August is Women in Translation Month, and given how much we humans enjoy lists, especially ones containing multiples of five, we were very excited to create our ultimate list of who we believe to be some of the ultimate women of today’s Asian literary world (at least those that have so far been translated into English). For a long time women’s voices in...
The Summer is very much upon us and it is hotter than I ever imagined it could be in Korea at the moment. As the summer turns to Autumn, here’s our next list of the best upcoming fiction by Asian and Asian-American authors. If you know of any novels I’ve missed, feel free to contact me on Twitter @booksandbao or via email. The Court Dancer | Kyung Sook...
Welcome to our Giveaway! Time for some book love and our first giveaway. One lucky reader will win the five books below. These are some of our favourite books and we’re so happy to share them. To enter just sign up to our mailing list below. We don’t send more than one email a month so no spam (we promise). Share this post and tag us @booksandbao on any...
Written by Yoko Ogawa | Translated by Stephen Snyder As a twenty-something who has, not for a moment, put learning and discovery behind him, I have spent several years now glued quite earnestly to YouTube as a means of studying things that escaped me as a child. Much like the housekeeper of The Housekeeper and the Professor, one of those things I missed out on was...
Welcome to our new bi-monthly run down of the newest books coming out of Asia. There are some really great books out soon and we’re excited to share them with you. Full reviews of several of the novels below will be coming out shortly so sign up at the bottom for notifications and be the first to receive the July/August list. The Last Children of Tokyo Japanese...
Wu Ming-Yi is Taiwan’s most celebrated author, and at the time of writing, only two of his novels have been translated into English (The Stolen Bicycle, and The Man with the Compound Eyes). Longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize 2018 (alongside Han Kang’s illustrious The White Book), it’s certainly my hope that the acclaim this book is bound to shower him...
Translated by Grace Jung It’s troubling to think on what we’ll miss when we’re gone, and what we may never know about what has already passed. How much of history is lost to us? How many wonderful and terrible things will we never live to see? Both of these questions were in mind as I pored through the stories in this collection. A Unique Publishing House First and...
Written by Cixin Liu and translated by Ken Liu. “In science fiction, humanity is often described as a collective. In this book, a man named ‘humanity’ confronts a disaster, and everything he demonstrates in the face of existence and annihilation undoubtedly has sources in the reality that I experienced.” – Cixin Liu, author’s note, The Three Body Problem The Three...
Forgotten Reflections is a tale of survival and the ability to flourish through adversity during a devastating period of modern Korean history: The Korean War. Young-Im Lee has painted a truly staggering and diverse world that seems entirely removed from the modern day, and yet is immediately recognisable. I had the opportunity to get in touch with Young-Im Lee and...
Written by Hiro Arikawa and translated by Philip Gabriel While writers writing about writers is certainly not exclusive to Japan (Stephen King has created at least three characters that I can think of who are authors themselves, and Grant Morrison has even written himself into his own comics), it is nonetheless a noticeable trend. Japanese authors often enjoy...
