Fifty percent of all translated books currently published worldwide are translated from English, but only six percent are translated into English (source). By publishing a new set of stories and poems by international writers into English every month, Words Without Borders looks to rectify that imbalance.

Based out of Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, Words Without Borders presents itself as "The Online Magazine for International Literature." Better yet, because it stores and categorizes works from previous issues, the site serves as free online library of stories and poems that you can't read anywhere else — at least not in English.

Below are three of my favorite stories that are published there, but go ahead and browse the site to discover the ones you like best.

"A True Calling" was originally written in Rajasthani by Vijay Dan Detha and published in 1997; "The Lanterns of Seville" was originally written in Arabic by Abd el-Salam al-Ujayli in 1951; and "Whenever I Sit at a Bar Drinking Like This ..." was originally written in Japanese by Ryu Murakemi in 1985. "A True Calling" by Vijay Dan Detha (translated from the Rajasthani by Christi A. Merrill with Kailash Kabir) "The Lanterns of Seville" by Abd el-Salam al-Ujayli (translated from the Arabic by Tania Tamari Nasir and Taline Voskeritchian) "Whenever I Sit at a Bar Drinking Like This, I Always Think What a Sacred Profession Bartending Is" by Ryu Murakami (translated from the Japanese by Ralph McCarthy) . .

Image © Doug Brown http://www.asianart.com/traders