog updates, biweekly newsletters, monthly book clubs, and educational guides included with each quarterly publication; We have also organized over thirty events across five continents. In 2015, "The asymptotes" became a founding member of The Guardian's book network and launched the "Translation Tuesday" column, showcasing new literary translations every week for the newspaper's 5 million fans to read. This means that 'The asymptotes' is the only journal that focuses on translation and has a truly international readership - its readership is not limited to a niche group of literary translators and world literature enthusiasts.

Asymptote is always committed to promoting communication between languages. In addition to the original text, it also showcases translated works and provides audio of the original text as much as possible. Each issue of the magazine is illustrated by a guest artist and includes articles on "Writers on Writers," introducing overlooked voices that deserve more attention in the English speaking world, as well as a special wildcard feature that focuses on cutting-edge genres such as literature or multilingual writing and experimental translation in specific regions. In order to further promote the dissemination of literature, Asymptote also commissioned the translation of texts into languages other than English, thereby attracting the participation of other language communities and breaking the English centric information flow. All of our published works will be disseminated for free on eight social media platforms in three languages through dedicated social media teams and our expanding editorial network across six continents.

George Bernard Shaw once said, "If you have an apple, I have an apple, and we exchange apples, then you and I still have an apple each. But if you have an idea, I have an idea, and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas." It is in this spirit of sharing ideas that Asymptote invites readers to explore works from around the world.

Asymptote is neither registered in the United States nor in Europe, and is not affiliated with any university or government agency, therefore unable to receive multiple grants from similar institutions. If you enjoy our magazine, please become our long-term member or masthead member for $5 per month to help us continue our mission. As a reward for committing to at least one year of support, you will receive generous benefits!