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Open Letter Books Open Letter searches for international literature that is extraordinary and influential, works that we hope will become the classics of tomorrow.

Open Letter could not be more proud to announce that we have TWO titles on the longlist for the 2025 National Translatio...
04/09/2025

Open Letter could not be more proud to announce that we have TWO titles on the longlist for the 2025 National Translation Award in Prose!

Melvill by Rodrigo Fresán (translated by Will Vanderhyden) and Once Upon Argentina by Andreas Neuman (translated by Nick Caistor and Lorenza Garcia)

It is a truly exceptional list, and we are supremely honored to have these titles considered alongside some of the most talented writers and translators working today.

The National Translation Award is awarded annually in poetry and in prose to literary translators who have made an outstanding contribution to literature in English by masterfully recreating the artistic force of a book of consummate quality. Established in 1998, the NTA is the only prize for a work of literary translation into English to include a full evaluation of the source language text. The judges for the 2025 NTA in Prose are George Henson, Hoyoung Moon, Ilze Duarte, Manjushree Thapa, and Peter Constantine.

FUN FACT!: Today is the LAST DAY of our 40% off sale for Women in Translation Month! All books authored or translated ...
31/08/2025

FUN FACT!: Today is the LAST DAY of our 40% off sale for Women in Translation Month! All books authored or translated by women are included, both physical copies and ebooks—AND including pre-orders for our forthcoming titles, like the three beauties above! Thank you for supporting and reading and loving these authors and translators along with us, and here's to a hundred thousand more Augusts of Women in Translation Month to come! ❤️

FUN FACT!: Helen R. Lane (1921 - 2004) was an American translator of Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian language ...
30/08/2025

FUN FACT!: Helen R. Lane (1921 - 2004) was an American translator of Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian language literary works into English. She translated works by numerous important authors including Jorge Amado, Juan Goytisolo, Juan Carlos Onetti, Nélida Piñon, Augusto Roa Bastos, Juan José Saer, Claude Simon, Luisa Valenzuela, and Mario Vargas Llosa, and Octavio Paz—whose ALTERNATING CURRENT in her translation won a 1974 National Book Award!

FUN FACT!: From the launch of the Translation Database in 2008 to 2024, a total of TEN titles had been registered as p...
29/08/2025

FUN FACT!: From the launch of the Translation Database in 2008 to 2024, a total of TEN titles had been registered as published from Latvian into English in the United States. Now, with our 2025 Triptych, the number of titles from Latvian published in the U.S. will be bumped to 13!

FUN FACT!: The brilliant Ellen Elias-Bursać, in addition to everything else she has accomplished, spent 6.5 years work...
28/08/2025

FUN FACT!: The brilliant Ellen Elias-Bursać, in addition to everything else she has accomplished, spent 6.5 years working for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, as a translator/reviser in the English Translation Unit.

FUN FACT!: Translators Lorenza García and Nick Caistor have collaborated on SIX Andrés Neuman titles to date!
27/08/2025

FUN FACT!: Translators Lorenza García and Nick Caistor have collaborated on SIX Andrés Neuman titles to date!

FUN FACT!: Translator Bea Crook is not only a go-to person for what's kicking in Norwegian literature (how we first me...
26/08/2025

FUN FACT!: Translator Bea Crook is not only a go-to person for what's kicking in Norwegian literature (how we first met her), but she was also the founder (and editor-in-chief until 2012) of SAND literary journal!

FUN FACT!: Sara Mesa's UN AMOR was the basis for the 2023 movie of the same name, directed by prolific Spanish directo...
25/08/2025

FUN FACT!: Sara Mesa's UN AMOR was the basis for the 2023 movie of the same name, directed by prolific Spanish director Isabel Coixet (MY LIFE WITHOUT ME, THE BOOKSHOP).

FUN FACT!: Inimitable translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones not only translated for our Polish Reportage Series—Antonia, alon...
25/08/2025

FUN FACT!: Inimitable translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones not only translated for our Polish Reportage Series—Antonia, along with translator Sean Gasper Bye, brought the idea of the series to Open Letter. And we LOVED it. ROOSTER CROW is the fourth book of that series.

FUN FACT!: MOTHERS DON'T, WOLFSKIN, and BAD HANDWRITING were the inaugural trio in Open Letter's Translator Triptych s...
23/08/2025

FUN FACT!: MOTHERS DON'T, WOLFSKIN, and BAD HANDWRITING were the inaugural trio in Open Letter's Translator Triptych series! Since then we have published three triptychs—from Spain, South Korea, and Latvia—have the fourth in the works (Iceland), and are plotting with translator-curators for the subsequent triptychs! The series allows a translator to flex their curator skills, knowledge of the language(s) they work with, and the literature of the respective country/ies.

FUN FACT!: Víctor Català was the pen name of Caterina Albert i Paradís (1869–1966)—a name she took from a character in...
22/08/2025

FUN FACT!: Víctor Català was the pen name of Caterina Albert i Paradís (1869–1966)—a name she took from a character in an unfinished novel of hers.

FUN FACT!: For ADVENTURES AND MISADVENTURES, translator Mara Faye Lethem basically invented a new "literary vernacular...
21/08/2025

FUN FACT!: For ADVENTURES AND MISADVENTURES, translator Mara Faye Lethem basically invented a new "literary vernacular" in English to not only translate but also mirror the wacky and raucous mishmash of language used by the author in Catalan. (We think she killed it 🏆)

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