Peppa Pig gets around. Having survived accusations of giving American kids British accents, Peppa Pig has now visited Korea, on paper anyway (she’s been there on TV and video for many years). Peppa Goes to Seoul, a publication of Penguin Random House’s Korean operation, was released in the latter part of last year in a still-rare rare example of a multinational publisher localising a product for Asia.

This entirely subjective list of 50 highlights from 2024 include reviews of fiction, literature, poetry and non-fiction. Translations remained strong in this year’s list, including literature, poetry and non-fiction, ranging from Chinese, Korean and Japanese, through Thai, Tagalog and Vietnamese to Kazakh, Bengali, Telegu, Arabic, Russian and French. Non-fiction entries ranges from history, biography and memoir to art, photograpy and culture.

From 1 February 2025, the Asian Review of Books (ARB) will become a part of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs (RSAA), an open, active, and international network for informed debate about Asia, engaging experts, policy makers, and the wider public with experience, analysis, and scholarship based in London, and publisher of the quarterly Asian Affairs journal.

Translations remained strong in this year’s (as always, subjective) list of books we thought worthy of particular mention, ranging from Chinese, Korean and Japanese, through Tagalog, Hindi, Turkish, French and Spanish and including autobiography, poetry and graphic novels as well as fiction. Non-fiction ranges from history and biography to art and culture.