We’re back for this year’s Women in Translation Month with some fabulous rapid-fire picks of women writers in translation! Our favorite authors and translators share the books currently on their nightstand; the books to read on commute and a nice day out; the books they wish they had translated themselves; the books to add to your TBR list; and lots more, from the Dominican Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Denmark, South Korea, and beyond.
See the full list here on Bookshop.
Andrea Chapela, author of The Visible Unseen, forthcoming October 11
Currently on my nightstand:
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, translated from the Korean by Anton Hur. I love the range in this book. It had me hooked from the first moments in the first story and then I have discovered new worlds that are unsettling and imaginative. My favorite story has been “Goodbye, My Love.”
A book you would grab on a nice day out:
Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima, translated from the Japanese by Geraldine Harcourt. First, the title is awesome. Second, the prose is smooth, elegant, and full of images that just make me want to sit still under the sun.
A children’s book:
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende, translated from the German by Ralph Manheim and illustrated by Roswitha Quadflieg. This book blew me away as a child and it still does as an adult and author. I just wish I could write something that merits two different inks and that has this level of imagination.
A book from an Asian country:
Human Acts by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith. I read this at the beginning of 2020, and it is quite different from her other book The Vegetarian. It is bigger, more ambitious, and for me talks about the consequences of great acts of violence in our communities and countries and how they are passed on.
A book from a Latin American country:
The Twilight Zone by Nona Fernández, the author of Space Invaders. It is a genre defining novel about the crimes of the Chilean dictatorship. It starts with a secret agent, who used to torture people, walking into a newspaper to tell his story and from there it expands. Nona somehow manages to write about this topic with a humanity that I didn’t know possible.
Who are the writers you most admire?
Right now, the writers that are close to me and that I feel drawn to are Han Kang, Yoko Tawada, Mariana Enríquez, María Fernanda Ampuero, Kate Zambreno, Nona Fernández, and Ursula K. Le Guin. It would be a very strange dinner party for sure.
Kelsi Vanada, translator of Andrea Chapela’s The Visible Unseen, forthcoming October 11
Last great book you read:
The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen, translated from the Danish by Tiina Nunnally and Michael Favala Goldman. I heard Rachel Kushner describe encountering the narrator’s voice as meeting her “pure mind to pure mind,” and that’s how it feels. I’m also so intrigued by the story of two translators bringing Ditlevsen’s work into English, years apart from one another.
A book everybody should read:
Beowulf: A New Translation, translated by Maria Dahvana Headley. This new translation is just so badass, and a wonderful reminder that “language is a living thing.” (Headley, Introduction)
A book to read on your commute:
Rabbit Island by Elvira Navarro, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney. These short stories drew me completely into their surreal world. MacSweeney translates Navarro’s subtle humor expertly.
A book you’ve read in one sitting:
Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin, translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins. I couldn’t put it down—the setting, as well as the characters and their choices, linger in my mind.
A book from an Asian country:
The World's Lightest Motorcycle by Yi Won, translated from the Korean by E. J. Koh and Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello. I love the translator team and I’ve been eagerly awaiting for this poetry collection!
An author or translator you would invite out to dinner:
Karen Emmerich. She’s one of my translator heroes; her book Literary Translation and the Making of Originals gave me new confidence and freedom as a translator.
Sarah Booker, translator of Gabriela Ponce’s Blood Red, forthcoming October 4
A book you would grab on a nice day out:
Duanwad Pimwana’s Bright, translated from the Thai by Mui Poopoksakul. This is a book made up of vignettes, chronicling the life of a young boy, more or less abandoned by his family, but adopted by his small community. What could have easily descended into trauma porn was actually really endearing and sweet.
A book by a queer author:
Rita Indiana’s Tentacle, translated from the Spanish by Achy Obejas is fascinating for its intensive play with time, gender, myth, and history.
A book from an African country:
La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono, translated from the Spanish by Lawrence Schimel. The treatment of LGBTQ individuals in the Fang community as depicted in this novel is heartbreakingly cruel, but I really loved how Melibea Obono showed the spaces where sexually minoritized people are able to build community.
A book from a Latin American country:
Oh gosh, not sure I can pick just one! Possibly Mariana Enríquez’s Our Share of Night, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell. I read the Spanish version at the beginning of the pandemic and got really emotionally invested in all the characters and their complicated pursuits.
A book on your TBR list:
I just pre-ordered It’s the End of the World, My Love by Alla Gorbunova, translated from the Russian by Elina Alter. I’ve heard Elina share some of her translations of Gorbunova’s work before and have been totally blown away by the strange imagery she creates and her vision of St. Petersburg. I can’t wait to read this novel!
Alyson Waters, translator of Praline Gay-Para’s Noor and Bobby, forthcoming October 25
A book on my nightstand:
Magda Szabo’s The Door, translated from the Hungarian by Len Rix. To tell the truth, this book has probably on my nightstand since NYRB published it in 2015 or so! I don’t know why it’s taking me so long to get to it, probably because I know I won’t be able to put it down and I always have other things to do or to read.
A book not to be missed:
Tove Jansson’s The True Deceiver, translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal. For people who only know Jansson’s work from The Moomins, it’s time to look at her darker, adult fiction. I think I fell in love with this book partly because the translation is so beautiful.
A recent discovery:
Joy Sorman’s Life Sciences, translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud. This book and its translation overwhelmed me completely. Sorman manages to get at the heart of what it is to be in pain, both physical and emotional, and explores how difficult it is to convey that pain in words. But she does it, and Lara Vergnaud’s translation manages to do the same thing in another language. A truly remarkable feat.
A book that can be read in one sitting:
Nastassja Martin’s In the Eye of the Wild, translated from the French by Sophie R. Lewis. A short but terrifying nonfiction read about an anthropologist’s violent encounter with a bear in Siberia. It is definitely terrifying, but the author’s view of the nonhuman world is extraordinary, and Sophie R. Lewis’s translation is remarkable. Not for the faint of heart but otherwise not to be missed.
A.A. Prime, translator of Linda Bondestam’s My Life at the Bottom: The Story of a Lonesome Axolotl
Which books had the greatest impact on you?
Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter by Astrid Lindgren, translated from the Swedish by Patricia Crampton, Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson, translated from the Swedish by Elizabeth Portch, and The Mystery of Raspberry Hill by Eva Frantz, translated from the Swedish by A.A. Prime. As a translator of Swedish and Finland-Swedish children's literature, this is my main area of expertise and interest!