Photo by Pop & Zebra on Unsplash
In your white vest and blue flip-flops,
you wandered about in the fierce sun,
a can of black paint in your hand.
We read your family history on lamp-posts:
your…
COVER FEATURE
Muses: Writers, Artists, and Their Inspirations
Jennifer Wong is a poet, critic, and translator based in the UK. Her first two poetry collections, Summer Cicadas (2006) and Goldfish (2013), were published by Chameleon Press i…
Ai Weiwei 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows: A Memoir Trans. Allan H. Barr Crown Publishing Group Barbara Bloemink Florine Stettheimer: A Biography…
Andrew Wyeth, Cranberries (1966), Collotype, 45.7 x 30.5 cm When I pushed the door there was no one in the room. In the background, an open window and a disquieting afternoon light falli…
Amitava Kumar, The Heart of the City / A Cemetery / of Grief. Inspired by Naveen Kishore’s poem “Kashmiriyat” in his new collection, Knotted Grief. Amitava Kumar—author, most r…
Wassily Kandinsky, Composition #218 (Two Ovals) (1919), Oil on Canvas, 107 × 89 cm, Saint Petersburg, The Russian Museum I glimpsed the oases of childhood with gingerbread houses and matryos…
André Leon Talley, E@L of Vogue backstage at Tuleh | Courtesy of Glam Media / Flickr. A poet traces fashion editor André Leon Talley’s influence on her work and life. On January 19, 2022, An…
Workshop of Rembrandt van Rijn, Young Woman at an Open Half-Door (1645), oil on canvas, 102.5 x 85.1 cm, Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago / CC0 Public…
Todd Anderson, I-165 Deep Field Basecamp, Allan Hills, Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica. Detail shot, 15 in. x 35 in., 10 runs, 18 colors, reductive woodcut with watercolor and pencil In 2019…
Ghislaine Lejard, l’ombre (2020), 6.5 x 7.5 cm, torn paper glued on cardboard / Reproduced by permission of the artist I tame shadows each day I descend further into their world and they d…
Lauren Alwan’s copy of Pictures, by David Hockney, edited by Nikos Stangos (Harry N. Abrams, 1979) A writer recalls how David Hockney inspired her, first as an art student and later as a writer,…
May 2022
Muses—a special section showcasing writers, artists, and their inspirations, with cover art by Holly Wilson—headlines the May/June 2022 issue of World Literature Today, the 400th issue in the magazine’s 95-year history. Other highlights include poetry, essays, creative nonfiction, and fiction and a wealth of new titles reviewed including new work by Victoria Chang, Louise Glück, and Alain Mabanckou.