• The Best South Asian Novels in Translation - Phoolsunghi by Pandey Kapil, translated by Gautam Choubey
  • The Best South Asian Novels in Translation - The Bronze Sword of Tengphakhri Tehsildar by Indira Goswami, translated by Aruni Kashyap
  • The Best South Asian Novels in Translation - The Upheaval by Pundalik Naik, translated by Vidya Pai
  • The Best South Asian Novels in Translation - Battles of Our Own by Jagadish Mohanty, translated by Himansu S. Mohapatra and Paul St-Pierre
  • The Best South Asian Novels in Translation - Sarasvatichandra by Govardhanram Madhavram Tripathi, translated by Tridip Suhrud

The Best South Asian Novels in Translation, recommended by Jenny Bhatt

The writer and translator Jenny Bhatt selects five key works of South Asian literature, all historical novels available in English translation, that showcase the richness and diversity of the region’s lesser known languages: from a modernist classic decrying the depradations of the coal mining industry to a ‘loose, baggy monster’ of a Victorian novel exploring utopian ideals.

  • The Best of World Literature: The 2022 International Booker Prize Shortlist - Tomb of Sand by Geetanjali Shree, translated by Daisy Rockwell
  • The Best of World Literature: The 2022 International Booker Prize Shortlist - Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur
  • The Best of World Literature: The 2022 International Booker Prize Shortlist - A New Name: Septology VI-VII by Jon Fosse, translated by Damion Searls
  • The Best of World Literature: The 2022 International Booker Prize Shortlist - Heaven by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd
  • The Best of World Literature: The 2022 International Booker Prize Shortlist - The Books of Jacob: A Novel by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft
  • The Best of World Literature: The 2022 International Booker Prize Shortlist - Elena Knows by Claudia Piñeiro, translated by Frances Riddle

The Best of World Literature: The 2022 International Booker Prize Shortlist, recommended by Frank Wynne

The International Booker Prize celebrates the best fiction in translation published over the previous year. Frank Wynne, acclaimed translator and chair of the 2022 judging panel, tells Five Books about the six novels that made the shortlist, and reminds readers that world literature need not be tough, consumed only in the interests of self-improvement—but is often joyful, surprising and full of feeling.

  • Five of the Best Works of Belarusian Literature - Voices From Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich
  • Five of the Best Works of Belarusian Literature - Alindarka's Children by Alhierd Bacharevič, translated by Jim Dingley and Petra Reid
  • Five of the Best Works of Belarusian Literature - Music for the Dead and Resurrected by Valzhyna Mort
  • Five of the Best Works of Belarusian Literature - King Stakh's Wild Hunt by Uładzimir Karatkievič
  • Five of the Best Works of Belarusian Literature - The Colours of the Parallel World by Mikola Dziadok

Five of the Best Works of Belarusian Literature, recommended by Hanna Komar

Writers have been subject to persecution and repression in Belarus, and increasingly so in the aftermath of the protests that swept the nation in 2020 and 2021. Owning or distributing books deemed ‘extremist’ by the Lukashenko government can be enough to land you in jail. Here, the poet and activist Hanna Komar selects five of the best works of Belarusian literature that offer a glimpse of the culture and mindset of this post-Soviet nation, and the bravery of those who continue to fight for political freedom.

  • The Best of World Literature: The 2021 International Booker Prize Shortlist - At Night All Blood Is Black by David Diop, translated by Anna Moschovakis
  • The Best of World Literature: The 2021 International Booker Prize Shortlist - The Dangers of Smoking in Bed: Stories by Mariana Enríquez, translated by Megan McDowell
  • The Best of World Literature: The 2021 International Booker Prize Shortlist - When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut, translated by Adrian Nathan West
  • The Best of World Literature: The 2021 International Booker Prize Shortlist - The Employees: A workplace novel of the 22nd century by Olga Ravn, translated by Martin Aitken
  • The Best of World Literature: The 2021 International Booker Prize Shortlist - In Memory of Memory by Maria Stepanova, by Sasha Dugdale
  • The Best of World Literature: The 2021 International Booker Prize Shortlist - The War of the Poor by Éric Vuillard, translated by Mark Polizzotti

The Best of World Literature: The 2021 International Booker Prize Shortlist, recommended by Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Every year the International Booker Prize judges read dozens of novels from around the world, which are newly translated into English. Here Lucy Hughes-Hallett—award-winning author and chair of this year’s judging panel—talks us through the six books that made their 2021 shortlist of the best world literature.