Every year, France, Japan, Brazil and more crown their best book. Spin the globe to see which ones you can read in English, and which are still waiting.
4,667 books · 44 prizes · 39 countries
Showing 57 of 185 books. 128 aren’t in English yet: show all.
Sahitya Akademi 2025 · Winner
Crimson Spring
Navtej Sarna · 65 when first published
Novel · Historical, Politics
AI-generated summary:On Baisakhi day in 1919, nine people, Indian and British, are drawn into the events at Amritsar's Jallianwala Bagh, where troops open fire on an unarmed crowd.
Sahitya Akademi 2024 · Winner
Spirit Nights
Easterine Kire · 63 when first published
Novel · 180 pages · Speculative, Coming of age
AI-generated summary:In a Chang Naga village in Nagaland, where people live close to the spirit world, word spreads that a tiger has swallowed the sun, and the villagers are plunged into a darkness that will not lift.
Sahitya Akademi 2023 · Winner
Requiem in Raga Janki
Neelum Saran Gour · 63 when first published
Novel · 368 pages · Historical
AI-generated summary:A singer's life in early twentieth-century North India: scarred by an attack in childhood, a girl from Benares is taken to Allahabad to train under a demanding ustad and rises from the courtesans' quarter to fame.
Sahitya Akademi 2022 · Winner
خواب سراب · Khwab Saraab
Novel · 460 pages
AI-generated summary:A man in Lucknow who grew up on old people's tales of the courtesan Umrao Jaan becomes convinced her story was never fully told, and sets out through the old city to find the version its first chronicler kept back.
Sahitya Akademi 2022 · Winner
All the Lives We Never Lived
Anuradha Roy · 51 when first published
Novel · 336 pages · Family, Historical, Politics
AI-generated summary:In a small Indian town in the 1930s, a nine-year-old boy is left behind when his mother, a would-be painter trapped in her marriage to a nationalist schoolteacher, departs for a new life abroad.
Sahitya Akademi 2021 · Winner
சிவப்புக் கழுத்துடன் ஒரு பச்சைப் பறவை · Civappuk Kazuttutan Oru Paccaip Paravai
Ambai · 75 when first published
Short stories · 200 pages · Family, Love
AI-generated summary:Thirteen stories follow women and men, many of them old, through love, loss and choice: a widow weighing a new companion, a couple divided over their deaf daughter, a woman alone with her memories in a hill-station hotel.
Sahitya Akademi 2021 · Winner
Things to Leave Behind
Namita Gokhale · 60 when first published
Novel · 306 pages · Historical, Family
AI-generated summary:In the Kumaon hills around Naini Tal in the mid-nineteenth century, a headstrong Brahmin woman and later her daughter confront caste, custom and colonial rule as missionaries, schools and the British reshape their world.
Sahitya Akademi 2020 · Winner
செல்லாத பணம் · Sellaatha Panam
Imayam · 54 when first published
Novel · 222 pages · Family
AI-generated summary:In Puducherry, Revathi, an engineering graduate from a respectable family, lies badly burnt in a hospital ward, years after marrying an auto-rickshaw driver her family refused to accept.
Sahitya Akademi 2019 · Winner
চাণক্য · Chanakya
Joyasree Goswami Mahanta · 54 when first published
Novel · 578 pages · Historical, Politics
AI-generated summary:After twelve-year-old Vishnugupta finds his father's body, he goes on to study and then teach at Taxila, and becomes Chanakya, the strategist and royal adviser of ancient India who sets out to clear the name of Magadha.
Sahitya Akademi 2018 · Winner
The Blind Lady's Descendants
Anees Salim · 44 when first published
Novel · 297 pages · Family
AI-generated summary:In a small coastal town in India, Amar, the youngest son of a Muslim family whose parents have stopped speaking to each other, grows up in a crumbling house called the Bungalow and, at twenty-six, sets out to tell his story.
Sahitya Akademi 2018 · Winner
पोस्ट बॉक्स नं. 203 नाला सोपारा · Post Box No. 203 - Naala Sopara
Novel · 208 pages
AI-generated summary:Told in letters, the story of Vinod, called Binni, a gifted child born transgender who is separated from his family and made to live among a band of eunuchs, facing deprivation and humiliation.
Sahitya Akademi 2018 · Winner
روحزن · Rohzin
Rahman Abbas · 44 when first published
Novel · 256 pages · Love
AI-generated summary:Asrar, a young man newly arrived in Mumbai, discovers the city's hidden underworld and falls suddenly in love with Hina, whom he meets at the Haji Ali Dargah, as the 2005 floods close in.
