Europe

A Communist history of hip-hop

East Germany’s little-known musical history and the ongoing fight for recognition Breakdancing, rapping, DJing and graffiti may not be the first things that come to mind when one thinks of...

End of the line for Kyrgyzstan’s women drivers

A journalist set out to profile the women trolleybus drivers of Bishkek. What she found was a means of transport – and way of life – on the brink of...

Who’s calling cut on Finnish film?  

How dwindling grants and a war over who deserves them are threatening Finnish cinema Trouble is afoot in the Finnish Film industry. A recent investigation in Long Play by Kalle...

What’s behind Putin’s new law on “sovereign genetics”?

A Russian-language outlet investigates the sinister motivations behind – and consequences of – the Kremlin’s new law on genetic material Vladimir Putin has long had an intense – some would...

The multiverse of “UK Shelby”

How a Chinese immigrant in a Welsh town has built a following on Chinese social media platform Douyin and what his fame says about language and belonging We’re standing at...

Gaming behind the iron curtain

From the Rubik’s Cube to Ecco the Dolphin: meet the programmers from Hungary and former Comecon countries who helped shape a generation of video games By now, there’s a library’s...

The last glass eels

A slippery tale of human greed, climate change and the mysteries of the deep O n a warm morning in mid-March, a group of researchers from Ferrara University examine their catch...

Sidetracked: Exile in Hollywood

Translator reviews an established Japanese translator’s debut novel and Boris Dralyuks’s translation of Alexander Voloshin’s mock epic poem....

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