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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
If you thought I could write a cogent, measured #WITMonth review, you're wrong. Currently a bawling mess over the absolutely splendid I'm Waiting for You, by Kim Bo-Young and translated from Korean by Sophie Bowman and Sung Ryu. Literally crying. These stories are not leaving my brain or heart any time soon and I am so very grateful for that (AND the extra sob-inducing content at the end).
Anyways. This was SO my thing. Maybe I'll be able to write a proper review some other time. But for now... *bawling mess*
#korean #scifi #books #bookstagram #reading #translatedliterature #womenintranslation #womenintranslationmonth #witmonth2023 #novellas
1 day until #WITMonth: Almost there! And... I'm cheating today. So far, I've shared 48 books from my TBR, a staggering amount. Plus one day of a lot of books I WISH were on it. And now... yes, there are more. Many, many more.
#WITMonth may be August, but WIT itself? All year.
#womenintranslation #reading #readwomen #readwit #books #bookstagram #tbr
