News & Media
Discover the World: Books in Translation
Whether it be fiction or nonfiction, Astra House is dedicated to publishing authors across genres and from around the world. We don’t stray away from a book because it’s not written in an editor’s native tongue. After all, how can we hope to expand our minds and perspective without exposure to experiences different from our own? Reading literature in translation allows us to encounter and learn from stories from anywhere in the world without having to leave the comfort of our favorite reading spot.
Below, check out a few works in translation found at Astra House—you might just learn something new.
Stalking the Atomic City: Life Among the Decadent and the Depraved of Chornobyl by Markiyan Kamysh, translated by Reilly Costigan-Humes and Hanna Leliv – If you loved the HBO series Chernobyl and are hungry for more material on the subject, Stalking the Atomic City is a haunting account of the dystopian reality that is Chornobyl today and the people who call the exclusion zone their home. Releasing April 5, 2022.
Golden Age by Wang Xiaobo, translated by Yan Yan – A fiction novel that embraces picaresque humor and the absurd, Wang Xiaobo’s cerebral and sarcastic narrative is a reflection on the failures of individuals and the enormous political, social, and personal changes in 20th century China. Releasing July, 2022.
Trinity, Trinity, Trinity by Erika Kobayashi, translated by Brian Bergstrom – A literary thriller about the effects of nuclear power on the mind, body, and recorded history of three generations of Japanese women, Trinity, Trinity, Trinity is a work of speculative fiction reckoning with the ramifications of the past and the continued effects of nuclear power.
Identitti by Mithu Sanyal, translated by Alta L. Price – The Sellout meets Interior Chinatown in this satirical debut about a German Indian student whose world is upended when she discovers that her beloved professor who passed for Indian is, in fact, white.
Moonlight Rests on My Left Palm by Yu Xiuhua, translated by Fiona Sze-Lorrain – Starting with the viral poem “Crossing Half of China to Fuck You,” Yu Xiuhua’s raw collection in Fiona Sze-Lorrain’s translation chronicles her life as a disabled, divorced, single mother in rural China.
I’ll Be Strong for You by Nasim Marashi, translated by Poupeh Missaghi – This award-winning debut novel by Iranian journalist Nasim Marashi follows the lives of three young women in Tehran over the course of two seasons as they pursue their wildly different dreams even as they discover that it may mean breaking with the past and endangering their longstanding friendship.
Winter Pasture: One Woman’s Journey with China’s Kazakh Herders by Li Juan, translated by Yan Yan and Jack Hargreaves – Named one of The Washington Post‘s “Best Travel Books of 2021,” Winter Pasture is a travel memoir following bestselling Chinese author Li Juan after she decides to join a family of Kazakh herders. The book creates an intimate bond with the rugged people, the remote places and the nomadic lifestyle.
Jerusalem Beach by Iddo Gefen, translated by Daniella Zamir – For fans of Etgar Keret, this debut short story collection fuses the humor of everyday life in Israel with technology’s challenges and the latest discoveries about the human brain.
