Fiction - World Literature - Southeast Asia

Winner, 2024 English PEN Translates Award From 1976 to 1989, Hai Fan was part of the guerrilla forces of the Malayan Communist Party, and these short stories are inspired by his experiences in the rainforest.Struggling through an arduous trek, two comrades pine for each...

A young Vietnamese woman living in Paris travels back to Saigon for her estranged mother's funeral. Her brother had recently built a new house in Saigon, including what was rumored to be the first elevator in a private home in the country, but days...

In their stunning fiction debut, queer Indonesian writer Norman Erikson Pasaribu blends together speculative fiction and dark absurdism, drawing from Batak and Christian cultural elements.Longlisted for the International Booker Prize, Happy Stories, Mostly introduces "one of the most important Indonesian writers today" (Litro Magazine)....

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2026 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE"An unforgiving tale of political horror and womanhood by a writer that is fearless."--Mariana Enriquez, author of Our Share of NightA propulsive work of feminist gothic that blends Indonesian folklore with Islamic mysticism and examines...

A new English translation of an existential tale of obsession by Indonesia's celebrated writer of absurdist realism A Penguin Classic In Bloomington, Indiana, Fanton Drummond's life changes when he encounters Olenka Danton in an elevator. Infatuated at first sight, Fanton begins to see Olenka...

The founder of a skincare line teeters on career-defining success when a bullish journalist sets out to write her inaugural profile, threatening to unearth her darkest secret--that she's not the wealthy socialite she portrays, but an immigrant of modest means who built a life...

Tales from Manila Ave. traces the joys and struggles of Filipino immigrants as they navigate life and ponder identity outside their motherland. Through touching reflections on community and memory, Patrick Joseph Caoile's debut collection takes an honest yet playful look into the intricacies of...

Sato Reang enjoys an idyllic childhood of soccer, fighting crickets, and mischief in his Indonesian village--until the day he must be circumcised, and his observant father forces him into a life of Islamic piety. For years, Sato outwardly obeys his father, but all the...

'Evocative, erudite, and often very funny stories of Bangkok life.'-- The GuardianA 'Book to Look Out For' by The Guardian and BuzzFeed, The Sad Part Was offers an oblique reflection of contemporary Bangkok life.In these witty, postmodern stories, Yoon riffs on pop culture, experiments...

Jacquie Pham's transportive debut, Those Opulent Days, delivers a classic historical murder mystery centered around the glamor, violence, wealth, and opium of 1920's French-colonial Vietnam that meshes the structural brilliance of Lucy Foley's The Guest List with the historical vitality of Vanessa Chan's The...

From three bestselling authors comes an interwoven tale about a trio of World War II nurses stationed in the South Pacific who wage their own battle for freedom and survival.The Philippines, 1941. When U.S. Navy nurse Eleanor Lindstrom, U.S. Army nurse Penny Franklin, and...

From three bestselling authors comes an interwoven tale about a trio of World War II nurses stationed in the South Pacific who wage their own battle for freedom and survival.The Philippines, 1941. When U.S. Navy nurse Eleanor Lindstrom, U.S. Army nurse Penny Franklin, and...