Current Issue
It is with great pleasure and humility that we present this year’s edition of Sui Generis—”Of Its Own Kind”. This edition is the most of-its-own-kind so far. With visual poems, multilingual translations, and even some Old Norse, our selection this year is impressive and unique.
Our belief is that translation is the only way to truly understand the world around us. Even in multilingual communities like New York, it is easy to get linguistic tunnel vision. This is especially true in an isolated community like Bard. Despite our best efforts, echo chambers are unavoidable. That’s why we must translate. Our goal with Sui Generis has always been to do away with censorship. What’s the point of reading a translation if it doesn’t show you anything new? Translation forces us to confront our perspectives, consider others, suspend our expectations, and give value to our beliefs.
Submission Guidelines
Submit polished translations of work that you’ve done in class or on your own from a foreign language into English. They can be short stories, poems, parts of essays, book excerpts, graphic novels, etc. Submissions should be no longer than 5 pages, unless the editors have previously approved it. We’re very open to various ideas and submissions, think outside the box! We want to represent Bard’s diversity in languages and cultures through students’ work.
Please cite the original text and attach a copy of it alongside your translation. If you think it is appropriate, attach a brief description of your work. For all Latin script languages, please submit your translation as a Word document; all non-Latin script languages, please submit your work as a pdf.
2024 Editorial Staff
A Brief History
Sui Generis first saw the light in 1997 as an initiative of the Foreign Languages, Cultures, and Literatures faculty at Bard. It has been published once every spring since that year, and has grown to accommodate the new languages that entered our curriculum, such as Arabic and Japanese. We chose the name Sui Generis—“of its own kind”—because we saw this as a unique sort of publication. Our primary goal was—and still is—to encourage students to produce original creative work in a foreign language, or to translate the work of other authors. This little magazine also offers language students new opportunities to work closely with our faculty and Foreign Language Exchange Tutors. Over the years Sui Generis has given increased visibility to Bard’s innovative language programs, and we are proud of all the dedication our student contributors and editors have shown.