 | by Jan Gruetrans. B.L. CrookIn this essayistic autobiography, Jan Grue reflects on social structures, disability, loss, relationships, and the body: in short, on what it means to be human.Original language: Norwegian |  | by Elena Ferrantetrans. Ann GoldsteinHere, in these four crisp essays, Ferrante offers a rare look at the origins of her literary powers. She writes about her influences, her struggles, and her formation as both a reader and a writer; she describes the perils of “bad language” and suggests ways in which it has long excluded women’s truth; she proposes a choral fusion of feminine talent as she brilliantly discourses on the work of Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, Ingeborg Bachmann, and many others.Original language: Italian |
 | trans. Allison Markin PowellShiori Ito's written account of her 2015 assault by a prominent Japanese reporter, the publication of which led to a societal reckoning around recognizing sexual assault and gender-based violence, and foregrounded Japan's #MeToo movement.Original language: Japanese |  | by Silvia Ferraratrans. Todd PortnowitzIn The Greatest Invention, Silvia Ferrara takes a profound look at how—and how many times—human beings have managed to produce the miracle of written language, taking us back in time to Mesopotamia, Crete, China, Egypt, Central America, Easter Island, and beyond. Original language: Italian |
 | trans. Bela ShayevichThough it's too late to travel to the Soviet Union, which broke up in 1991, you can still visit via this moving oral history collection that provides an eye-opening look at the (pre- and post-) Soviet soul. Sharing the stories of a wide variety of people from across the vast country -- ranging from before the end of communism to the beginnings of the new Russia and the rise of Putin -- 2015 Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Aleksievich provides a thorough, fascinating look at war, freedom, family, and more, giving voice to those who've seen so much upheaval.Original language: Russian |  | by Tove Ditlevsentrans. Tiina Nunnally & Michael Favala GoldmanTove Ditlevsen is today celebrated as one of the most important and unique voices in twentieth-century Danish literature, and The Copenhagen Trilogy (1969–71) is her acknowledged masterpiece. Childhood tells the story of a misfit child’s single-minded determination to become a poet; Youth describes her early experiences of sex, work, and independence. Dependency picks up the story as the narrator embarks on the first of her four marriages and goes on to describe her horrible descent into drug addiction, enabled by her sinister, gaslighting doctor-husband. Original language: Danish |
 | by Mona Chollettrans. Sophie R. LewisA celebrated feminist writer explores three types of women who were accused of witchcraft and persecuted, seeking to unite the mythic image of the witch with modern women who seek to live life on their own terms.Original language: French |  | by Fabio Zukertrans. Ezra E. FitzA collection of essays on life and Indigenous resistance in the Amazon rainforest during an age of raging wildfires, mass migration, populist politics, and increasing deforestation.
Original language: Portuguese |