Current Issue (for Institutions)

Volume 100 No. 4 May 2026

With cover art by Reda Khalil Amin, “Reading in Egypt” headlines the May 2026 issue of World Literature Today. In their tripartite essay, Sherine Elbanhawy, Gretchen McCullough, and Lana Abdel Rahman describe the Egyptian reading scene as “a living practice—shaped by history and rupture, by language and loss, by the places where books are found and the communities that keep them in circulation.” Additional highlights include Marlene Olin’s “Alligator Alcatraz”; an eyewitness “Diary of a Massacre” about the January 2026 Iranian protest movement; and a World Cup essay by Carlos Labbé. More than thirty reviews provide a wealth of new and noteworthy books for avid readers, alongside a rich assortment of additional poetry, creative nonfiction, interviews, and fiction, plus a Brazzaville postcard and a booklist from the Philippines.