Is there any interest in doing a group read of #MyDreadfulBody? I know people have gone off in different directions. Let me know.

Olga Zilberbourg @olgaz.bsky.social · 5d ago

Did you all see @brittastromeyer.bsky.social 's review for @commonmag.bsky.social as well? Britta does such a good job with it : www.thecommononline.org/egana-djabba...

For those who read in Russian, the title is "Руки женщин моей семьи были не для письма." (If you read in the original but it's not the language of the country you live in, does it or does it not count as translated literature? (Not seriously) asking for lots of us.)

It's #WitMonth, and among the many phenomenal titles, see below for @paperpills10.bsky.social's call for a group read of My Dreadful Body by Egana Dzhabbarova, translated from Russian by @lizoksbooks.bsky.social Writer, translator, group read leader are all women, and this novel is FABULOUS.

Yelena Furman@yelenafurman.bsky.social · 5d ago

Read a phenomenal novel - in Russian, or translated by @lizoksbooks.bsky.social - with Reem, the phenomenal leader of group reads on Twitter and now on here. You won't regret either of these two things.

And a review of the novel - thank you, @olgaz.bsky.social for posting it: Egana Djabbarova’s My Dreadful Body: Exploring the Wounded Self and Belonging in Azerbaijani Diaspora Literature | The Common share.google/oYp9tmvo19uf...

Egana Djabbarova’s My Dreadful Body: Exploring the Wounded Self and Belonging in Azerbaijani Diaspora Literature

BRITTA STROMEYER <br> [She] braids personal ache into a collective anthem, forcing readers to confront the weight of unhealed personal and shared wounds. Her prose demands a new definition of beauty, ...

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And a Q&A with Lisa @lizoksbooks.bsky.social about her translating the novel: puncturedlines.com/2026/07/15/c...

Creating a Vivid World: A Q&A with Lisa C. Hayden, the translator of Egana Djabbarova’s My Dreadful Body

The publication of Egana Djabbarova’s My Dreadful Body by New Vessel Press earlier this year is an important contribution to feminist russophone literature available to readers in English translati…

puncturedlines.com

Read an excerpt from My Dreadful Body to get a taste (no pun intended) on @puncturedlines.bsky.social: Tongue: An Excerpt from Egana Djabbarova’s My Dreadful Body, translated by Lisa C. Hayden – Punctured Lines share.google/nHFQaUMbxA85...

Tongue: An Excerpt from Egana Djabbarova’s My Dreadful Body, translated by Lisa C. Hayden

We’re celebrating today the arrival of an eagerly anticipated novel that portrays the life of a young woman from a traditional Azerbaijani community in Russia. A feminist poet, essayist, scho…

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Read a phenomenal novel - in Russian, or translated by @lizoksbooks.bsky.social - with Reem, the phenomenal leader of group reads on Twitter and now on here. You won't regret either of these two things.

Paperpills 💊🇵🇸❤️@paperpills10.bsky.social · 5d ago

Is there any interest in doing a group read of #MyDreadfulBody? I know people have gone off in different directions. Let me know.

"The narrator’s toil with dystonia, a neurological movement disorder, serves as a visceral metaphor for this history; the illness not only robs her of speech and physical autonomy but mirrors the cultural constraints that have long stifled the women in her family."

Britta Stromeyer@brittastromeyer.bsky.social · last wk.

thecommononline.org/egana-djabba... Please consider subscribing to @CommonMag.bsky.social & support great place-based literature.

Egana Dzhabbarova's poetry reading during an online event held in May 2025 at Amherst College, hosted by Polina Barskova and Catherine Ciepiela, "felt like a litmus test" to @lizoksbooks.bsky.social as she listened before finalizing her translation of MY DREADFUL BODY. For deeper appreciation: 1/5

Egana Djabbarova’s My Dreadful Body, trans. Lisa C. Hayden @lizoksbooks.bsky.social Buy Lisa's translation: newvesselpress.com/books/my-dre... and for Russian speakers, the original: bergstrompressbooks.com/en/fiction/1...

Yelena Furman@yelenafurman.bsky.social · 3w ago

"One of the reasons I love My Dreadful Body so much is that I identify very closely with how Egana writes about the limitations that society, traditions, and family members inflict on women." @olgaz.bsky.social's Q&A with @lizoksbooks.bsky.social puncturedlines.com/2026/07/15/c...

