Reading in Translation with Martha’s Map
This list is so that my readers, and I, can find all the translated work I have read in one place, instead of having to search for it yourself from every monthly reads. With this list I am aiming to:
Continue to platform translated books.
Map all the translated books I’ve read in one easy to reach place for my readers to use.
Use it myself to continue to read more diversely. By mapping it out I can identify where my own gaps are.
I like to think of myself as a diverse reader, but there are still so many countries I haven’t read translated works from yet. The goal is to one day have read translated works from them all. Language is power and the domination of English language works in the publishing world is absolutely hideous.
I initially considered categorising this in the languages of the world, but googled to discover there are roughly 7,000 languages in the world, and that would make a very long list. We know that language and nationality are not interchangeable; with 196 countries in the world and over 7,000 languages, this is incredibly evident.
This list will operate as follows:
It will only include books that are translated; that were originally not published in English. This list is only about highlighting translated fiction.
It will be divided into continents. This is for me (and you) to be able to see what continents we dominantly read from, and which we don’t as much. Eg when I first made this list, I can see I’ve only read two (!) translated books from Africa. And none from Oceania!
If an author is dual nationality I will put their work under both countries they identify from. For example, author Scholastique Mukasonga is a Rwandan author living in France, and her novel ‘Our Lady of the Nile’ was first published in French. Mukasonga was born in Rwanda but fled to France just before the genocide. Mukasonga identifies as French-Rwandan. Therefore, Mukasonga’s work would be listed under both Rwanda and France. Both identities are important to those who are dual nationality, so they deserve to be listed under both countries.
Map Housekeeping:
I have included all the translated books I’ve read in the past few years - so before I started this newsletter.
Russia & Turkey are listed twice. This is because they are both categorised as being part of both Europe and Asia. And who am I to decide what continents they are and aren’t a part of.
I’ve left the United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia, Canada and all the other English speaking countries here for ease so I have listed every country. There is, of course, probably no translated fiction coming out of these countries. Unless, of course, I come across indigenously translated books.
In the same vein, the Vatican City is also listed. I don’t know how much translated literature is coming out of the Vatican City except from religious texts. They’re not really on my radar to read, but never say never.
I will update this list at the beginning of every month when I post my Monthly Reads.
Whether I thought a book was a buy, borrow or bust, I will include them all here. It is your prerogative to choose what you read, and I would never omit a translated book from being on this list just because I don’t personally recommend it.
Africa
Algeria
Angola
‘Transparent City’ by Ondjaki
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
‘So Distant From My Life’ by Monique Ilboudo
Burundi
Cabo Verde
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
Comoros
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Cote d’Ivoire
Djibouti
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Eswatini
Ethiopia
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Kenya
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mauritius
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Nigeria
Rwanda
‘Our Lady of the Nile’ by Scholastique Mukasonga
‘Small Country’ by Gaël Faye
Sao Tome and Principe
Senegal
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
South Sudan
Sudan
Tanzania
Togo
Tunisia
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Asia
Afghanistan
‘My Pen is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction’ by Afghan Women
