Translated from French by Chris AndrewsPublished by Serpent's Tail, 2020, 146 pages. Original version published in 2017. “This will be a library, a bookstore, a publishing house, but above all a place for friends who love the literature of the Mediterranean.” 1936, Algiers. Edmond Charlot, a Frenchman born in Algeria, opens a bookshop, Les Vraies …
Category: Books in translation
No Gods Live Here: Conceição Lima
Translated from Portuguese by Shook.Published by Phoneme Media and Deep Vellum, 2024, 255 pages. The original versions of the books from which the poems are taken were published in 2004, 2006, 2011, 2014 and 2024. “The dead ask:Why do roots sprout from our feet? ...What was this kingdom that we planted?”—From Plantation “The enigma is some …
Not a River: Selva Almada
Translated from Spanish by Annie McDermottPublished by Charco Press, 2024, 99 pages. Original version published in 2021. Three men go to an island in the Paraná Delta in Argentina to fish: two middle-aged men, El Negro and Enero, and a younger one, Tilo, son of their dead friend Eusebio. They are haunted by the death …
Les Rivières pourpres: Jean-Christophe Grangé
Published by Éditions Albin Michel, 1982, 442 pages. Published in English as The Crimson Rivers, Harvill Press, 1999, 328 pages. Translated from French by Ian Monk. A mutilated body, suspended in a crevice, has been found in the French town of Guernon, a town surrounded by mountains. Commissaire Pierre Niémans is sent from Paris to …
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The Last Day: Jaroslavas Melnikas
Translated from Lithuanian by Marija MarcinkutePublished by Noir Press, 2018, 175 pages. Original version published in 2018. The Last Day is a book of absurdist short stories by a Lithuanian writer. The protagonists, mainly men (with one exception), are victims of circumstance, caught up in strange situations that they cannot control. In the title story, …
No One Prayed Over Their Graves: Khaled Khalifa
Translated from Arabic by Leri Price.Published by Faber, 2023, 404 pages. Original version published in 2019. January 1907. A flood wipes out the village of Hosh Hanna, near Aleppo, leaving only two survivors. At the time, Hanna Gregoros—who had built this village—is away with his friend Zakariya Bayazidi. They return home to total devastation: Hanna’s …
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The Travelling Cat Chronicles: Hiro Arikawa
Translated from Japanese by Philip GabrielPublished by Doubleday, 2017, 247 pages. Original version published in 2012. Nana is a cat. He was once a stray cat with no name, sleeping on the bonnet of a silver van, made “warm and toasty” by the sun. But when Nana is hit by a car, the owner of …
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Star 111: Lutz Seiler
Translated from German by Tess LewisPublished by And Other Stories, 2023, 495 pages. Original version published in 2020. East Germany, November 1989. The Berlin Wall has fallen. Carl Bischoff, a student, is heading home, summoned by a telegram from his parents saying, “we need help please do come immediately your parents”. When Carl gets home, …
The Eighth Life (for Brilka): Nino Haratischvili
Translated from German by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin.Published by Scribe, 2019, 934 pages. Original version published in 2014. “And I’m afraid of these stories. These stories that constantly run in parallel, chaotically; that appear in the foreground, conceal themselves, interrupt one another. Because they connect and break through each other, they betray and mislead, …
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The Fury and Cries of Women: Angèle Rawiri
Translated from French by Sara HanaburghPublished by University of Virginia Press, 2014, 223 pages. Original version published in 1989. This book by Angèle Rawiri, considered the first novelist from Gabon, is about the position of women in a society that has modernized without ridding itself of traditional roles. Emilienne, a woman in a fictional African …
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