Women in Translation
How often do you think about where your favorite books come from? What experiences propel authors to write, and what barriers keep them from telling their stories? As August is Women in Translation month, it’s a great time to expand your shelves with works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry written in other languages. Here are some recent works to spark your interest.
Africa
Blood Feast, Malika Moustadraf
Moustadraf was one of the most preeminent voices in feminist literature in Morrocco. This is the complete collection of Moustadraf’s short fiction and it’s a showcase of a number of interconnented political issues including desirability, class and gender.
Twilight of Torment, Leonora Miano
A collection of voices all muse on the same man–a mother, a lover, a friend and a sister. Together they create an image of their community that’s complex and challenging. The characters really come to life here, and if you like multi-perspective fiction, this one belongs on your list.
Europe
Dogs of Summer, Andrea Abreu
In the tradition of Elena Ferrante, Dogs of Summer explores a transformative relationship between childhood best friends. The girls are curious, morbid and sly, and they mutually encourage bad behavior.
Paradais, Fernanda Melchor
In a gated community within Mexico City, Polo, a teenage laborer meets Franco, an incel and the two forge a disturbing relationship. Together they commit incredible acts of violence, and their descent into this violence and misanthropy was very intense.
We Had To Remove This Post, Hanna Bervoets
If you love a media tailspin, read this. A group of people working for a popular social media platform spend their days monitoring user content.
Books of Jacob, Olga Tokarczuk
In this novel, a number of different narrators tell a rather simple story. A Jewish man of mysterious origins arrives in a Polish village. In the decade after his sudden appearance he traverses the country, gathering followers and gaining enemies. This book is massive, and it shocked me to discover that the man at the center of it, Jacob Frank was a real historical figure. It’s extraordinary.
Divine Child, Tatjana Gromaca
The mental health of a woman known only as Mother crumbles as 1990’s Yugoslavia devolves into violence and economic strain. Pressure builds and threatens to crush her entire family. Her eldest daughter is the Divine Child and narrator of this story. If complicated maternal figures are your thing, this book depicts Mother with striking empathy.
Latin America
It Must Be a Misunderstanding, Coral Bracho
Another mother! Coral Bracho’s poetry collection, translated from the Spanish is a meditation on the writer’s relationship with her mother who died from Alzeimer’s complications.
Linea Nigra, Jazmina Barrera
Linea Nigra, for those who don’t know, describes the dark scarring that occurs around the navel during pregnancy. Jazmina Barrera’s memoir delves candidly into her experience with motherhood as it relates to her body as well as her spirit. It’s thoughtful and stark.
Byobu, Ida Vitale
One of Uruguay’s leading poets, Ida Vitale has crafted an abstract and meandering novel around Byobu. Abstract is the key word here, if you want to get lost in dizzying poetic prose and plotlessness, pick this one up.
Seven Empty Houses, Samantha Schweblin
Seven Empty Houses is Samanta Schweblin offers seven haunting short stories about empty places. Fever Dream by Schweblin was shortlisted for the Man Booker International prize in 2017 and this collection promises the same eerie distinctive voice.
Asia
Life Ceremony, Sayaka Murata
From the author of Convenience Store Woman, this is a collection of twelve short stories told with strange and unlikely touches of humor. The characters in these stories are ordinary and their lives feel realistic, even as their circumstances and behaviors surprise you.
Pina, Titaua Peu
A voice from Tahiti. Pina is the young girl at the center of her family’s story. The book explores the impact of colonialism in Tahiti and the traumatic reverberations. The story looks hopefully toward the islands future, though, so it’s not all doom and gloom.
The Waiting, Keum Suk Gendry-Kim
Keum Suk Gendry-Kim’s mother lost loved ones when Korea was divided by the 38th parallel. Her mother’s story inspired her to write this graphic novel. A woman separated from her husband and son spends her life waiting to be reunited with them. Her daughter, a novelist sets out to get answers for her elderly mother. This hits all of the high notes of historical fiction. It’s intense.
Lemon, Kwon Yeo-Sun
This one is the most thrilling of the bunch. Lemon surrounds the death of an 18 year old girl in Seoul. There are two suspects, a wealthy and popular classmate and an awkward delivery boy. It sounds like a pretty straightforward literary thriller, but the author throws the reading for a loop. It’s 200 pages of dynamite.
Solo Dance, Li Kotomi
Cho Norie hides a big secret from those around her. A Taiwanese woman living and working in Tokyo, she conceals her queer identity and violence of her past from her friends and colleagues. It offers a rare look at queer coming of age in Tokyo. Of course there’s heartbreak and shocking bigotry throughout, but it’s feels an important read.
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