Over the last couple of years I’ve skirted around the edges of Women in Translation Month as I read a lot of translated fiction anyway, but this year I decided that I would like to read nothing but this area for the whole of August.

(There is an error in that initial picture as The Appointment was written in English so have added a book from Pushkin Press instead)

Thankfully I didn’t have to buy any new books as I’d been letting my TBR shelves pile up almost beyond control (I discovered duplicates of a few books 😀 )

As for the reasoning behind #WITMonth it’s to raise awareness:

“Women in Translation Month is all about appreciating the great women writers who do get translated – and of course the people who bring them to us, their translators and publishers. It’s an opportunity to join in a worldwide conversation about outstanding writing from all over the globe. This month libraries and bookshops in the UK, US, Germany, France and New Zealand are highlighting translated books by women.“

Over the last year I’ve read quite a lot of translated fiction from South America produced by the brilliant Charco Press and thought that I would change it up a bit for August and have decided to read these eight books, though this is a first pass and for me eight books in a month right now would be great.

Flights by Olga Tokarczuk

Translated by Jennifer Croft and published by Fitzcarraldo Editions

‘Flights could almost be an inventory of the ways narrative can serve a writer short of, and beyond, telling a story.’ – Adam Mars-Jones, London Review of Books

Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux

Translated by Tanya Leslie and published by Fitzcarraldo Editions

‘The triumph of Ernaux’s approach… is to cherish commonplace emotions while elevating the banal expression of them… A monument to passions that defy simple explanations.’ – New York Times

Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima

Translated by Geraldine Harcourt and Published by Penguin

‘Tsushima evades any label, her fiction transcends gender to focus on the existential loneliness that is at the heart of humanity.’ – Kris Kosaka Japan Times

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo

Translated by Jamie Chang and published by Scribner

‘Written with unbearably clear-sighted perspective, Kim JiYoung, Born 1982 possesses the urgency and immediacy of the scariest horror thriller – except that this is not technically horror, but something closer to reportage. I broke out in a sweat reading this book.’ – Ling Ma, author of Severance

Disoriental by Négar Djavadi

Translated by Tina Kover and published by Europa Editions

‘In her remarkable novel, Negar Djavadi beautifully captures the “disorientation” of exile and the attempt to reconstruct a self through family stories.’ – The New York Times

Tentacle by Rita Indiana

Translated by Achy Obejas and published by And Other Stories

`Rita Indiana is fearless and brilliant and Tentacle is her finest novel, an unforgettable experience.’ – Junot Diaz

Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami

Translated by Sam Bett, David Boyd and published by Picador

‘Breasts and Eggs is stunning – its rage, wry humour and nihilism rendered with real care. It’s compelling too, and yet nearly every page gave me reason to pause, realising that some tiny stitch in the fabric of everyday life as a woman had been unceremoniously unpicked’ – Olivia Sudjic, author of Sympathy

Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica

Translated by Sarah Moses and published by Pushkin Press

‘Much, much more than a horror story, here is a no-holds-barred, red-blooded take on meat-eating, consumerism and human nature itself.’ – The Daily Mail

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I’ll be popping a review for each on the blog as and when I finish it, and am actually really looking forward to it.

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