The 100 Best Books by Women Writers in Translation

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

biblibio, 100 Books

The 100 Best Books by Women in Translation is a crowdsourced list created through nominations and votes from readers around the world over a nearly two-month period. Focused on works originally written in languages other than English, it celebrates books by women, trans, and nonbinary authors that have resonated deeply with readers. While not claiming to be definitive, the list reflects global reading passions and highlights both acclaimed titles and hidden gems that deserve more attention. It is a tribute to the diversity, richness, and emotional power of women’s voices in translation.

Who voted?
readers could sent up to 10 recommendations. Overall they got 800 unique books. I am going to estimate they had 100 people who sent feedback. Although I suspect it's probably more.

This list was originally published in 2019 and was added to this site 12 months ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
409 My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante 2012 American Italian
804 The Vegetarian Han Kang 2007 Korean Korean
3049 Fever Dream Samanta Schweblin 2014 Argentinian Spanish
3601 Human Acts Han Kang 2014 Korean Korean
3285 The Door Szabó, Magda 1987 Hungarian Hungarian
1456 Flights Olga Tokarczuk 2007 Polish Polish
3627 Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata 2016 Japanese Japanese
1263 The Summer Book Tove Jansson 1972 Finnish Swedish
3417 The Housekeeper And The Professor Yōko Ogawa 2003 Japanese Japanese
597 The Years Annie Ernaux 2008 French French
6463 Things We Lost In The Fire Mariana Enríquez 2016 Argentinian Spanish
14985 Death In Spring Merce Rodoreda 1986 Spanish Catalan
1194 Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead Olga Tokarczuk 2009 Polish Polish
17152 Sphinx Anne Garréta 1986 French French
17152 Die, My Love Ariana Harwicz 2012 Argentinian Spanish
3122 Kitchen Banana Yoshimoto 1988 Japanese Japanese
670 Persepolis Marjane Satrapi 2000 French French
14232 Disoriental Négar Djavadi 2016 French French
14985 Mussel Feast Birgit Vanderbeke 1990 German German
545 The Notebook, The Proof, The Third Lie Agota Kristof 1986 Hungarian French
17152 Innocence Heda Margolius Kovály 1985 Czech Czech
291 The House of the Spirits Isabel Allende 1982 Chilean Spanish
10842 The End Of Days Jenny Erpenbeck 2012 German German
17152 A True Novel Minae Mizumura 2002 Japanese Japanese
1138 The Unwomanly Face Of War Svetlana Alexievich 1985 Russian Russian
17152 Eve Out Of Her Ruins Ananda Devi 2006 Mauritian French
7015 Trieste Daša Drndić 2007 Croatian Croatian
186 Bonjour Tristesse Francoise Sagan 1954 French French
9020 Love Hanne Ørstavik 1997 Norwegian Norwegian
1448 Suite Française Irène Némirovsky 2004 French French
1278 So Long a Letter Mariama Bâ 1980 Senegalese French
130 The Tale of Genji Murasaki Shikibu 1001 Japanese Classical japanese
7812 The Elegance of the Hedgehog Muriel Barbery 2006 French French
17152 Tentacle Rita Indiana 2015 Dominican Spanish
299 Kristin Lavransdatter Sigrid Undset 1920 Norwegian Norwegian
1027 Secondhand Time Svetlana Alexievich 2013 Belarusian Russian
4988 Territory Of Light Yuko Tsushima 1979 Japanese Japanese
882 The Hour of the Star Clarice Lispector 1977 Brazilian Portuguese
1234 Woman at Point Zero Nawal El Saadawi 1975 Egyptian Arabic
17152 Soviet Milk Nora Ikstena 2015 Latvian Latvian
14985 Notes Of A Crocodile Qiu Miaojin 1994 Taiwanese Chinese