Sahitya Akademi 2018 · Winner
শ্রীকৃষ্ণের শেষ কটা দিন · Srikrishner Sesh Kata Din
Novel · 104 pages
AI-generated summary:After the Kurukshetra war, as the grieving Gandhari curses Krishna and foretells the ruin of his Yadava clan, a devoted narrator looks back over the god's life while his time on earth draws to a close.
Sahitya Akademi 2017 · Winner
The Black Hill
Mamang Dai · 57 when first published
Novel · 296 pages · Historical, Love
AI-generated summary:In the mid-nineteenth-century hills between Assam and Tibet, an Abor girl, Gimur, runs away with Kajinsha of the Mishmee tribe, while a French priest, Father Krick, keeps trying to cross their land to found a mission in Tibet.
Sahitya Akademi 2016 · Winner
Em and the Big Hoom
Jerry Pinto · 46 when first published
Novel · 240 pages · Family
AI-generated summary:In Bombay, a young man tries to make sense of his mother Imelda, a beedi-smoking, singing force whose bipolar disorder can turn her monstrous, and of her long love affair with his father, Augustine.
Sahitya Akademi 2015 · Winner
Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer
Cyrus Mistry · 56 when first published
Novel · 247 pages · Love, Historical
AI-generated summary:In Bombay before independence, the son of a Parsi priest gives up his family’s standing to marry the daughter of a corpse bearer, and takes up the shunned work of carrying the dead to the Towers of Silence.
Sahitya Akademi 2015 · Winner
ആരാച്ചാർ · Aarachar
K. R. Meera · 42 when first published
Novel · 448 pages · Family, Coming of age
AI-generated summary:In Kolkata, Chetna, a young woman from a family that has supplied hangmen for generations, is chosen as India’s first woman executioner and becomes a television sensation as the day of her first hanging approaches.
Sahitya Akademi 2015 · Winner
విముక్త · Vimukta
Volga · 60 when first published
Short stories · 132 pages
AI-generated summary:Cast out by Rama and raising her two sons in Valmiki's hermitage, Sita meets women from the margins of the Ramayana, Surpanakha, Ahalya, Renuka and Urmila, whose stories of being wronged by men make her rethink her own life.
Sahitya Akademi 2014 · Winner
মৰিয়ম আষ্টিন অথবা হীৰা বৰুৱা · Mariam Astin Athaba Hira Barua
Arupa Patangia Kalita · 56 when first published
Short stories · 240 pages · War, Politics
AI-generated summary:Fifteen stories of women in strife-torn Assam, among them an ageing widow who talks to her Tibetan spaniel and fears she is becoming a lonely Englishwoman she once heard about.
Sahitya Akademi 2014 · Winner
हाशिये पर · Hashiye Par
Novel · 160 pages · Family, Politics
AI-generated summary:On the banks of the Chenab in Jammu, Madan, a sickly fisherman from a landless community, lives with his wife and four children in a reed hut and dreams of a brick house and an education for them.
Sahitya Akademi 2014 · Winner
മനുഷ്യന് ഒരു ആമുഖം · Manushyanu Oru Aamukham
Subhash Chandran · 38 when first published
Novel · 480 pages · Family, Historical, Politics
AI-generated summary:Newly widowed, Ann Mary goes back to the letters her husband Jithendran sent her while they were courting, in which he set down the history of his family and of Thachanakkara, his village in central Kerala.
Sahitya Akademi 2013 · Winner
Laburnum for My Head
Temsula Ao · 64 when first published
Short stories · 120 pages · War
AI-generated summary:Eight stories from India's North East: a widow who wants a laburnum tree to bloom over her grave, a hunter haunted by his prey, a servant boy who sells an airfield, and villagers caught between insurgents and the army.
Sahitya Akademi 2012 · Winner
କଣ୍ଟା ଓ ଅନ୍ୟାନ୍ୟ ଗଳ୍ପ · Kanta O Anyanya Galpa
Gourahari Das · 49 when first published
Short stories · 200 pages
AI-generated summary:Sixteen stories of a changing Odia society: the poor, the oppressed and women in the countryside, caught between taboo and superstition, political trickery and the pressures of modern life.
Sahitya Akademi 2012 · Winner
বীরাসন · Birasan
Novel · 236 pages
AI-generated summary:A frail old man ekes out a living by singing the same devotional song to train passengers, scorned by his neighbours and pressed to give up the homestead his family has always lived on.
Sahitya Akademi 2011 · Winner
ಸ್ವಪ್ನ ಸಾರಸ್ವತ · Swapna Saraswata
Novel · Historical, Migration, Family
AI-generated summary:After the Portuguese conquer Goa and begin forced conversions and the destruction of temples, Vittu Pai of the village of Verane leaves at night with a few Gaud Saraswat families to save their faith and lives.
