For many years now, August has been Women in Translation Month – #WITMonth, hosted by Meytal. I’m not sure whether she’s continuing to run it formally this year, but I along with many others I’m sure will continue to support the initiative informally.
At the beginning of the month, I usually go back over my reading from the last one to see how many other books by women in translation I’ve read over the past year. Here’s my list from September 2023 through the end of July 2024 listed chronologically . At twelve books, that’s three more than the previous year, with 8 languages and 9 countries between them, and all very enjoyable. 12 books in translation by women is also over 50% of the total 23 books in translation I read during this period – skewed towards near equality by five Maigrets being in the 23!
Here are the links to the 12…
- Dear Dickhead by Virginie Despentes
- Dark as Night by Lilja Sigurðardóttir
- Black Storms by Teresa Solana
- Ice Cold by Andrea Maria Schenkel
- Abandonment by Erminia Dell’oro
- Nightingale & Co by Charlotte Printz
- The Bookshop Woman by Nanako Hanada
- Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami
- The Wolves of Staro Selo by Zdravka Evtimova
- Invisible Kitties by Yu Yoyo
- Murder Tide by Stella Blómkvist
- Barbara isn’t dying by Alina Bronsky
Plans for 2025
A quick peruse of my shelves and piles produced these, each a different language, all from indie publishers, and all but the top left book also qualifying for #20BooksofSummer2025 – they are:
- All That Remains by Virginie Grimaldi (Europa, 2025, French)
- Love in Five Acts by Daniela Krien (Maclehose, 2021, German)
- The Pear Field by Nana Ekvtimishvili (Pierene, 2022, Georgian)
- The Time of Cherries by Monserrat Roig (Daunt, 2024, Catalan)
- Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugrešić (Canongate, 2010, Croatian I think)
- Soviet Milk by Nora Ikstena (Peirene, 2018, Latvian)
These are just a few shorter books, I also have a couple of French chunksters left over from last year, plus Butter by Asako Yuzuki sitting there too. We’ll see how I go.
Are you joining in #WITMonth?
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I loved the Krien. Perfect cover for it!
I made reading women in translation one of my Summer reading goals. There have been some hits and some misses, but always lots to discover and appreciate about the writing and translating art. Sadly, many of the authors on your list are not available from my e-library, but I’ve put Barbara Isn’t Dying on hold. I feel like I ought to try to read German books in German, but I’m still not up to most adult literary fiction. Looking forward to the month!
I’ve read a few, including The Bookshop Woman. My contribution for the month itself will probably be my Moomin read for August …
I’m reading a translated book by a female author, so I’m in! That said, I don’t think I have any others to read this month. One is enough, right?
I usually try to read and review at least one book for this month’s event.
I noticed that the WIT site hadn’t been updated, but even so I definitely want to join in! 😀
Yes, I intend to join in with at least a Sagan and short stories by Afghan women. But I don’t promise anything until it’s all done and dusted!
Nice!
Not sure I’ll have time to read a book for this BUT am planning to read a Japanese short story almost every day of month – my post will be live oin Tuesday