Translated Speculative Fiction
Fantasy, sci-fi, and horror from around the world. Written in another language and then translated into English. Details in a comment.
created by SeriousGoose
last updated February, 2026
Comments
Here is a list of the languages these books were originally written in. I will edit this comment to add books as we go and I'm always open to suggestions. Enjoy!
Korean: The Heart of the Nhaga by Yeong-Do Lee Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-Il Kim The Proposal by Bae Myung-hoon
Spanish: Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel GarcĂa MĂĄrquez Dark Constellations by Pola Oloixarac Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz ZafĂłn
German: The Dwarves by Markus Heitz Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
French: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Japanese: The Memory Police by YĆko Ogawa
Russian: Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko The Inhabited Island by Arkady Strugatsky
Danish: On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle
Chinese: The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 1 by Wu Cheng'en
Mandarin: The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin Vagabonds by Hao Jingfang
Romanian: Youth Without Youth (Univ. of Chicago) by Mircea Eliade
Polish: The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski Solaris by StanisĆaw Lem
Indonesian: Beauty Is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan
Hungarian: Eye of the Monkey by Krisztina TĂłth
Greek: The Sleepwalker by Margarita Karapanou
Kikuyu: Wizard of the Crow by NgƩgĩ wa Thiong'o
Finnish: Secret Passages in a Hillside Town by Pasi Ilmari JÀÀskelÀinen
Arabic: Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
Welsh: The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Stefan Ros
Italian: Nexhuman by Francesco Verso
Now Iâm mad at myself for not getting the French version of I Who Have Never Known Men
the perfect excuse to buy another book and go in for a re-read? đ€·ââïžđââïžđ€Ł
I havenât read the English one yet so now Iâm at an impasseâ I have to read the one I bought already or else it would be wasteful which means I wonât get the true experience of reading it in French for the first time but then again my French isnât as good as my English so maybe itâs better that I âŠ. đđđ (welcome to my brain)
i think our brains would be great friends, they have a lot in common đ«Ł
HONK
all this time i had no clue inkheart was translated! tysm for this list đȘż
I'm so glad you find it helpful! đ€©đ«¶
Ohh that's so wild to me (as a German). Inkheart is basically a classic at this point, I think almost everyone I know has read this book ^^
so many of these i didnât know were translations, this is so cool!
i know right!? i've started putting this together for myself (and now everyone else) because i've always wanted to read more translated fiction but am (nearly) incapable of reading anything that could take place in read life lol
Oooh I read this book Fever Dream, originally in Spanish (Distancia de rescate) that truly felt like a fever dream and I'm not sure how much of that was the story and how much was the translation but it was soooo good.
amazing, thank you for the rec! i've added it đ«¶
Something on my spanish tbr for this year is La infancia del mundo or Dengue Boy by Michel Nieva
awesome, thanks for the rec!
amazing, iconic, stunning, stellar (and iâll be yoinking these all, THANK YOUUU)
ahhhh, yoink away! đ€© i'm hoping to sit down sometime this month and add to it, too đ«¶
đđ saved so i can keep tabs
ooo fun! this is one of those lists where i wish we could put notes on lists, would have loved to know what the original languages are
so true! i'll compile the info i recorded while putting this together and post a comment with the original languages soon đ
i forgot to let you know when i first did it, but i now have a comment that lists the original languages these books were written in! đ
Ohhh, I can help with this tomorrowđđđ I have a ton of books in originally written in Spanish that would be a great addition
i don't know how i missed replying to this, sorry! thank you, i'd love to add some more books originally written in Spanish đ«¶
ayyy what a good list (as someone who loves speculative fiction and is trying to diversify her reading)
i'm the same! i'm glad the list can be helpful for someone else too đ
love this list! i'd recommend jin yong's legend of the condor heroes as well (the first volume is a hero born). the caveat is that i haven't read the translation so i can't vouch for its quality, and also i hate how some names are translated đ skyfury guo sounds ridiculous
thanks so much for the rec! I'm going to do an update of my lists soon and I will add it then đ«¶
Incredible list!!!!! I love this. If I can reccomend:
- The Blue Book of Nebo by Manon Stefan Ros (originally in Welsh)
- Tender is the Flesh by Augustina Bazterrica (originally in Spanish) And I feel like I know many more but but off the top of my head those are the two I read this year that best fit!
Thank you! Will add đ«¶
I love speculative fiction and I'm so happy to find a list featuring books not written in English for once â€ïž
yay! enjoy đ«¶âš
Suggestion, Finnish: Leena Krohn: Collected Fiction.
She is an amazing writer. The PIJ book you added for Finland is SUCH a fun ride!
Suggestion, Taiwanese: Chi Ta-wei: The Membranes
thank you for the recs!
