International fiction
The 2023 Booker Prize shortlist
The 2023 Booker Prize shortlist has been announced!
This year's shortlist features one British, one Canadian, two Irish and two American authors. Two of the shortlisted works are debuts. Although full of hope, humour and humanity, the books address many of 2023’s most pressing concerns: climate change, immigration, financial hardship, the persecution of minorities, political extremism and the erosion of personal freedoms. They feature characters in search of peace and belonging or lamenting lost loves. There are books that are…
Q&A with Lauren Groff
Enjoy this special Q&A with Lauren Groff to celebrate the publication of her latest novel, The Vaster Wilds.
You have described The Vaster Wilds as a retelling of Robinson Crusoe – can you tell us about your relationship with that book? And how and why you decided to write this book in that vein?
Oh, I absolutely adore Robinson Crusoe, not only because it's an adventure story, but also because it's a dazzling view into the mindset of…
Thoughts on translated fiction from a member of our Teen Advisory Board
by Scarlett, Teen Advisory Board memberScarlett from our Teen Advisory Board discusses (and recommends!) fiction in translation.
One of my favourite genres is translated literature! It provides fresh perspectives, from all around the world, on issues individuals and society are facing. This gives readers like me a more holistic view of the world they live in and expands our perspective of humanity.
As a child, I grew up learning from my Mum the struggles she had to endure from escaping an unsafe home country, but…
Q&A with Sebastian Faulks
Enjoy this special Q&A to mark the release of Sebastian Faulks' latest novel, The Seventh Son.
How different would Seth’s life be if he was raised knowing he was the product of an experiment?
I suppose it would have posed very interesting questions of self-awareness. He’d have been asking himself how he was different from everyone else he met. He would have become very analytical, though whether he is temperamentally or genetically well suited for such self-examination is hard…
Debut fiction to read this month
Before we dive headfirst into September new releases, we're taking the time to spotlight some of the wonderful August debut novels that you may have missed!
Firelight: Stories by John Morrissey
An imprisoned man with strange visions writes letters to his sister. A controversial business tycoon leaves his daughter a mysterious inheritance. A child is haunted by a green man with a message about the origins of their planet.
In this striking collection of stories, the award-winning John Morrissey investigates…
A spotlight on translated fiction this month
This month we're reading fiction translated from German, Swedish, Japanese, Korean and Spanish!
Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck (translated from German by Michael Hofmann)
Berlin. 11 July 1986. They meet by chance on a bus. She is a young student, he is older and married. Theirs is an intense and sudden attraction, fuelled by a shared passion for music and art, and heightened by the secrecy they must maintain. But when she strays for a single night he cannot forgive her…
The 2023 Booker Prize longlist
The longlist for the 2023 Booker Prize has been announced! The Booker Prize has brought recognition, reward and readership to outstanding fiction for over 50 years. It is awarded annually to the best novel of the year written in English and published in the UK or Ireland.
Below are the 13 longlisted titles:
A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry
Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein
If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery
…
A spotlight on translated fiction this month
This month we're reading novels translated from Spanish, Danish and Japanese.
Cousins by Aurora Venturini (translated from Spanish by Kit Maude)
At the age of 85, Aurora Venturini stunned Argentine readers when her darkly funny and formally daring novel, Cousins, won Pagina/12’s New Novel Award. She had already written more than thirty books – but it was only then, in 2007, that she was widely recognized as a radical voice in Spanish-language literature.
Widely regarded as Venturini’s masterpiece, Cousins…
These books have something in common
It's satisying to find the common threads that tie books together, especially if they're not immediately apparent from the titles. This list of books has one thing in common – can you figure it out?
You'll find the answer at the bottom of the list.
Honeybees and Distant Thunder by Riku Onda, Philip Gabriel (trans.)
In a small coastal town just a stone’s throw from Tokyo, a prestigious piano competiton is underway. Over the course of two feverish weeks, three…
Debut fiction to read this July
Talking at Night by Claire Daverley
Will and Rosie meet as teenagers.
They're opposites in every way. She overthinks everything; he is her twin brother's wild and unpredictable friend. But over secret walks home and late-night phone calls, they become closer – destined to be one another's great love story. Until, one day, tragedy strikes, and their future together is shattered. But as the years roll on, Will and Rosie can't help but find their way back to each…
Browse our blog by category
