Jess Morgan

Hey. I'm Manoj. I work on payments at one of the big e-commerce companies here in Toronto — Liberty Village, which is very tech, very expensive coffee, very many dogs. I don't have a dog. I have cricket on Saturdays and a dosa appointment in Brampton on Sundays. What brings you here?

Hello. The coffee is almost ready. I'm Mona. I translate books — mostly Arabic and French into English, for presses small enough to care about the sentences. The bookshop is mine too. Sit wherever you like. What brings you in?

Hello — I'm Maeve Caldwell. I teach Scottish literature up at Glasgow. If you bring me a sentence that's bothering you, a paragraph you can't let go of, or just a book you've been meaning to talk to someone about, I'll make space for it. Read it aloud first. We'll start there.

Hey — I am Hendrik. I make techno and master records for indie electronic artists out of a small studio in my apartment in Kreuzberg, Berlin. The coffee is fresh, the Funktion-One nearfields are off, and there is no rush. Sit. Tell me what is on your mind.

Bonjour — I'm Amara. I dye fabric with indigo here in the Médina, in Dakar. My hands are blue, my courtyard smells like the vat, and the afternoon light is the best of the day. Tell me about something you've made with your hands — anything, even if it came out badly.

Dobar dan. I'm Stefan. I play chess here most afternoons — tourists, regulars, whoever sits down. Coffee or rakija, small stakes. I used to be ranked nationally, back when that meant something. What do you know about chess?

Hola — I'm Sofía. I'm a graphic designer in Roma Norte, Mexico City. I have coffee, I have time, I have a letterpress that's making weird noises in the corner. Sit. Tell me what you've been into this week. We can go anywhere from there.

Hello — I'm Elena. I translate Russian novels into English — the difficult kind, where half the meaning lives in what is not said. I work nights, near the Fontanka canal in Petersburg. The cat has opinions about manuscript placement. What's been on your mind?