Sahitya Akademi 2011 · Winner
रेहन पर रग्घू · Rehan Per Raghu
Kashinath Singh · 71 when first published
Novel · 140 pages · Family, Politics
AI-generated summary:Raghunath's orderly, successful life has gone to plan until a sudden turn lets loose ambitions in his own world that begin to break the bonds and tenderness around him, in a story reaching from village to city to America.
Sahitya Akademi 2010 · Winner
খনামিহিরের ঢিপি · Khanamihirer Dhipi
Bani Basu · 68 when first published
Novel · 227 pages
Sahitya Akademi 2010 · Winner
Book of Rachel
Esther David · 61 when first published
Novel · 197 pages · Family
AI-generated summary:Rachel, an elderly Bene Israel widow, lives alone by the sea near Bombay, tending the village synagogue and cooking the old Jewish dishes while her children and neighbours have left for Israel.
Sahitya Akademi 2010 · Winner
मोहन दास · Mohan Das
Novella · 227 pages · Satire, Politics
AI-generated summary:Mohandas, a college graduate from a low caste, keeps losing out to higher-caste rivals; when he finally lands a job, one of them steals his identity to take it from him.
Sahitya Akademi 2009 · Winner
ಕ್ರೌಂಚ ಪಕ್ಷಿಗಳು · Krouncha Pakshigalu
Vaidehi · 60 when first published
Short stories · 116 pages
AI-generated summary:Ten stories built on the different ways in which men and women think.
Sahitya Akademi 2009 · Winner
ద్రౌపది · Draupadi
Yarlagadda Lakshmi Prasad · 53 when first published
Novel · 259 pages · Love, Family, War
AI-generated summary:On a morning in the last days of the Kurukshetra war, Draupadi, stricken by the slaughter, asks herself what part she played in bringing it about and looks back over her life as wife of the five Pandavas.
Sahitya Akademi 2008 · Winner
बिरगोस्रीनि थुंग्रि · Birgwsrini Thungri
Bidyasagar Narzary · 50 when first published
Novel · 170 pages · Historical, War
AI-generated summary:Birgwsri, a Mech woman who collects taxes for the British, rises against them in a fight to free the Duars and found a new Mech kingdom.
Sahitya Akademi 2008 · Winner
कोहरे में कैद रंग · Kohre Mein Kaid Rang
Govind Mishra · 65 when first published
Novel · 205 pages
Sahitya Akademi 2008 · Winner
ਸੁਧਾਰ ਘਰ · Sudhar Ghar
Mitter Sain Meet · 54 when first published
Novel · 372 pages
Sahitya Akademi 2007 · Winner
Disorderly Women
Malathi Rao · 75 when first published
Novel · Family, Historical
AI-generated summary:In India before independence, four women of a Kannada Brahmin family, from different generations, push against the limits their society sets for them.
Sahitya Akademi 2007 · Winner
இலையுதிர் காலம் · Ilai Uthir Kaalam
Neela Padmanabhan · 67 when first published
Novel · 141 pages
Sahitya Akademi 2007 · Winner
শান্তনুকুলনন্দন · Santanukulanandan
Purabi Bormudoi · 55 when first published
Novel · 250 pages · Historical
AI-generated summary:In the ancient Brahmaputra valley, a novel told largely through dialogue traces how the great river came to be and how it got its name, as peoples, faiths and kingdoms meet along its banks.
Sahitya Akademi 2006 · Winner
ধ্রুবপুত্র · Dhrubaputra
Amar Mitra · 51 when first published
Novel · 668 pages · Historical
AI-generated summary:In ancient Ujjayini, a city parched by years without rain, the gifted son of Dhruva is driven into exile after crossing a powerful merchant, and the people wait for the monsoon to return.
Sahitya Akademi 2006 · Winner
The Sari Shop
Rupa Bajwa · 28 when first published
Novel · 240 pages · Satire
AI-generated summary:Ramchand, an orphaned assistant in one of Amritsar's best sari shops, spends his days unrolling silks for wealthy women who barely notice him, until an errand to a rich family's house stirs his longing for another life.
Sahitya Akademi 2005 · Winner
किस्तूरी मिरग · Kisturi Mirag
Chetan Swami · 46 when first published
Short stories · 87 pages
Sahitya Akademi 2005 · Winner
মৌন ওঁঠ মুখৰ হৃদয় · Mouna Ounth Mukhar Hriday
Yeshe Dorjee Thongchi · 49 when first published
Novel · 189 pages · Love
AI-generated summary:In the hills of what is now Arunachal Pradesh, Sherdukpen, Nyishi and Monpa villagers wary of one another are hired to build a mountain road to Bomdila, and the leader of the Sherdukpen gang falls for a Nyishi girl promised to another man.