Don't miss @lizoksbooks.bsky.social's interview about translating My Dreadful Body! (With apologies to Lisa--these types of slides that look good on social media can feel a bit over the top, & I bet you would prefer the understated... here's me trying to get social media to work for what matters.)

Punctured Lines@puncturedlines.bsky.social · 3w ago

The publication of Egana Djabbarova's My Dreadful Body by @newvesselpress.bsky.social is an important contribution to feminist russophone literature in English translation. We’re diving deeper into the context of this remarkable book in our interview w its translator, @lizoksbooks.bsky.social.

"One of the reasons I love My Dreadful Body so much is that I identify very closely with how Egana writes about the limitations that society, traditions, and family members inflict on women." @olgaz.bsky.social's Q&A with @lizoksbooks.bsky.social puncturedlines.com/2026/07/15/c...

Creating a Vivid World: A Q&A with Lisa C. Hayden, the translator of Egana Djabbarova’s My Dreadful Body

The publication of Egana Djabbarova’s My Dreadful Body by New Vessel Press earlier this year is an important contribution to feminist russophone literature available to readers in English translati…

puncturedlines.com

The publication of Egana Djabbarova's My Dreadful Body by @newvesselpress.bsky.social is an important contribution to feminist russophone literature in English translation. We’re diving deeper into the context of this remarkable book in our interview w its translator, @lizoksbooks.bsky.social.

Huge thanks to @olgaz.bsky.social and @yelenafurman.bsky.social for the opportunity to Q&A about my translation of Egana Djabbarova's My Dreadful Body, published by @newvesselpress.bsky.social in the US & Linden Editions in the UK!

Olga Zilberbourg @olgaz.bsky.social · 3w ago

Delighted to have this conversation with @lizoksbooks.bsky.social up on @puncturedlines.bsky.social today! I'll post it properly in the next couple of days, with graphics and all. Buy the book from the most wonderful @newvesselpress.bsky.social!! puncturedlines.com/2026/07/15/c...

Yay! Look at these translations in our main book display at the bookstore :)

"I love the way Egana structured the novel, focusing on one body part per chapter. This is the sort of framework that keeps me interested, both as a reader and as a translator." Thank you, @lizoksbooks.bsky.social and @olgaz.bsky.social for this marvelous Q&A. puncturedlines.com/2026/07/15/c...

Creating a Vivid World: A Q&A with Lisa C. Hayden, the translator of Egana Djabbarova’s My Dreadful Body

The publication of Egana Djabbarova’s My Dreadful Body by New Vessel Press earlier this year is an important contribution to feminist russophone literature available to readers in English translati…

puncturedlines.com

Thank you Yelena Furman For introducing us to #Voznesenskaya24📚🐦 #TheWomensDecameron!!! What a delightful read!!! #JuliaVoznesenskaya #readinganactofsharedsolitude #paperpills🇵🇸❤️ #ReemReel #AThingOfBeauty www.instagram.com/reel/C5MAoBQ...

Paper Pills on Instagram:

0 likes, 0 comments - paperpills10 on March 31, 2024:

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Feed: "Five Minutes" By: Yelena Furman on Thursday, September 4, 2025

The Double

This time, someone emails to subpoena records of my supposed coworker.

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“I was in my early twenties when I discovered what my name was.” —Yelena Furman, “Naming”

Delighted to have this conversation with @lizoksbooks.bsky.social up on @puncturedlines.bsky.social today! I'll post it properly in the next couple of days, with graphics and all. Buy the book from the most wonderful @newvesselpress.bsky.social!! puncturedlines.com/2026/07/15/c...

Creating a Vivid World: A Q&A with Lisa C. Hayden, the translator of Egana Djabbarova’s My Dreadful Body

The publication of Egana Djabbarova’s My Dreadful Body by New Vessel Press earlier this year is an important contribution to feminist russophone literature available to readers in English translati…

puncturedlines.com

"We pride ourselves on editing and on working with our authors to develop their pieces. Which makes us slow! But also--I believe--worth the while." As the contributor to the slowness, very much agree. Love working with you, @olgaz.bsky.social !

Olga Zilberbourg @olgaz.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This summer marks 7 years since @yelenafurman.bsky.social and I started @puncturedlines.bsky.social, a feminist blog on literatures of the former Soviet Union and diaspora. We've published 219 posts on Word Press and have worked with at least 89 authors (according to my imperfect files).