17152 La Bastarda Trifonia Melibea Obono 2016 Equatoguinean Spanish
4824 Vernon Subutex Virginie Despentes 2015 French French
5290 Revenge Yōko Ogawa 1998 Japanese Japanese
14232 Memoirs Of A Polar Bear Yoko Tawada 2011 German German
949 Nada Carmen Laforet 1944 Spanish Spanish
2693 Near To The Wild Heart Clarice Lispector 1943 Brazilian Portuguese
14985 Strange Weather In Tokyo Hiromi Kawakami 2001 Japanese Japanese
5928 Go Went Gone Jenny Erpenbeck 2015 German German
8846 Seeing Red Lina Meruane 2012 Chilean Spanish
17152 Fish Soup Margarita García Robayo 2018 Colombian Spanish
296 The Lover Marguerite Duras 1984 French French
123 Memoirs of Hadrian Marguerite Yourcenar 1951 French French
1479 The Wall Marlen Haushofer 1963 Austrian German
525 Family Sayings Natalia Ginzburg 1963 Italian Italian
15910 People In The Room Norah Lange 1950 Argentine Spanish
17152 Mouthful Of Birds Samanta Schweblin 2009 Argentinian Spanish
900 The Poems of Sappho Sappho -569 Greek Ancient greek
14985 The Faculty of Dreams Sara Stridsberg 2006 Swedish Swedish
13006 Thus Were Their Faces Silvina Ocampo 1988 Argentinian Spanish
140 The Second Sex Simone de Beauvoir 1949 French French
6791 The True Deceiver Tove Jansson 1982 Finnish Swedish
14985 Faces In The Crowd Valeria Luiselli 2011 Mexican Spanish
14232 View With A Grain Of Sand Wislawa Szymborska 1995 Polish Polish
8618 The Queue Basma Abdel Aziz 2013 Egyptian Arabic
17152 Fox Dubravka Ugrešić 2017 Croatian Croatian
3265 The Days Of Abandonment Elena Ferrante 2002 Italian Italian
329 History Elsa Morante 1974 Italian Italian
1532 Arturo's Island Elsa Morante 1957 Italian Italian
17152 Confessions Kanae Minato 2008 Japanese Japanese
11546 The Ten Thousand Things Maria Dermoût 1955 Dutch Dutch
17152 My Heart Hemmed In Marie NDiaye 2007 French French
14985 The Unit Ninni Holmqvist 2006 Swedish Swedish
6446 The Bridge Of Beyond Simone Schwarz-Bart 1972 French French
4102 Purge Sofi Oksanen 2008 Finnish Finnish
13941 The Story Of My Teeth Valeria Luiselli 2015 Mexican Spanish
17152 Swallowing Mercury Wioletta Greg 2014 Polish Polish
14985 Tokyo Ueno Station Miri, Yu 2014 Japanese Japanese
17152 The Little Girl On The Ice Floe Adélaïde Bon 2018 French French
17152 Extracting The Stone Of Madness Alejandra Pizarnik 2016 Argentine Spanish
17152 The Remainder Alia Trabucco Zerán 2015 Chilean Spanish
1303 The Seventh Cross Anna Seghers 1942 German German
15910 The Naked Woman Armonía Somers 1950 Uruguayan Spanish
17152 Waking Lions Ayelet Gundar-Goshen 2014 Israeli Hebrew
2204 The Quest for Christa T. Christa Wolf 1968 German German
17152 A Winter's Promise Christelle Dabos 2013 French French
9976 Mirror, Shoulder, Signal Dorthe Nors 2016 Danish English
10518 Sweet Days of Discipline Fleur Jaeggy 1989 Swiss Italian
5612 Zuleikha Guzel Yakhina 2015 Russian Russian
1700 The Hunger Angel Herta Müller 2009 German German
14985 Please Look After Mom Kyung-sook Shin 2008 Korean Korean
1367 Like Water For Chocolate Laura Esquivel 1989 Mexican Spanish
15910 La Femme De Gilles Madeleine Bourdouxhe 1937 Belgian French
14985 The History Of Bees Maja Lunde 2015 Norwegian Norwegian
17152 The Weight Of Things Marianne Fritz 1978 Austrian German
17152 Translation As Transhumance Mireille Gansel 2017 French French
2297 Out Natsuo Kirino 1997 Japanese Japanese
9507 Our Lady Of The Nile Scholastique Mukasonga 2012 French French
17152 Subtly Worded Teffi 2014 Russian Russian
15910 The Letter For The King Tonke Dragt 1962 Dutch Dutch