In category: Review

Edited by Kavita Bhanot and Jeremy Tiang (Tilted Axis Press, 2022) I have long been looking forward to the publication of Violent Phenomena, a collection of essays exploring the possibilities of a “decolonised” translation. It was probably my most anticipated book of the year, from one of my favourite publishing houses, and still it managed […]

Translated from Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd (Picador Books, 2022) It’s always a happy event for me when there’s a new Mieko Kawakami novel to read. This is the third of her books that Picador have released in the past three years: Breasts and Eggs was published in Bett and Boyd’s translation in 2020, […]

This week I have a new review for you, which I was invited to write for the fabulous Reading in Translation site! The review is of Ivana Sajko’s Love Novel, translated from Croatian by Mima Simić and published by V&Q Books. Love Novel focuses on an unnamed man and woman in a relationship that has grown toxic, who […]

Translated from Arabic (Morocco) by Alice Guthrie (Saqi Books, 2022) Something Strange, Like Hunger is the posthumously published work of Moroccan feminist Malika Moustadraf. A collection of fourteen short stories, it explores themes of femininity, sexuality, taboos and sociocultural restrictions, and represents an important project of “literary recovery” as detailed by Guthrie in her translator’s […]

Translated from Korean by Jamie Chang Concerning my Daughter is a Korean novel that explores and challenges the difficulties of being lesbian in an adamantly (and at times violently) heteronormative society. The two primary characters are a mother and daughter who are opposed in almost every way: when the daughter, Green, asks to move back […]

Translated from Telugu by Diia Rajan, Sashi Kumar, A. Suneetha, N. Manohar Reddy, R. Srivatsan, Gita Ramaswamy, Uma Bhrugubanda, P. Pavana, and Dugginala Vasanta (Tilted Axis Press, 2022) It’s no secret around these parts that I’m a Tilted Axis Press superfan. From their mission to dismantle structures of hierarchy and exclusion in the publishing industry […]

Translated from German by Sue Vickerman It’s over. Don’t go there. is the second title by Kathrin Schmidt published by Naked Eye, and the second in their new translated literature series. You can read my review of Schmidt’s novel You’re Not Dying (translated by Christina Les) here, but today I want to talk to you […]

Translated from Maltese by Kat Storace (Praspar Press, 2021) For my first review of 2022, I had the pleasure of reading the first two releases from new publishing house Praspar Press. Founded in 2020 by Jen Calleja and Kat Storace, Praspar Press aims to bring exciting contemporary literature from Malta – written in English or […]

Translated from Spanish (Argentina) by Annie McDermott (Charco Press, 2021) Brickmakers is the second in Selva Almada’s “trilogy of men”, and was recently released by Charco Press. The first in the trilogy was the magnificent The Wind That Lays Waste (translated by Chris Andrews and published by Charco in 2019 – review here if you […]

Translated from French by Tina Kover (Europa Editions, 2021) No Touching is a story of everyday drudgery and unexpected empowerment, dealing with questions of female agency, desire in all its forms, and the extent to which self-worth comes from the way we see our image reflected in the eyes of others. It is narrated by […]