Old post

This post was published before January 2026. Some links, images or other content may no longer display or work as originally intended.

ByEditor 26 August 202419 December 2025 Reports

Women in translation month: August 2024

A compilation of reviews in the past twelve months for Women in Translation month (August 2024), including non-fiction and poetry and well as novels, short stories and children’s books. These include translations from Bengali, Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Hebrew, Malayalam, Swedish and Vietnamese.

Click on the “link” symbol over each cover for the review, author, translator and publisher information.

Abe
Aoyama
Bose
Dusapin
Hanada
Hwang
Hwang

Contributor

Editor

Fiction Reviews
“Portraits of a Mother” by Shusaku Endo
1 April 2025
In one story in Shusaku Endo’s Portraits of a Mother, the narrator lies in a hospital bed after a serious operation with the vague impression that his mother is holding his hand. He wakes to the realization that this was a dream and that the “gray shadow” of his mother is nothing more than a…
Read More “Portraits of a Mother” by Shusaku Endo
Fiction Reviews
“Painter of the Wind” by Jung-Myung Lee
4 July 202316 December 2023
Jung-Myung Lee’s Painter of the Wind is set in Hanyang, as Seoul, the capital of the Joseon Dynasty in the late 18th century, was then known. The protagonists are fictionalized versions of Kim Hong-do and Shin Yun-bok, both real-life figures who are considered some of, if not the, finest painters of the Joseon Dynasty.
Read More “Painter of the Wind” by Jung-Myung Lee
Non-Fiction Reviews | Reviews
“The Great Flowing River: A Memoir of China, from Manchuria to Taiwan” by Chi Pang-yuan
23 February 202023 February 2020
When Chi Pang-yuan was a young girl, her father Chi Shiying was wanted by warlord Zhang Zuolin and his son, Zhang Xueliang. The crime was siding with a rival general, Guo Songling, at a time when the Republic was still relatively young and northeast China in constant turmoil. For most of her childhood and teenage…
Read More “The Great Flowing River: A Memoir of China, from Manchuria to Taiwan” by Chi Pang-yuan
Fiction Reviews
“Mr Katō Plays Family” by Milena Michiko Flašar
9 August 202316 December 2023
Austrian author Milena Michiko Flašar’s latest novel, Mr Katō Plays Family, makes use of the range of feelings experienced during retirement to explore imagination, relationships, and family. This heartwarming and quiet story, translated from German by Caroline Froh, unfolds in an almost dream-like, stream-of-consciousness style as Mr. Katō connects with others and renews his sense of…
Read More “Mr Katō Plays Family” by Milena Michiko Flašar
Fiction Reviews
“Dying is Easier than Loving” by Ahmet Altan
9 April 20239 April 2023
While the first two books in Ahmet Altan’s “Ottoman Quartet”, Like a Sword Wound and Love in the Days of Rebellion, could be read as stand-alone novels, the third installment, Dying is Easier than Loving, requires familiarity with the story that came before.
Read More “Dying is Easier than Loving” by Ahmet Altan
Non-Fiction Reviews
“Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window: The Sequel” by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi
14 November 202520 August 2026
In 1981, Japanese actress and television personality Tetsuko Kuroyanagi published a best-selling memoir, Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window, an engaging story set during her unusual primary school years that happened to take place during World War II. Her book sold 4.5 million copies in Japan in just its first year and has been…
Read More “Totto-chan: The Little Girl at the Window: The Sequel” by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi