The International Booker Prize has – since 2005 – been at the very frontlines of bringing translated works and international authors to the fore of Western literary circles.
In so many ways, it's important to digest and read as widely as we can – read in translation, read from cultures that aren't your own, read about places you've never been to or people whose stories are nothing like your own. International books are like bulletins we are lucky enough to receive from the rest of the world – and overnight, we've received a dispatch from The International Booker Prize judging panel of six shortlisted finalists for the 2026 prize, which we would very much recommend adding to your reading lists this season.
From Mandarin Chinese sensations to witchy French novels from the 90s now finding new life in translation – these six books are a journey through language, culture and the universality of the human condition.
1. Taiwan Travelogue
Written by: Yáng Shuāng-zǐ
Translated by: Lin King
Original language: Mandarin Chinese
A bittersweet story of a young novelist who has sailed Nagasaki to Taiwan, and a charming, erudite Taiwanese woman hired as her interpreter. The novel was a sensation on its first publication in Mandarin Chinese back in 2020, and won Taiwan’s highest literary honour, the Golden Tripod Award.
2. The Witch
Written by: Marie NDiaye
Translated by: Jordan Stump
Original language: French
Dreamlike, witty and unsettling, this story is about Lucie, a mediocre witch from a long line of powerful women, initiating her own twin daughters who, it becomes apparent, have skills far beyond her own. The book was originally published in French back in 1996.
3. On Earth As It Is Beneath
Written by: Ana Paula Maia
Translated by: Padma Viswanathan
Original language: Portuguese
Set against the haunting backdrop of a crumbling penal colony built on land scarred by a history of slavery, Ana Paula Maia’s novel explores a descent into primal violence where inmates become prey in a ritualistic monthly hunt.
4. The Director
Written by: Daniel Kehlmann
Translated by: Ross Benjamin
Original language: German
A renowned French director flees Europe as the Nazis take hold in the 1930s, and heads for Hollywood where his career flails. Heading home to Austria to visit his ailing Mother, he is soon propositioned by the minister of propaganda in Berlin who is in search of a film genius.
5. She Who Remains
Written by: Rene Karabash
Translated by: Izidora Angel
Original language: Bulgarian
High in Albania’s Accursed Mountains, after escaping an arranged marriage by renouncing their womanhood to live as a man, Bekija – now Matija – sets off a brutal chain of events. Years later they tell their story to a visiting journalist, unearthing long-buried truths.
6. The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran
Written by: Shida Bazyar
Translated by: Ruth Martin
Original language: German
Set across four decades, from 1979 to 2009, we see generations of revolutionaries fight for a new order, grapple with a new life in West Germany, return to Iran and turn to revolution once more.
