Must-reads for this year’s Women in Translation Month [Video]

I adore reading translated literature. It’s a unique form of armchair tourism, a way to escape into a culture you might never have the chance to immerse yourself in otherwise. It’s amazing to me that all it takes is a few clicks of a mouse or a quick walk to a bookstore to get my hands on even a relatively recently written work of fiction that’s already beloved by readers thousands of miles away.

I read for pleasure, but also to learn, and I’ve learned so much about our shared humanity in reading across languages and cultures.

Women in Translation Month is celebrated every August, part of a movement started in 2013 with the intent of encouraging readers to pick up books by authors who aren’t men and aren’t native to their home country. I love this annual impetus to prioritize works by writers outside the English-speaking world. Here are …