Shortlisted for the 2021 Global Literature in Libraries Initiative Translated YA Book Prize I always thought death would look different.A bit like in the movies.Spectacular, sad, or perhaps scary.But your death was lonely,even though there were four people around you:three people watching -- and me,your murderer. - Murderer, Fright Night What if you had the … Continue reading #DutchKidLit – Fright Night by Maren Stoffels
Shortlisted for the 2020 Global Literature in Libraries Initiative Translated YA Book Prize “Don’t be fooled, Michiel, by the romance of war, heroism, sacrifice, excitement, adventure. War means injuries, grief, torture, imprisonment, hunger, hardship, injustice. There’s nothing romantic about it.”- Winter in Wartime This award-winning Dutch children’s classic is a gripping World War II adventure … Continue reading #DutchKidLit – Winter in Wartime by Jan Terlouw
It has been a joy and honor to have been the Guest Editor for #WITMonth for the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative blog. I hope you have enjoyed the 26 books I have chosen as much as I have choosing them. I started this my book project two and a half years ago not knowing … Continue reading #WITMonth-that’s a wrap!
In a Nutshell: A coming-of-age epic from Two Lines Press, a publisher of translations. It is 1984 and twins, Zlata and Srebra, live in communist Yugoslavia, their bodies are conjoined at the head. The novel spans from their impoverished childhood in Skopje to 2012 Skopje with some time spent in London. I completely escaped into … Continue reading Day 24: 🇲🇰 A Spare Life
In a Nutshell: What a gem of a book this is. It tells the story of Charlesia and Désiré, both from the island of Diego García. It is also about the plight of the Chagossian people, expelled from their archipelago to enable the United States to build one of their main military bases. The book … Continue reading Day 23: 🇲🇺 Silence of the Chagos
I read this in an evening and a half. What a treat.Robayo’s prose is cutting, sardonic, precise and witty, brilliantly translated by Charlotte Coombe. In a Nutshell: Lucía and Pablo are a married couple, originally from Colombia they now live in the USA with their twins, Rosa and Tomás. We meet the family just as … Continue reading Day 22: 🇨🇴 Holiday Heart
In a Nutshell: When adult siblings, Liv, Ellen and Häkon, along with their partners and children, gather in Rome to celebrate their father’s 70th birthday, their lives are thrown into disarray when their parents announce that they have decided to divorce. It is told predominantly from the perspectives of the two sisters, Ellen and Liv … Continue reading Day 18: 🇳🇴 A Modern Family by Helga Flatland
In a Nutshell: Translated from the Italian and published by the independent publishing house, And Other Stories, there is a subtle musicality to this wonderful book. One of my favourites in a while. When Hana’s sick uncle calls her back from the capital to his home in the mountains of Northern Albania, he tries to … Continue reading Day 17: 🇦🇱 Sworn Virgin
In a Nutshell: Half a Lifelong Romance is set in the 1930s, the only clue of when the book is set, is a reference towards the end of the book, to the Battle of Shanghai, which started in August 1937: “the battle of Shanghai began in mid-august and the fighting was intense for three months.” … Continue reading Day 15: 🇨🇳 Half a Lifelong Romance
After reading two brilliant books from Charco Press last summer: The German Room by Carla Maliandi ( tr. Frances Riddle) and Holiday Heart by Margarita García Robayo (tr. Charlotte Coombe). I decided to subscribe to their 2021 bundle. Charco Press is a small indie publisher, based in Edinburgh, that brings Latin American contemporary writers to … Continue reading Day 7: 🇨🇺 Havana Year Zero
