The winners of the 2025 National Book Award for translated literature have been revealed, honouring five outstanding books that showcase the depth and diversity of world writing in translation.
Earlier this year, In Other Worlds featured the longlist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature, highlighting ten titles that represented the global richness of contemporary fiction in translation. From that longlist, five have now received this year’s award, marking an exceptional year for international voices.
Winners of the 2025 National Book Award for Translated Literature
Solvej Balle, On the Calculation of Volume (Book III)
Translated from the Danish by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell
New Directions Publishing
Balle’s ongoing series examines time, repetition and the human experience through precise, reflective prose rendered beautifully in translation.
Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, We Are Green and Trembling
Translated from the Spanish by Robin Myers
New Directions Publishing
This lyrical and political novel explores identity, transformation and ecological consciousness in a vivid English translation by Myers.
Anjet Daanje, The Remembered Soldier
Translated from the Dutch by David McKay
New Vessel Press
Daanje’s intricate narrative of memory and survival is masterfully carried into English by McKay, maintaining the novel’s emotional depth and structure.
Hamid Ismailov, We Computers: A Ghazal Novel
Translated from the Uzbek by Shelley Fairweather-Vega
Yale University Press
Ismailov’s hybrid novel blends poetry, narrative and reflection. Fairweather-Vega’s inventive translation captures both its rhythm and philosophical scope.
Neige Sinno, Sad Tiger
Translated from the French by Natasha Lehrer
Seven Stories Press
Sinno’s autobiographical work confronts trauma, language and silence with courage and precision. Lehrer’s translation conveys its emotional intensity with care.
What This Year’s Winners Tell Us About Translation Today
The National Book Award for Translated Literature 2025 reflects not only the strength of this year’s winners but also the changing landscape of translation in English publishing.
Independent presses such as New Directions, New Vessel Press and Seven Stories Press continue to shape how international literature reaches readers, showing that translation thrives through collaboration between authors, translators and committed editors.
This year’s list is notable for its range of languages: Danish, Spanish, Dutch, Uzbek and French. Each offers a distinct rhythm and world, together suggesting a growing readership for translated fiction that is curious, global and deeply attentive to language.
For more on the 2025 National Book Award for translated literature, visit our coverage of the longlist, where we first explored the ten remarkable titles that defined the year in translation.
