September is National Translation Month, an annual celebration of translated literature. Now in its ninth year, this annual celebration encourages readers to learn more about and read global literature in translation from authors, both past, and present. This month, we’re celebrating by offering 20% off on all of our translated titles when you buy from our online store (current releases only. Not applicable to pre-orders). Keep reading to learn more about these books, authors and translators! Plus, learn about one of our forthcoming translated books for YA readers.
Out now
The Farm by Max Annas, translated by Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds
“On a remote farm, in what reads like a South African crime novel version of Night of the Living Dead, a diverse group of strangers with little in common are under siege by violent attackers. Those inside must work together not only to survive, but to understand why they’re being targeted in the first place.” — CrimeReads “Five International Novels You Should Read This September”
Eight Hours, minute by minute.
Somewhere in South Africa, a farm comes under heavy attack. No shooters in sight. Only one thing is certain: The attackers are savagely resolute. A diverse group of people barricade themselves inside the farmhouse. Who is the target of the attack? What has motivated it? Politics? Revenge? Greed? Drugs? Weapons? Who will die, who will survive? Who is pulling the strings? Who will be the winners, who will be the losers? And how long can eight hours actually be?
The Wall by Max Annas, translated by Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds
“75 Notable Translations of 2019,” World Literature Today
Moses wants one thing: to get home, where his girlfriend and a cold beer are waiting for him. But his car breaks down on an empty street, not a single human being in sight. Moses slips into The Pines, a gated community, in hopes to find help from a university classmate who lives there. Over there, in the “white” world, everything seems calm, orderly, safe. But once inside, he feels like more of an outsider than ever. And he makes a terrible mistake.
Read a Q&A with Rachel Hildebrandt Reynolds
Madame Livingstone written by Christophe Cassiau-Haurie, illustrated by Barly Baruti, translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger
“The complexities of war are explored with a curious what-if twist in this elegantly drawn adventure. […] a well-researched drama of human connections forged in an inhumane period.” —Publishers Weekly
A graphic novel based on the true story of two vastly different men— one Belgian, one African— who take on one impossible mission: sinking of a German battleship in the Congo. Royal Belgian Army lieutenant Gaston Mercier arrives at Lake Tanganyika, Congo in 1915 on orders to sink a critical German warship, the Graf Von Götzen. To find out the ship’s exact position, he is assigned a guide, an enigmatic, mixed-race African and the supposed son of the famous explorer, David Livingstone. Little by little, while the war between Belgian and German colonial powers rages on and the pair hunt down the Graf Von Götzen, the young Belgian pilot learns more about the land around him, and discovers the irrevocable and tragic effects of colonialism on the local people.
Read a Q&A with the author, illustrator, and translator of Madame Livingstone
Sacrificed by Chanette Paul, translated by Elsa Silke
“[A] page-turner that will keep you reading long past the moment the midnight oil burns out—New York Journal of Books
A mysterious phone call disrupts Caz Colijn’s secluded life, and sends her on an ever-deepening search for the truth behind her painful past. Caz is so caught up in uncovering these secrets, she almost doesn’t notice the man who is falling in love with her. Or the meaning behind the key she receives. Or the two Congolese men who are following her every move in search for something they’re willing to kill for. From the Congo’s sparkling diamond mines to Belgium’s finest art galleries, from Africa’s civil unrest to its deeply spiritual roots, Sacrificed seamlessly crosses borders and decades with a fiercely captivating story.
Read a Q&A with Chanette Paul | Read a Q&A with Elsa Silke
Dark Traces by Martin Steyn, translated by the author
“A tense and grisly debut novel of suspense from South Africa.” Kirkus (starred review)
The body of a teenage girl is found in the veld near an upper middle-class suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. And she’s not the first. The last thing recently widowed Detective Jan Magson feels like taking on is a serial killer file, but alongside Inspector Colin Menck he follows the trail: the teacher with a past; “love letters” mailed to the girl’s parents by, in all likelihood, the murderer; a pool cleaner who likes to take pictures of teenage girls. Magson and Menck find themselves in a race against time to find the killer before he strikes again.
Coming Soon
Halley’s Comet by Hannes Barnard, translated by the author
“With gripping action and immense heartbreak, Halley’s Comet yanks readers out of their comfort zone and into the unlikely friendship of a privileged white South African sixteen-year-old, Pete, a black farmworker’s son, Petrus, and an Indian store owner’s daughter, Sarita. We watch with bated breath as Pete questions and defies the inhumanity of Apartheid that tugs at him like a black hole’s gravity. Hannes Barnard delivers an indelible exploration of the importance of empathy in seeing color without seeing inferiority.” —Sonia Patel, author of William C. Morris Award finalist Rani Patel In Full Effect
Halley’s Comet is the coming-of-age story of Pete de Lange, a white 16-year-old schoolboy, set in small-town South Africa in 1986. Pete lives a relatively sheltered life, primarily concerned with girls and rugby— until one January night changes everything. Thrust together with two complete strangers—Petrus, a black farmworker’s son and Sarita, an Indian shopkeeper’s daughter—the trio find themselves running for their lives from the vicious Rudie, whose actions will ripple far beyond that fateful night. This era-defying friendship—sparked by a shared secret— challenges everything Pete thought he knew and believed.
Halley’s Comet releases in January 2022, pre-order your copy here.
