If you’re not reading books in translation, you’re cutting yourself off from most of the planet’s best writers. Only a tiny percentage of authors published in languages other than English get their works translated, which is a shame, but the more we read and promote books in translation, the more will get published. Whatever your reading taste, there are books in translation that you’ll love—it’s not just literary fiction.
That’s why task #21 of the 2026 Read Harder Challenge is “Read a genre (SFF, horror, mystery, romance) book in translation.” Below, I’ve highlighted a title or two in a range of genres. Some are harder to find than others: Nordic noir and Japanese horror, for example, are whole subgenres to themselves, while romance in translation is difficult to find. Let us know in the comments: what are your favorite genre books in translation?
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Romance in Translation:
Pioneer Summer by Kateryna Sylvanova and Elena Malisova, translated by Anne O. FisherThis gay romance by a Ukrainian-Russian author team was the bestselling novel in Russia in 2022. By December, it was banned under a new Russian law against “gay propaganda,” and the authors were forced to flee the country. Now it’s available in English. Pioneer Summer follows Yurka’s summer at Pioneer Camp, where he meets Volodya. The teenagers can’t deny their feelings for each other, but they know their relationship would be illegal. 20 years later, Yury returns to the defunct camp to reminisce—and finds out that the end of that summer wasn’t the end of their love story. —Danika Ellis |
Fantasy in Translation:
 Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-Il Kim, translated by Anton HurThis English translation of an epic, high-fantasy adventure follows three unlikely heroes who work to subvert the overwhelming power of the Empire. For years, undead sorcerers have conquered and unified the world under one regime. Loran, a swordswoman on a path for revenge against the empire, secures a dragon’s fang weapon to dismantle her enemies. Cain is ready to start a war if it means finding out who murdered the mentor who saved him as an orphan on the streets. Arienne is a sorcerer waiting to die for the empire until she begins to hear the voice of a powerful necromancer who challenges her to live. One by one, their individual actions may just disrupt the existing power system. —R. Nassor |
All Access members, read on for sci-fi, mysteries, thrillers, and horror novels in translation.
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