Back then, Tatsiana had just completed her novel ab memory & digital immortality that became a wonderful Смерти.net--another as of yet untranslated novel worthy of attention! Today, we're running an excerpt from Satchkova's 2026 Eng-language debut. Check it out! puncturedlines.com/2026/06/17/a...

A Psychological Thriller with a Touch of Mythology: An Excerpt from Svetlana Satchkova’s The Undead

Svetlana Satchkova’s English-language debut, The Undead: A Novel of Modern Russia, was published earlier this year by Melville House Publishing to rave reviews. It’s a story of an aspir…

puncturedlines.com

Last but not least for today, from the year 2020, is a translation of Svetlana Satchkova's interview with Tatsiana Zamirovskaya that we titled “Just because Belarusians write in Russian doesn’t mean they’re a part of Russian culture.” puncturedlines.com/2020/08/07/j...

“Just because Belarusians write in Russian doesn’t mean they’re a part of Russian culture”: An Interview with Tatsiana Zamirovskaya

This is a translation of a Russian-language interview conducted by Svetlana Satchkova and published by Storytel on June 16, 2020. The translation is by Fiona Bell. Tatsiana Zamirovskaya is a writer…

puncturedlines.com

Hilah Kohen's Twitter thread to a link of resources on Blackness, Racism, and Russian and Eurasian Studies. You can still find it on X, but PL's story provides a bit more context: puncturedlines.com/2020/07/21/r...

Readings on Blackness, Racism, and Russian and Eurasian Studies

This post reproduces and documents a Twitter thread that began on June 3, 2020, with articles by Aisha Powell, Sarah Valentine, B. Amarilis Lugo de Fabritz, and Jennifer Wilson. Various members of …

puncturedlines.com

-- @yelenafurman.bsky.social 's classic Book Love post about Julia Voznesenskaya's The Women's Decameron -- speaking of great untranslated books -- really, English language translation publishers, take note!! puncturedlines.com/2020/07/15/b...

Book Love: Julia Voznesenskaya’s The Women’s Decameron

(This blog post had to happen sometime.) Sure, we’ve all fallen in love with people, but some of us have also fallen in love with books. I was in my early twenties, living in a newly post-Sov…

puncturedlines.com

-- My piece on Carolyn Gold Heilbrun's monograph about Constance Garnett that keeps coming up for me for various good and bad readsons: puncturedlines.com/2020/07/07/c...

Carolyn Gold Heilbrun on Constance Garnett

Most readers of Punctured Lines are likely familiar with the name of Constance Garnett — English-language translator from Russian par excellence — and so I’ll begin this post with…

puncturedlines.com

Some fun highlights from our early days: -- Hilah Kohen's thread on queer russophone sci fi anthology from Bishkek (that she later developed into a podcast for Meduza!) puncturedlines.com/2020/02/04/h...

Hilah Kohen responds to Completely Different, the collection of queer Russophone science fiction, a Twitter feed

In a post from a few weeks ago, I mentioned Completely Different — a Russian-language collection of queer science fiction published in Bishkek, and Calvert Journal’s publication of a tr…

puncturedlines.com

We pride ourselves on editing and on working with our authors to develop their pieces. Which makes us slow! But also--I believe--worth the while. I learned a ton through working on these pieces. Take a look at our full story archives puncturedlines.com/story-archiv...

Story Archives

Visit the post for more.

puncturedlines.com

This summer marks 7 years since @yelenafurman.bsky.social and I started @puncturedlines.bsky.social, a feminist blog on literatures of the former Soviet Union and diaspora. We've published 219 posts on Word Press and have worked with at least 89 authors (according to my imperfect files).

Today on @puncturedlines.bsky.social an excerpt from Svetlana Satchkova's English-language debut, The Undead: A Novel of Modern Russia. Thank you to @olgaz.bsky.social for this piece on the blog. puncturedlines.com/2026/06/17/a...

A Psychological Thriller with a Touch of Mythology: An Excerpt from Svetlana Satchkova’s The Undead

Svetlana Satchkova’s English-language debut, The Undead: A Novel of Modern Russia, was published earlier this year by Melville House Publishing to rave reviews. It’s a story of an aspir…

puncturedlines.com