Every September is National Translation Month, a time to recognize excellent works translated from languages across the globe. September may be coming to a close, but translated books are a joy to read all year!
Translated literature gives us unique access to the ideas, lives, languages, and cultures from different parts of the world. Some of these works may be informative, some may be thrilling or emotional, and some are just plain fun, translated fiction is no one thing. The titles on this list range from historical fiction to epic fantasy to a gameshow thriller, translated from Mandarin, Spanish, Polish, and more! Check out this small sampling of what translated literature has to offer!
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Translated from Italian, My Brilliant Friend follows two best friends in a poor but vibrant neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples in the 1950’s.
As they grow up together, the lives of Elena and Lila repeatedly diverge and converge, and the girls learn to rely on each other and their friendship. Through the lives of these women, Ferrante tells the story of a country and its people transforming over time, hurting, growing, and experiencing life together in a beautiful tapestry of life and friendship in Italy.
Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang Zi
Taiwan Travelogue is a book about translation through and through. Originally written in Chinese, Taiwan Travelogue is the 2026 winner of the International Booker Prize, a notable award for translated works.
The book pretends to be its own lost text, fictionally translated from Japanese in 1938 Taiwan. The narrator is a travel writer hired by the Japanese government to write about Taiwanese culture from the perspective of an outsider and through this, Yang Shuang Zi paints a moving picture of food, culture, and colonialism.
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck
Another International Booker Prize winner, Kairos is a tragic, historical fiction love story translated from German, set against the backdrop of a crumbling East Berlin.
It’s Berlin in 1986, and Katherina is 19 years old when she begins her whirlwind romance with an older, married writer named Hans. Their love affair is passionate but difficult, an intensely kept secret. When a crack forms between them, their relationship opens up to cruelty and the exertion of power. This intimate and tragic story excavates the ruins of their relationship as it parallels the crumbling of the GDR.
On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle
Danish author Balle’s International Booker Prize-nominated series On the Calculation of Volume is a strange, seven-part, magical realism series about time, self, and legacy. Balle takes readers into Tara Selter’s lonely reality in which the date November 18th repeats endlessly.
In this mind-altering speculative fiction serial, time is its own character as Tara comes to know the repeating events of November 18th better than she does her own befuddled husband. More than that, Tara realizes how little she actually matters in a world that she can’t change and doesn’t seem to miss her.
A Sunny Place For Shady People by Mariana Enriquez
Argentinian horror author Mariana Enriquez’s short story collection A Sunny Place For Shady People highlights the everyday and otherworldly fears of women in Argentinia.
Stories include: “A neighborhood nuisanced by ghosts, a family whose faces melt away, a faded hotel haunted by a girl who dissolved in the water tank on the roof, a riverbank populated by birds that used to be women”, and more. These stories pull back the curtain on uniquely Argentinian nightmares to reveal the shadowed line between good and evil.
The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski
Adapted into a hit Netflix series starring Henry Cavill and Liam Hemsworth, Poland’s Andrzej Sapkowski has created an epic fantasy world full of magic, adventure, and violence in The Witcher series.
Including five full-length novels and three short story anthologies, The Witcher series opens with The Last Wish, a short story collection that introduces readers to the righteous exploits of Geralt the Witcher. Geralt is a mighty warrior enhanced by years of training and a magical elixir, targeting the evil creatures of the realms. Readers will quickly learn that on the Continent, not every monstrous-looking thing is evil and not everything fair is good. This Polish epic fantasy journeys readers into dark tales inspired by Slavic folklore.
Break Room by Miye Lee
Translated from Korean, Break Room is a psychological gameshow drama for fans of The Circle, Squid Game, and The Office.
Eight office villains are nominated by their coworkers and invited to a mysterious new reality show called Break Room. On this show, the villains compete to reveal the imposter in their midst. Contestants share a break room and compete to uncover the mole by the show’s finale to win the prize money, pulling office villain pranks to win points and receive hints. Break Room brings up the question of how we are viewed by the people we work with every day- and who are the real villains among us?
Dead Weight by Hildur Knutsdottir
Icelandic horror sensation Hildur Knutsdottir opens this book with a lost, black cat.
Unnur, feeling lost herself, tracks down the cat’s owner only to find a similarly lonely young woman, Asta. Asta and her cat ingratiate themselves in Unnur’s life, a not-unwelcome introduction. But just as suddenly as the cat first appeared in Unnur’s life, trouble quickly crops up around Asta, and the two women learn how closely blood can bind a friendship. This shocking, gruesome horror is a fresh take from Iceland that will keep you up at night.
