More Books to Read for Women in Translation Month
Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!
August is Women in Translation Month, and I absolutely love coming up with book recommendations for it! My last recommendation post was back in 2022, and I've read some truly incredible books since then. I love reading translated books because not only do they contain an experience, culture, and life different than my own (and I am therefore able to learn about things I most likely wouldn't have learned otherwise), the translations are almost always a unique look into how we as humans interact with language. If you've read Babel by R.F. Kuang I'm sure you know the phrase "An act of translation is an act of betrayal," but I think it can also be an act of love.
This time around, I have 4 books I've read ready to recommend to you guys, alongside 4 books on my TBR that I am hoping to read soon. Something I find kind of interesting is that in my first recommendation post, most of the books were from East Asian countries, like Japan and Korea. This time, 6 out of the 8 books are from Europe. I feel like I'm sweeping west in my reading (but not to worry, I'm still reading plenty of East Asian books).
Okay, let's just get into the books!
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Read
Translated from the French by Ros Schwartz
Jacqueline Harpman was a Belgian author who fled her country with her family (including her Jewish father) in the early parts of WWII, to Casablanca in Africa. She was born in 1929 in Brussels. In her lifetime she wrote nearly 30 works, though only two have been translated into English: I Who Have Never Known Men and Orlanda. She also received five awards for her work, and has been the subject of critical acclaim. She passed away in 2012 at the age of 82. I Who Have Never Known Men was one of my favorite books of 2024. It's a speculative fiction/dystopian that is reminiscent of The Handmaid's Tale. I highly recommend book. It's relatively short but it packs quite a punch!
Translated from the Hungarian by Len Rix
Magda Szabo is the most translated Hungarian author to date. Her books have been published in 42 countries and in over 30 different languages. She was born in 1917 when Hungary was a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. She began her writing career as a poet in 1947, before publishing her first novel, Fresco, in 1958. She passed away in 2007, at the age of 90. The Door was published in 1987 and is one of her most famous novels worldwide. As the narrator is also named Magda, who is a prominent Hungarian writer, there has been speculation as to whether or not The Door is autofiction.
Translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
Olga Tokarczuk is a Polish writer and activist. Born in 1962, she is one of the most critically acclaimed Polish authors in her generation. In 2018, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, and was also the first Polish female author to be awarded such a prize. She was also awarded the Man Booker International Prize in 2018 for her novel Flights. Her books have been translated in almost 40 languages, making her one of the most translated Polish authors. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead was the first book I read by her, but it will certainly not be the last. It was first published in 2009, and the English translation was published ten years later. It was nominated for the Man Booker International Prize.
Translated from the Finnish by Douglas Robinson
Mia Kankimaki was born in 1971 in Helsinki, Finland, making her one of two contemporary writers on this list. She has written two nonfiction books, both of them a blend of travelogue, women's history, and personal memoir. The Women I Think About at Night is her sophomore work, published in 2018. The English translation was published in 2020. I read this earlier in the year and I really enjoyed it, both learning about her "Night Women" as well as getting a peek into her own life. I'm planning on reading her debut, Things that Make One's Heart Beat Faster, later on.
TBR
Translated from the Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden
Giaconda Belli is a Nicaraguan-born novelist and poet, as well as an activist. Born in 1948, she actively opposed the Somoza dictatorship in the 1970s, as well as Ortega's presidency. In 2023, she was stripped of her Nicaraguan citizenship due to this opposition, and she accepted Chilean citizenship after Chile offered nationality and asylum to all Nicaraguans who were banished by the Ortega government. She's written 17 books in her career, but only two have been translated into English so far: From Eve's Rib (published 1987/1995 translation) and Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand (published 2008/2009 translation). Infinity is a creative reimagining of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Translated from the French by Grace Frick
Marguerite Yourcenar was a Belgian-born French novelist and essayist. She was born in 1903 in Brussels, and became a US citizen in 1947. In 1965, she was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature. Over the course of her writing career, she wrote 30 works, a collection of novels, essays, and poetry. Her books were translated by Grace Frick, who was her partner in life until her death in 1979 (yes, they were lovers! We love older queer women on this blog). Marguerite passed in 1987 at the age of 74. Memoirs of Hadrian, arguably her most famous novel in English, was published in 1951 (after a writing period of ten or so years) and became an instant classic.
Translated from the Arabic by Marilyn Booth
Jokha Alharthi (also written as Al-Harthi) is an Omani writer and academic. She was born in 1978, making her the second contemporary author on this list. Three of her books have so far been translated into English. In 2019 she won the Man Book International Prize for her novel Celestial Bodies, becoming the first Arab author to win this award. She was born in 1978 and has published three short-story collections, three children's books, and four novels. Celestial Bodies is also the first book written by an Omani women to be translated into English. Bitter Orange Tree, published in Arabic as Narinjah, was published in 2016, with the English translation coming out in 2022.
Translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal
Tove Jansson was a Swedish speaking Finnish author, painter, and the creator of the beloved Moomin series. She was born in 1914 in Helsinki, Finland (at that point an autonomous duchy of the Russian Empire). Aside from her prolific Moomin world, she was also the author of six adult novels, including The Summer Book, which is her most well-known adult work. She also did many illustrations for Swedish translations of popular books, such as Lewis Carrol's Alice Adventures in Wonderland and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. All of her adult novels have been translated into English through the publisher NYRB. Tove died in 2001 at the age of 86 (fun fact: she was also queer, and had a lifelong female lover and partner in Tuulikki Pietila).
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And that's all I have for y'all today! I would love to know, what is your favorite book in translation written by a woman? Bonus points if it's not on this list because you know that I'm always looking for more books to read. Let me know in the comments, or DM me on Instagram (link in sidebar under the heading "More Media").
Until next time, friends!
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