7 Books by Women Writers in Translation
The Novel Reader by Vincent van Gogh
August is Women in Translation Month! To celebrate, this list consists of seven translated titles that explore women’s lives and struggles, as well as themes of inequity, survival, solidarity, trauma, and hope.
Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda, translated by Heather Cleary and Julia Sanches
Reservoir Bitches is a collection of linked stories about Mexican women who fight, skirt, cheat, cry, kill, and lie their way to survival. The women within these narratives tell their own stories with humorous, critical, and bold voices—rejecting attempts to tame them.
Event Horizon by Balsam Karam, translated by Saskia Vogel
Event Horizon follows seventeen-year-old Milde as she attempts to survive in the Outskirts and, eventually, is framed as the instigator of an uprising. When she is given the choice to be publicly executed or be launched into a black hole, she chooses the black hole—a choice that intensifies the novel’s reflections on oppression, solidarity, trauma, and loss.
The Age of Goodbyes by Li Zi Shu, translated by YZ Chin
The Age of Goodbyes sifts through distorted and silenced truths to understand personal and political histories. Encompassing both realism and surrealism, Li Zi Shu’s dazzling debut novel dives into explorations of family history, political turmoil, and the value of storytelling.
Children of the New World by Assia Djebar, translated by Marjolijn de Jager
A revolutionary novel that centers the role of women in political resistance, Children of the New World follows a robust cast of women in a rural Algerian town who empower one another to engage in the fight for independence. Encompassing a variety of perspectives, Djebar powerfully depicts the circumstances that drive oppressed communities to violence while revealing the tragic costs of war.
Behind Closed Doors by Maria Messina, translated by Elise Magistro
Behind Closed Doors is a collection of stories about Sicilian women living during the early 20th century. As working men immigrate to the United States, the women in these stories are caught between respecting lifelong traditions and the desire to move beyond them.
Tongueless by Lau Yee-Wa, translated by Jennifer Feeley
Tongueless follows two rival teachers at a secondary school in Hong Kong who are told they must switch from teaching in Cantonese to teaching in Mandarin. To avoid losing their jobs, both teachers attempt to appease this demand in different ways, but the pressure eventually becomes too much for one of the teachers to bear.
Human Sacrifices by María Fernanda Ampuero, translated by Frances Riddle
The twelve stories that make up María Fernanda Ampuero’s Human Sacrifices contemplate the nature of exploitation, abuse, inequity, and violence. Dark and dazzling, this collection exposes the corroded, rotting underbelly of capitalism and patriarchy.
