TE17 Mysterious Montenegro

Editor’s Welcome

Also in this issue, you’ll find works from French, Italian, German, Romanian, Livonian, Spanish and English writers. Straight from Éditions Julliard, we’re pleased to offer a preview in English of French novelist, screenwriter and cartoonist Jean Teulé ’s intriguing novel, Entrez dans la danse . Franca Mancinelli ’s is one of the more compelling voices in recent Italian literature. We’ve featured her poetry before, in this Trafika Europe Corner from 2018. Now we’re sharing three short prose-like pieces from her. Passionate gamer and speculative fiction writer Thekla Kraußeneck makes her English-language debut with this excerpt from her expansive work, Cronos Cube . Poet Valts Ernštreits is actively helping revitalize Livonian language and culture in Latvia, with his work. Moving between Santa Barbara and Moldova, Romanian author Alta Ifland ’s “Serioja, Maria and the Mop” is a comedy of errors, a culture clash, and a love triangle rolled into one. AccordingtoJonathanLethem, Spanish-languageauthor RodrigoFresán is “a kaleidoscopic, open-hearted, shamelessly polymathic storyteller, the kind who brings a blast of oxygen into the room.” Our excerpt is from The Dreamed Part , a new sequel to his celebrated novel, The Invented Part . English author John Saul finishes this issue, with his witty and kind short story, “Hot Tub”. If that’s not enough, throughout this issue and onour cover there’s avisual feast, featuring 17 photographs from Ivan Vojnić – giving us a glimpse of the true mystery that modern-day Montenegro maintains.

Enjoy!

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