Recent novellas from a range of international authors offer compelling explorations of contemporary issues, blending personal narratives with broader social and political themes.

Ben Lerner’s "Transcription" centers on the pervasive role of technology and memory in modern life. The novella follows an unnamed magazine writer who travels to Rhode Island to interview Thomas, a philosopher and filmmaker who influenced him greatly. After accidentally destroying his phone—and with it, the only way to record the interview—the narrator must reconstruct Thomas’s final thoughts from memory, a task fraught with uncertainty and ethical complexity. The narrative also includes Thomas’s son Max, who grapples with family tensions and the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, questioning whether his attempts at forgiveness reach their intended recipient. Lerner’s work uses this tripartite structure to examine the fragility of memory and communication in a digitally dependent era.

Vincent Delecroix’s "Small Boat" offers a fictionalized retelling of a tragic 2021 incident in the English Channel, where an inflatable dinghy carrying migrants capsized near Calais, resulting in 27 deaths. The story is told in three perspectives, beginning with a French naval officer—a single mother—who handles distress calls from the vessel. Despite promises of rescue, help ultimately does not arrive. The perspective then shifts to the migrants before returning to the officer, who faces a police inquiry into her role. The interrogation blurs the lines between legality and morality, as the officer insists on emotional detachment while the investigator challenges the ethics of her decisions. Delecroix’s narrative probes the tension between individual responsibility and state policy within Europe’s ongoing migration crisis.

Ivana Sajko’s "Every Time We Say Goodbye" follows an unnamed male narrator, a journalist and activist from the Balkans, traveling by train to Berlin in hopes of starting anew. The journey triggers reflections on his troubled past, including the impact of the Balkan war, as well as his present despair and personal losses. Sajko’s prose, presented as long, flowing sentences, mirrors the narrator’s stream of consciousness and the momentum of the train trip. His bleak view of Europe as a failed project highlights disillusionment with ideals of freedom and equality amid rising individualism and societal fragmentation.

Maria Stepanova’s "The Disappearing Act" chronicles the experiences of M, a novelist from Russia who has left her homeland following its invasion of a neighboring country. The story, intentionally withholding specific names and details, evokes a strong sense of dislocation and identity loss. M’s canceled train journey strands her in a coastal town, where she finds unexpected refuge with a local circus troupe. Abandoning her phone and books, she assumes a new identity and role as a performer. Stepanova utilizes surreal and dreamlike elements to explore themes of exile, reinvention, and the search for belonging amid political turmoil.

Together, these novellas demonstrate the form’s capacity to address urgent contemporary concerns—from technological alienation and migration to war and displacement—through tightly constructed, intimate narratives.