Sahitya Akademi 2004 · Winner
बारोमास · Baromas
Novel · 381 pages · Family
AI-generated summary:In rural Maharashtra, the educated young sons of a farming family find no work and no future, caught between the old ways of the village and a changing agriculture, amid poverty, ignorance and exploitation.
Sahitya Akademi 2004 · Winner
The Mammaries of the Welfare State
Upamanyu Chatterjee · 41 when first published
Novel · 437 pages · Satire, Politics
AI-generated summary:Agastya Sen, now a jaded officer of the Indian Administrative Service, cannot even get a room in the capital before he is posted as Collector to Madna, the small town where he trained, just as plague breaks out there.
Sahitya Akademi 2003 · Winner
અખેપાતર · Akhepatar
Bindu Bhatt · 45 when first published
Novel · 340 pages · Historical, Family
AI-generated summary:An elderly Brahmin woman comes back to her native village in Saurashtra and, lodging at its shrine, relives a life marked by her family's move to Karachi and their flight from the city during Partition.
Sahitya Akademi 2003 · Winner
अथाह · Athah
Novel · 123 pages
AI-generated summary:In a mental hospital, patients branded schizophrenic and shut away from the world each carry a private history of damage whose causes stay hidden, sometimes even from themselves.
Sahitya Akademi 2003 · Winner
कितने पाकिस्तान · Kitne Pakistan
Kamleshwar · 68 when first published
Novel · 367 pages · Historical, Politics
AI-generated summary:In a court that stands outside time and place, an unnamed man of letters sits as judge while figures from across history are called to answer for the partitions and bloodshed their decisions left behind.
Sahitya Akademi 2003 · Winner
ক্রান্তিকাল · Krantikal
Prafulla Roy · 64 when first published
Novel · 204 pages
Sahitya Akademi 2003 · Winner
باد صبا کا انتظار · Bad-e-Saba ka Intizar
Syed Muhammad Ashraf · 43 when first published
Short stories · 232 pages
Sahitya Akademi 2002 · Winner
A New World
Amit Chaudhuri · 38 when first published
Novel · 208 pages · Family
AI-generated summary:A year after his divorce, an Indian economist who teaches in the American Midwest brings his young son to Calcutta to spend the summer with his ageing parents.
Sahitya Akademi 2002 · Winner
તત્ત્વમસિ · Tattvamasi
Dhruv Bhatt · 51 when first published
Novel · 231 pages · Nature
AI-generated summary:A young Indian student brought up overseas reluctantly goes to stay with tribal people in the woods on the banks of the Narmada, on an assignment from his professor to report on his work there.
Sahitya Akademi 2002 · Winner
আমি ও বনবিহারী · Ami O Banabehari
Sandipan Chattopadhyay · 67 when first published
Novel · 80 pages · Politics
AI-generated summary:A narrator who asks to be called Pran lives as the hidden inner self of Banabihari, a communist, watching him and a woman named Pratibha through thirty years of left-wing politics.
Sahitya Akademi 2001 · Winner
कलि-कथा : वाया बाइपास · Kali-Katha: Via Bypass
Alka Saraogi · 38 when first published
Novel · 295 pages · Family, Historical
AI-generated summary:After heart bypass surgery, Kishore Babu, a well-off Marwari in Calcutta, starts roaming the city on foot, and his walks draw him back into his own youth and his family's past.
Sahitya Akademi 2001 · Winner
طاؤس چمن کی مینا · Taoos Chaman Ki Maina
Naiyer Masud · 62 when first published
Short stories · 662 pages
AI-generated summary:Stories steeped in Lucknow and the traces of its vanished past; in the best known, set in the mid-nineteenth century, a jobless widower takes work in the Nawab's garden tending its talking mynas.
Sahitya Akademi 2000 · Winner
Cuckold
Kiran Nagarkar · 55 when first published
Novel · 609 pages · Historical, War, Politics
AI-generated summary:In early sixteenth-century Mewar, the Rajput crown prince marries a girl who insists she is already the bride of Krishna, while enemy sultans and a resentful younger brother threaten the kingdom.
Sahitya Akademi 2000 · Winner
ಓಂ ಣಮೋ · Om Namo
Shantinath Desai · 69 when first published
Novel · 292 pages
Sahitya Akademi 2000 · Winner
ਚੌਥੀ ਕੂਟ · Chauthi Koot
Waryam Singh Sandhu · 53 when first published
Short stories · 156 pages · Politics
AI-generated summary:Stories of village Punjab in the 1980s, where families are squeezed between Sikh separatist fighters and the security forces; in one, armed men order a household to keep its dog from barking.