Literature from the 'Axis of Evil'

George bush called them the 'Axis of Evil' - Iran, Iraq and North Korea. And now, an anthology from Words Without Borders examines literature from Syria, Cuba, Libya and Sudan in addition to Iran, Iraq and North Korea - countries that feature in American and world headlines daily, George Bush's Mordor.

Apart from the few Iranian movies we see on the 'International Screens' what do we really know of literature? (Okay, Kite Runner and Reading Lolita in Tehran not withstanding.) Let us be honest. Despite our protestations, how much do we really know of any of these countries? We may not quite regard them as 'Axis of Evil', but what image do these countries leave in our minds? At worst, they are a brutal, repressed people, devoid of culture, barely civilised? At best they are unknown terrains. But, people are living there.

Words Without Borders is an online magazine for international literature that was created to combat this ignorance of other countries by offering insights into how people from different cultures live through their literature. Literature From the "Axis of Evil": Writing from Iran, Iraq, North Korea, and Other Enemy Nations (The New Press; September 5, 2006), includes twenty-one works of fiction and poetry from seven countries, most translated into English for the first time. Visit www.wordswithoutborders.org.