From India to Romania, from South Africa to Puerto Rico, the over 30 writers collected in these pages share one fundamental characteristic: their love for English. The first ever printed anthology entirely dedicated to those who write in English as a second language (ESL) is the result of five years of the literary magazine Tint Journal and the efforts of a worldwide team of volunteers and writers. This collection offers both authors and readers the chance to meet via the medium of the English language, in a whirl of perspectives, sensibilities, and idiolects.

 

The book showcases fiction, nonfiction, and poetry previously published online on Tint Journal and a selection of so far unpublished texts from well established translingual voices. The breadth and the possibilities of the English language are unlocked by the variety of cultural, geographical, and personal experiences of these writers, each adding a crucial contribution to the present and future development of multilingual literature. Topical introductions by Marjorie Agosín and Juhea Kim add weight and context to the collection, while the themed sections that bring together the various texts - Belonging, Migration, Upheaval, (Self)Identity - guide the reader through the peculiarities of this fundamental collection of ESL writings.

 

With its origins in such a rich and diverse literary and cultural environment, Tinted Trails proudly joins the ever-growing landscape of global literature in English.

The book holds 35 texts, both poetry and prose, organized in four chapters, carefully assembled by guest editors Marjorie Agosín and Juhea Kim, consulting editors John Salimbene and Matthew Monroy, and the anthology editors Lisa Schantl, Filippo Bagnasco, Andrea Färber and Chiara Meitz. The artworks were curated and the illustrations drawn by Tint Art Editor Vanesa Erjavec.