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Bhutan
Brunei
Cambodia
China
‘Cocoon’ by Zhang Yueran
Georgia
India
‘Pyre’ by Perumal Murugan (translated from Tamali)
‘Father May Be An Elephant, And Mother Only A Small Basket, But…’ by Gogu Shyamala
Indonesia
Iran
‘Disoriental’ by Négar Djavadi
Iraq
Israel
Japan
‘Kafka on the Shore’ by Haruki Murakami
‘Norwegian Wood’ by Haruki Murakami
‘Men Without Women’ by Haruki Murakami
‘The Memory Police’ by Yoko Ogawa
‘Before the Coffee Gets Cold’ by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
‘Convenience Store Woman’ by Sayaka Murata
‘Tokyo Express’ by Seicho Matsumoto
‘Battle Royale’ by Koushun Takami
‘Lonely Castle in the Mirror’ by Mizuki Tsujimura
‘The Woman in the Dunes’ by Kobo Abe
Jordan
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Lebanon
Malaysia
Maldives
Mongolia
Myanmar
Nepal
North Korea
Oman
Pakistan
Palestine
‘Minor Detail’ by Adania Shibli
‘The Books of Gaza’ by Atef Abu Saif
‘They Fell Like Stars From the Sky & Other Stories’ by Sheikha Helawy
Philippines
Qatar
Russia
‘Russian Gothic’ by Aleksandr Skorobogatov
Saudi Arabia
Singapore
South Korea
‘Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982’ by Cho Nam-Joo
‘Almond’ by Sohn Won-Pyung
‘Whale’ by Cheon Myeong-Kwan
‘Love in the Big City’ by Sang Young Park
Sri Lanka
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Turkmenistan
United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
‘Chinatown’ by THUÂN
Yemen
Europe
Albania
Andorra
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
‘Time Shelter’ by Georgi Gospodinov
Croatia
Cyprus
Czechia
Denmark
‘The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century’ by Olga Ravn
‘What I’d Rather Not Think About’ by Jente Posthuma
Estonia
Finland
‘Land of Snow and Ashes’ by Petra Rautiainen
France
‘The Mad Women’s Ball’ by Victoria Mas
‘Our Lady of the Nile’ by Scholastique Mukasonga
‘Small Country’ by Gaël Faye
‘Disoriental’ by Négar Djavadi
‘On The Line’ by Joseph Ponthus
Georgia
Germany
‘Kairos’ by Jenny Erpenbeck
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
‘The Days of Abandonment’ by Elena Ferrante
Kazakhstan
Kosovo
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Netherlands
North Macedonia
Norway
‘A Shining’ by Jon Fosse
‘Will and Testament’ by Vigdis Hjorth
Poland
‘Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead’ by Olga Tokarczuk
‘Swimming in the Dark’ by Tomasz Jedrowski
‘The Possessed’ by Witold Gombrowicz
‘Things I Didn’t Throw Out’ by Marcin Wicha
Portugal
Romania
Russia
‘Russian Gothic’ by Aleksandr Skorobogatov
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
‘When I Sing, Mountains Dance’ by Irene Sola (translated from Catalan)
Sweden
‘The Details’ by Ia Genberg
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Vatican City
North America
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Canada
Costa Rica
Cuba
‘Call Me Cassandra’ by Marcial Gala
‘Havana Year Zero’ by Karla Suarez
Dominica
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Grenada
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
‘This Is Not Miami’ by Fernanda Melchor
‘Still Born’ by Guadalupe Nettel
‘The Transmigration of Bodies’ by Yuri Herrera
‘Recital of the Dark Verses’ by Luis Felipe Fabre
Nicaragua
Panama
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago
United States of America
South America
Argentina
‘Elena Knows’ by Claudia Piñeiro
‘Dead Girls’ by Selva Almada
‘A Little Luck’ by Claudia Piñeiro
‘Cousins’ by Aurora Venturini
‘Not a River’ by Selva Almada
Bolivia
Brazil
‘Crooked Plow’ by Itamar Vieira Junior
‘The Dark Side of Skin’ by Jeferson Tenório
Chile
‘Bonsai’ by Alejandro Zambra
‘Chilean Poet’ by Alejandro Zambra
‘The Twilight Zone’ by Nona Fernadez
Colombia
‘December Breeze’ by Marvel Moreno
‘Abyss’ by Pilar Quintana
Ecuador
Guyana
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
Uruguay
Venezuela
Oceania
Australia
Fiji
Kiribati
Marshall Islands
Micronesia
Nauru
New Zealand
Palau
Papua New Guinea
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tongoa
Tuvalu
Vanuatu
If you have a recommendation of a translated book which isn’t on this list - share it with us all down below! We can all help each other read around the world.