In a city in the east of Iran, a girl borrowed her first book from her uncle.
She read it late into the night, the words carrying her far beyond the streets she knew.
One book led to another. Each story became a door, each page a passage.
Through them she travelled to places unbound by walls, ungoverned by rules, and she found a freedom the world around her rarely allowed.
That early journey shaped a lifelong path.
She went on to study English literature, and from her student years began translating poems and short stories between Farsi and English. Translation became her companion, a way of carrying voices across borders and sharing glimpses of other worlds.
Later, as a journalist, she continued to write, translate, and explore. Moving to the UK brought a new perspective: it was time to open doors onto places less often seen, to bring overlooked voices into dialogue with the wider world.
From this, In Other Worlds was born.
This magazine rests on a simple belief: that literature in translation opens doors to places we might never otherwise enter. It is dedicated to the passage between languages, to the translators who make it possible, and to the readers who seek new worlds in words.
Here you will find news, reflections, and celebrations of the art of translation: a meeting place for the voices and practices that allow stories to travel.
The magazine’s door icon comes from another passion: photography. For years, old doors in Iran and Europe have been part of a personal collection. The symbol felt inevitable. A door is a threshold, a promise, an invitation. It was the perfect image for what this space hopes to be.
In Other Worlds stands at that threshold. It is a place where translation is not background but centre, a vital act of literature, and a point of origin where one language becomes another, inviting every reader to step inside.