Current Issue
Our 2023 publication presents work from 16 total languages, inviting the reader on a pilgrimage through myriad contexts and landscapes, reasserting the importance of an awareness of the unfamiliar. That which is unknown – places, peoples – is, we hope, made less unknown, witnessed with dignity, through an act as difficult and complex as translation, as the barriers and challenges of language are not negated but reconciled with.
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.
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.