Winner of the 2015 London Book Fair's International Literary Translation Initiative Award, Asymptote is the premier site for world literature. Founded in 2010 by Lee Yew Leong, who remains at the helm of a 90-strong team spanning five continents, Asymptote is unique for being a journal of world literature put together by editors from around the world.

International authors Asymptote has championed include the Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk before she went on to win the Nobel Prize in 2018 (making it new work from 13 Nobel Prize winners we have published in our pages; one of them, J.M. Coetzee, even served as a judge for our essay contest in 2020). What's more, between 2015-2017, at the UK newspaper's invitation, Asymptote partnered with The Guardian on a groundbreaking weekly showcase of new literary translations. Reaching 5.5 million readers, this showcase remains to date the most visible and highest-profile outlet for world literature. 

In our ten years, we have expanded our offerings to include a daily blog, a fortnightly newsletter, a monthly podcast, educational guides accompanying each of our free quarterly issues, and even a Book Club—with physical books delivered to subscribers' mailboxes—for as little as USD15 a month. 

Asymptote has been featured in outlets ranging from The New York Times and BBC Culture to Tosho Shimbun. Dubravka Ugresic has called Asymptote the "global literary miracle," and Aron Aji, former President of ALTA, has cited “the Asymptote effect” as one of the key factors contributing to the ever-growing reception of world literature in English translation.

Finally, Jonathan Little has called Asymptote "a fluid web, reaching out to all sides...and above all, bringing texts and readers together, through the most improbable and marvelous of connections.” We are always looking for new team members as well as sustaining members to join our mission to advocate for a more inclusive world literature. Come on board!


Asymptote Journal

Org chart

Teams

Offices