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Welcome to mOthertongue: A Multilingual Journal of the Arts.mOthertongue is a student-run literary journal closely associated with the Comparative Literature Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Every spring, the journal publishes non-English poetry and prose as well as student art and photography.

See our About Page to learn more about us.

Current Volume: Volume 27 (2022)

A Message to the Reader:

Dear Reader:

For a group of editors that work on a journal that utilizes words from a myriad of languages, you would think we would be able to succinctly put together our thoughts and feelings about working on an amazing project like this. Alas, it took us a few edits to perfect this letter to you, our reader, and sum up how wonderful an experience it has been to put together the 2022 edition of mOthertongue. So, here we go:

In a world that feels very scary and uncertain, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. We’ve become prone to division and snap judgments out of fear and a desire to protect ourselves. Now, we, the editors, are not here to preach to you, our reader, that viewing this journal will promise you safety or fix the many issues that we find ourselves grappling with. However, we, the editors, are going to offer you, our reader, a journal that may serve as a respite from the scary, divided world we find ourselves living in.

mOthertongue showcases phenomenal artists and authors who have come together to share their work and stories with you. The poetry and prose pieces cover a variety of languages from around the world, while our art pieces range from photography to oil on canvas. These pieces and their creators have all agreed to share one home in this little journal of ours. Every author and artist has agreed that it is worth sharing a story with you, our reader. And what better respite from the world is there than getting lost in a story? Whether it is zero words or a thousand, we invite you to explore the multicultural storytelling laid out for you in this journal.

As a final, but very important note, we would like to acknowledge the many wonderful people who helped to make this edition of mOthertongue a reality. First, we would like to thank all the amazing authors and artists whose work you will shortly see. The pieces we have in this year’s edition of mOthertongue are truly exceptional, and we are in awe of all the work they have done. Next, we want to thank our faculty advisor, Corine Tachtiris. We cannot thank her enough for all the support she has given us over these last months. Last, but certainly not least, a massive thank you to the many people and organizations that lent their time and funds to help us create this journal. We know this is the second page on which we have acknowledged you for your kindness and generosity, but you can never have too many written thank you notes.

We hope you enjoy this escape into our world of multilingual and multicultural stories.

Full Issue

Editors

editor-in-chief
Lara Mookerjee
editorial board
Chini Lahoti
Nicole Huang
Nina Jones
editorial advisors
Marta Cerón León - Spanish
Marco Lobascio - Italian
Manuel Antonio Paradela Maceiras - Spanish
Christian Puma-Ninacuri - Spanish
Giovanny Salas Torres - Spanish
samuel suárez murias - Spanish
Jeremi Szaniawski - French
Yan Wu - Chinese
Nefeli Forni Zervoudaki - Spanish
Xiaobo Zhang - Chinese
faculty advisor
Corine Tachtiris
Marta Cerón León - Spanish Marco Lobascio - Italian Manuel Antonio Paradela Maceiras - Spanish Christian Puma-Ninacuri - Spanish Giovanny Salas Torres - Spanish samuel suárez murias - Spanish Jeremi Szaniawski - French Yan Wu - Chinese Nefeli Forni Zervoudaki - Spanish Xiaobo Zhang - Chinese faculty advisor Corine Tachtiris