The International Booker is an award that celebrates the best translated literature published in the UK and Ireland each year. The 2026 longlist was recently announced and features two titles that won the National Book Award for Translated Literature in the U.S.--Taiwan Travelogue and We Are Green and Trembling--as well as a title that was named a Top 10 Book from 2025 by The New York Times--The Director. Find your next read in these new and familiar stories and browse the full longlist to see all thirteen nominated titles.
The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje (translated from the Dutch by David McKay)
"Flanders 1922: After serving as a soldier in the Great War, Noon Merckem has lost his memory and lives in a psychiatric asylum. Countless women, responding to a newspaper ad, visit him there in the hope of finding their spouse who vanished in battle. One day a woman, Julienne, appears and recognizes Noon as her husband, the photographer Amand Coppens, and takes him home against medical advice. But their miraculous reunion doesn’t turn out the way that Julienne wants her envious friends to believe."
Librarian's thoughts: This novel may be 600 pages, but it's not a page too long. Daanje’s genius lies in turning this slow, contemplative novel into a page turner. Subtle reveals and dropped hints make the reader desperate to know what is really going on. Prepare for an absorbing and unforgettably reflective novel that will not soon leave your mind.
We Are Green and Trembling by Gabriela Cabezón Camara (translated from the Spanish by Robin Myers)
"Deep in the wilds of the New World, Antonio de Erauso begins to write a letter to his aunt, the prioress of the Basque convent he escaped as a young girl. Since fleeing a dead-end life as a nun, he's become Antonio and undertaken monumental adventures: he has been a mule driver, shopkeeper, soldier, cabin boy, and conquistador; he has wielded his sword and slashed with his dagger. Based on the life of Antonio de Erauso, a real figure of the Spanish conquest, We Are Green and Trembling is a queer baroque satire and a historical novel that blends elements of the picaresque with surreal storytelling."
Librarian's thoughts: A poetic and lushly written novel with language that may take a moment to settle into, but that ultimately rewards the reader with a vividly reimagined ending that turns history on its head.
The Wax Child by Olga Ravn (translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken)
"The Wax Child, narrated by a wax doll created by Christenze Kruckow, is an unsettling horror story about brutality and power, nature and witchcraft, set in the fragile communities of premodern Europe."
Librarian's thoughts: As always, Ravn's formally inventive approach to storytelling pushes the reader to expand their preconceived notions of what a novel can be. Well-researched and descriptive, this story will satisfy history lovers and readers who appreciate experimental narratives.
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann (translated from the German by Ross Benjamin)
"From “a surpassingly gifted storyteller” (The New York Times), a visionary novel inspired by the life of film director G.W. Pabst, who fled to Hollywood to resist the Nazis only to return to his homeland to create propaganda films for the German Reich."
Librarian's thoughts: A thrilling novel that explores what it means to be an artist under a fascist regime. This story centered around filmmaking is aptly told in a cinematic writing style and has an opening chapter that is sure to grab the reader's attention.
Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ (translated from the Mandarin by Lin King)
"A bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history, and power. Disguised as a translation of a rediscovered text by a Japanese writer...Taiwan Travelogue unburies lost colonial histories and deftly reveals how power dynamics inflect our most intimate relationships."
Librarian's thoughts: Reader beware, do not begin reading this book while hungry! Filled to the brim with mouth-watering descriptions of Taiwanese dishes, this multi-layered book within a book will delight ambitious readers who enjoy metafictional works.
The Deserters by Mathias Énard (translated from the French by Charlotte Mandell)
"A filthy and exhausted soldier emerges from the Mediterranean wilderness―he is escaping from an unspecified war, trying to flee incessant violence and find refuge in solitude. Meanwhile, on September 11, 2001, aboard a small cruise ship, a scientific conference takes place to pay tribute to renowned East German mathematician Paul Heudeber, a committed communist and anti-fascist, and a survivor of the camps at Buchenwald. The tension grows between these two narrative threads, and―pulled together in Mathias Énard’s enchanting, brilliant, erudite prose―time itself seems to become tightly interwoven, drawn together by the immense stakes of love and politics, loyalty and belief, hope and survival."
Librarian's thoughts: Though Énard provides no easy answers nor a clear connection between the two parallel narratives, this doesn't matter in the slightest as there are plenty of thematic links to chew on and the real thrill comes from the author's finely crafted sentences.
All summaries provided by the publisher.