Seven Stories from Alex Epstein’s “For My Next Illusion I Will Use Wings”
Recommended by Electric Literature
Issue No. 21
Final Nightmares
In his old age, the time traveler went back to die in his parents’ bedroom.
A Quiet Legend
Every morning, the last man in the world went into a second-hand bookstore, where he sat and read. From time to time he marked a page by folding down its corner.
Read the rest of the story at electricliterature.com
About the Author
Alex Epstein was born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1971 and moved to Israel when he was eight years old. He is the author of five collections of short stories and three novels; in 2003 he was awarded Israel’s Prime Minister’s Prize for Literature. His stories have appeared in the Kenyon Review, the Iowa Review, Guernica, PEN America, World Literature Today, and elsewhere; two of his collections have appeared in English: Blue Has No South (Clockroot Books, 2010) and Lunar Savings Time (Clockroot Books, 2011). For My Next Illusion I Will Use Wings, his new collection of micro fiction, was published in Hebrew in 2012, in print and as a free digital version on Facebook.
About the Illustrator
David Polonsky was born in Kiev, USSR in 1973. After graduating from the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem, he worked as an editorial illustrator and as an art director and animator for television. He has illustrated a number of best-selling children’s books and is a two-time winner of the Israel Museum Award for Children’s Books Illustration. Polonsky created the art for Ari Folman’s acclaimed animated film Waltz with Bashir (2008), which was nominated for an Academy Award and won numerous international awards. Polonsky teaches illustration at the Bezalel Academy and the Shenkar School of Design.
About the Translator
Jessica Cohen was born in England, raised in Israel, and lives in the U.S. She translates contemporary Israeli prose, as well as commercial material from and into Hebrew. Her translations include David Grossman’s critically acclaimed To the End of The Land, and works by Etgar Keret, Rutu Modan, Yael Hedaya, and Tom Segev.
All rights reserved by the author. Illustration © 2012 by David Polonsky. Translated by Jessica Cohen.
