#MyDreadfulBody, chapter XI: Belly. “It's as if syllables from the roomy words [for ‘woman’] will be dropped if no wedding ring appears on a woman's finger and her womb never carries a child. I know that I'm no longer a true woman to them” 🎯📚 #Djabbarova26 #WomenInTranslation

“We’d been clutching each other by the throat, in a death grip of fear, for too long… and an unbreakable chain of horror had held us the throat for years” 📚 #Djabbarova26 #WomenInTranslation

#MyDreadfulBody, chapter X: Throat. “I wanted to finally break the vicious circle of retribution and open our shut mouths so I could shout about my own existence and the existences of mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and girl-friends“ 📚 #Djabbarova26 #WomenInTranslation

My Dreadful Body, chapter IX: Legs. “I decided that after the operation I had to buy myself some red high-heeled shoes… It turned out that the mere ability to walk was more interesting than heels, so I bought myself some sneakers instead. 👠🚶🏻‍♀️📚 #Djabbarova26 #MyDreadfulBody #WomenInTranslation

My Dreadful Body, chapter VIII: Back. “As Mama aged, her back began aching frequently: the hours spent washing floors, windows… though she never complained since anyway, how could that pain be compared to the pain from my father's blows?” 😭📚 #Djabbarova26 #MyDreadfulBody #WomenInTranslation

Four out of ten authors are women, including My Dreadful Body 🎉 Congrats to the authors and translators 👏🏻👏🏻 #WomenInTranslation #WITMonth #Djabbarova26

My Dreadful Body, chapter VII: Tongue. “How had it happened that the only language I could express myself in found no affectionate way to address me, instead flinging insults at me like kernels of corn…?” 🗣️💔📚 #Djabbarova26 #MyDreadfulBody #WomenInTranslation

My Dreadful Body, chapter VI: Hands. “A woman’s hands were always supposed to be busy—only a man’s hands were entitled to be carefree… Any woman in our family knew her hands were not given to her for writing” 🤲 😬📚 #Djabbarova26 #MyDreadfulBody #WomenInTranslation

MY DREADFUL BODY named to 2026 National Book Award for Translated Literature longlist! Congratulations Egana Djabbarova + @lizoksbooks.bsky.social for this dazzling novel about a young woman’s vexed coming of age in a traditional Azerbaijani community in Russia.

www.nationalbook.org/books/my-dre...

My Dreadful Body, chapter V: Shoulders. “My mother’s shoulders always drooped—she tried to be pleasant and amenable to those around her so no one would have any reason to insult her” 📚 #Djabbarova26 #MyDreadfulBody #WomenInTranslation

My Dreadful Body, chapter IV: Mouth. Opens with a bang: “The mouth was not intended for speaking. None of the women around me ever said what they genuinely wanted to say and none interrupted men’s conversations” 🫦🙊📚 #Djabbarova26 #MyDreadfulBody #WomenInTranslation