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Women in Translation

@readwit

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All about #WITMonth and #womenintranslation (aka women writers from around the world)! WITMonth founder and all-around rambler.
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Only two weeks to go until #WITMonth 2024! It's been TEN YEARS of #WomeninTranslation Month every August... how are YOU planning to celebrate?

Feel free to use and share this little poster if you're planning on participating!

#readwomen #books #bookstagram #readingtheworld #translatedliterature #WITMonth2024 by @readwit

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2 years ago

Have you been looking for more books to read this #WITMonth? There are two possible answers to that question! Option 1: "Obviously not, my TBR is already so long!" Option 2: "Obviously, my TBR can never be too long!"

Well. Anyways. I'm still working on it and it definitely won't be done by the end of the month, but here are some of the recently released titles (US-based) by women writers in translation from January 2025 through August 2026. There are loads and loads of really incredible books, spanning just about every genre and topic and style you can imagine. Children's literature, sci-fi, academic nonfiction, poetry, lyrical nonfiction, thrillers... all that and more, from across the globe! Check it out on the #womenintranslation Bookshop affiliate store.

Happy reading!

#readwit #books #bookstagram by @readwit

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a month ago

It's July, which means it's almost August, which means... I think it's time for me to get back to talking about #womenintranslation and #WITMonth! Things have been a little intense the past few years and I have stepped a little further back from social media, but I want to get back into blogging a bit more again this year, so... first blog post in three years is now UP on Biblibio (!). The WIT website will hopefully be updated later this month, closer to WITMonth itself. My theme for this year is to return to the concept of recognizing the value of every story and the different types of books one might encounter in our wide, wonderful world of women writers. I hope that you'll join me!

#readwomen #readWIT #translatedliterature #witmonth2026 #bookstagram #books #reading by @readwit

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3 months ago

I love when random library finds just end up being... really good? There's something so fun about going into a book with zero expectations or assumptions and just reading it, breathing in its particular scent and tone. Gaëlle Bélem's The Rarest Fruit (translated from French by Hildegarde Serle) was published just recently enough (in my less-online status...) that I wasn't aware of it beforehand; I didn't even recognize Bélem's name as a previous Booker longlistee. (I'm quite out of the literary loop these days, alas.)

But that's the beauty of the library's New Releases shelf. I really enjoyed this slim, crisp book about the slave-born Edmond Albius of Réunion, who discovered how to pollinate vanilla - and thus produce vanilla pods for culinary consumption. There is something a little sharp and blunt to the writing, a cool distance between narration and characterization that worked well for me. AND I learned a lot of new things, which is often a nice perk of historical fiction!

#books #bookstagram #french #réunion #historicalfiction #readingtheworld #womenintranslation #readwomen #readwit by @readwit

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a year ago

Anyone who knows me will not be surprised to learn that I get a tremendous kick out of finding a #WITMonth read from Nature magazine's mini book reviews. And in general, this is very much my kind of book. I'm pretty familiar with the history (and physics!) of astrophysics, but Ersilia Vaudo's The Story of Astrophysics in Five Revolutions (translated from Italian by Vanessa di Stefano) is a wholly accessible introduction even to those without a strong science background. And who can resist a book with such a clever title??

#womenintranslation #readwomen #readtheworld #reading #bookstagram #translatedliterature by @readwit

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a year ago

Is it really almost August? Is #WITMonth really just around the corner?

Hi, friends. It's been a strange, overwhelming, wonderful, difficult year and yes, it is time to start thinking about #womenintranslation and how I want to take part this year. I'm excited to see everyone else's posts this month and while I may not get the chance to read (or spearhead) as much as I'd like, I'm still starting Geetanjali Sjree's Tomb of Sand (tr. from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell) which may take me the whole month (or more) to read, who knows. I am reminded of my own advice to so many readers over the years: It's not about how much you read so much as engaging with questions and topics about women writers from around the world. Maybe I won't read and write as much as usual this year. Maybe I won't produce the "new releases" list and other resources that were so central to August in the past. Maybe I will. Either way, I know I'll be engaging with the topic, as always. I hope you all can join me!

#womenintranslationmonth #witmonth2025 #readwomen #readingtheworld #books #bookstagram #hindi #translatedliterature #reading by @readwit

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a year ago

Today's #WITMonth read is a nice reminder of how #womenintranslation is not a genre. This is an oozing, scientific, philosophical, and social examination of slime by Susanne Wedlich, translated from German by Ayça Türkoğlu. As a biochemist myself, there is a particular joy whenever I find a WITty book that combines so many of my niche interests. So far, enjoying it quite a bit!

#german #translatedliterature #readingtheworld #reading #readwit #readwomen #books #bookstagram #science #biology by @readwit

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2 years ago

My first #WITMonth read this year is Maria Firmina dos Reis' Ursula, translated from Brazilian Portuguese by Cristina Ferreira Pinto-Bailey. I love reading classic WIT exactly to find books like these, that are so different from what I've previously encountered and also feels like a distant cousin to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. I'm about halfway through and glad that this was my first pick this year, when I have a small personal goal of reading more WIT that feel like they should be part of a newly reworked canon. Ten years in, I feel like I'm still constantly learning.

#womenintranslation #womenintranslationmonth #readtheworld #readwomen #readwit #books #bookstagram #reading #portuguese #brazilian #brazil #translatedliterature #classics by @readwit

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2 years ago

I've been thinking about how to move #womenintranslation forward, about projects I've loved doing and the sense that they didn't manage to move the needle, how #WITMonth DID, etc. And I'd like to hear from you. What has this meant to you? 10 years on (!), what are your thoughts?

(Yes, this is just a text post. I'm trying to reach as many #WITMonth readers and whatever as possible, apologies for the cross-posting and text-only image!)

#readwit #readwomen #books #bookstagram #reading #feminism #translatedliterature by @readwit

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3 years ago

Moving to the other side of the world is hard and moving under present circumstances even harder for a whole lot of reasons, but my new empty bookshelves aren't going to fill themselves with #womenintranslation, now are they?

So here it is! First book purchased for my new home. The Widow Queen by Elżbieta Cherezińska, translated from Polish by Maya Zakrzewska-Pim. by @readwit

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3 years ago

Just under the wire, I finished my main #WITMonth reading project (started before August!!)! Maria Theresa: The Habsburg Empress in Her Time by historian Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger and translated from German by Robert Savage is a massive, almost epic biography of a woman who emerges shockingly real and contemporary. The book largely proceeds thematically rather than chronologically, and yet the chronology remains mostly clear and well laid out. Historical figures have a true voice and seem almost alive, for good and for bad. I learned so very much from this book (and from the parallel Wikipedia dives I did as I was reading it) and find myself itching to learn more, which I often consider to be a good sign for nonfiction books. This is certainly not the book for every reader (note: if you struggle to lift heavy books, I STRONGLY advise getting a digital edition; this hardcover is over 1050 heavy cream pages), but it hit the spot for the sort of historical excavation I'd been craving. What a wonderful way to end August, and WITMonth with it!

#womenintranslation #readwomen #readwit #german #nonfiction #history #biography #translatedliterature #witmonth2023 #bookreview #bookstagram #reading by @readwit

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3 years ago

Ready to browse through *209* new releases by #womenintranslation, published and sold in the US since last #WITMonth? Check out our full reading list on Bookshop.org! Link can be found through main website, on Twitter, or search Bookshop for the Women in Translation shop!

#womenintranslation #readwomen #readwit #books #bookstagram #reading by @readwit

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3 years ago