Queer In Translation
Queer books from across the globe, translated into English from their original language.
created by NotACoolNerd
last updated December, 2025
Comments
A couple off the top of my head!:
The Wrath of Dionysus - Evdokia Nagrodskaia Paradise Rot - Jenny Hval
Oh!
And The Calvary Maiden - Alexander Durov (credited as Nadezhda Durova)
Thanks, I’ve added them to the list :)
Ooh I’ve got a list of Queer Korean Lit in translation! All the books from there would fit here quite well! If you just want a couple from Korea my favorite is Walking Practice by Dol Ki Min!
I’ve added Walking Practice. I’ll take a look at the others later. It’s a great list. I wanted to ask about A Magical Girl Retires, when I read it (as a queer person) it seemed obviously queer but I’ve seen other people say it’s not. How much is it regarded as a queer in general?
I think a lot of straight people miss the very obvious clues that it’s a queer story simply because they’re not used to viewing anything as queer unless the characters and author are explicit in the intent. None of the characters call themselves lesbians or bisexuals, yet there has always been very queer readings present in the magical girl stories that I think the author is very aware and deliberate about in this book.
I think it’s also noteworthy that a lot of the queer Korean literature I’ve read tends to avoid explicit labels of identity or sexuality. In Walking Practice the character is an alien who does not neatly fit in to any particular label. In To the Warm Horizon, our wlw couple are living in a post apocalyptic society so what would labeling themselves as lesbian or bisexual mean when society and its ideas have collapsed?
To me, the main character also very obviously has a crush on Ah Roa. I think if someone is looking for a queer romance, this is not the book for it. But I don’t think that means it’s not a queer book. It has a lot of queer themes and I’ve seen it on enough queer lists that I think it’s safe to say that it is an intentionally queer story.
Of course, different people may have different opinions. It could also be affected by cultural differences and translation (the translator Anton Hur is gay, so are the queer vibes something he simply translated well from the original Korean or something that he could have added in himself?)
Maybe I’ll read the original Korean next year and come back to this thread with more info! There’s also a sequel that hasn’t been translated that could offer more insight!
Thanks for the reply! Like I said I read it as queer (literally from the first second they met) but I’m missing a lot of the cultural context.
And some people are quite keen to tell queer people we’re reading too much into it.
The first book that came to mind is Tentacle by Rita Indiana!
Added! I’ve been meaning to read that for literal years!
