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 14 of 103 books. 89 aren’t in English yet: show all.
BBC Ukrainian Book 2024 · Winner
Мої жінки · Moi zhinky
Yuliia Iliukha · 42 when first published
Short stories · War
AI-generated summary:Short, emotionally charged prose pieces giving voice to women living through the war: those who lost what was dearest to them, those who endured and fought, and those who could not and gave up.
BBC Ukrainian Book 2021 · Winner
Хто ти такий? · Khto ty takyi?
Artem Chekh · 36 when first published
Novel · 208 pages · Coming of age
AI-generated summary:Young Tymofii grows up beside Felix, his enemy and friend, tormentor and mentor, a man shell-shocked by a distant war who keeps asking 'Who are you?'. By the end, a nearly grown Tymofii asks himself the same question.
BBC Ukrainian Book 2019 · Winner
Доця · Dotsia
Tamara Duda · 43 when first published
Novel · 347 pages · War
AI-generated summary:Donetsk, spring and summer 2014. As the war begins, a woman loses her family, home, job and illusions, and then pieces her life back together, finding new meaning and new people to rely on.
BBC Ukrainian Book 2018 · Shortlist
Серые пчелы · Serye pchely
Andrey Kurkov · 57 when first published
Novel · 298 pages · War
AI-generated summary:Only two people remain in a village in the grey zone of the Donbas war: the beekeeper Serhii Serhiiovych and his old classmate and opposite, Pashka. When spring comes, Serhiiovych sets out to take his six hives somewhere free of shooting.
BBC Ukrainian Book 2017 · Shortlist
Інтернат · Internat
Serhiy Zhadan · 43 when first published
Novel · 336 pages · War
AI-generated summary:Donbas, January 2015. Pasha, a schoolteacher who has tried to stay out of the war, watches the front line creep towards his home, and is forced to cross it and then find his way back.
BBC Ukrainian Book 2016 · Winner
Забуття · Zabuttia
Tanja Maljartschuk · 33 when first published
Novel · 272 pages · Historical
AI-generated summary:A young woman of today searches through old newspapers to find her own identity and becomes absorbed in the forgotten life of Viacheslav Lypynskyi, a historian, philosopher and failed politician who founded Ukrainian monarchism.
BBC Ukrainian Book 2015 · Shortlist
Карбід · Karbid
Andriy Lyubka · 28 when first published
Novel · 250 pages · Satire, Politics
AI-generated summary:In the invented town of Vedmediv on the Transcarpathian border, history teacher Tys hatches a plan to dig a tunnel to Hungary so that every Ukrainian can reach Europe, and recruits the local smugglers to help.
BBC Ukrainian Book 2014 · Shortlist
Месопотамія · Mesopotamiia
Serhiy Zhadan · 40 when first published
Short stories · 328 pages · Love
AI-generated summary:Nine stories and thirty poems about the same circle of people in a city between two rivers, Babylonian tales of love and death, street fights and daily passions, betrayals, escapes and returns.
BBC Ukrainian Book 2012 · Winner
Танґо смерті · Tango smerti
Yuri Vynnychuk · 60 when first published
Novel · 474 pages · Historical, War
AI-generated summary:In pre-war and wartime Lviv four friends, a Ukrainian, a Pole, a German and a Jew whose fathers died fighting for the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1921, share adventures and loves; a second story unfolds today in Lviv and Turkey.
BBC Ukrainian Book 2012 · Shortlist
Біографія випадкового чуда · Biohrafiia vypadkovoho chuda
Tanja Maljartschuk · 29 when first published
Novel · 246 pages · Coming of age
AI-generated summary:Lena, a girl from a small Ukrainian town who has looked for a miracle since kindergarten, grows up to defend stray dogs and disabled people, while wondering who the woman in a headscarf is who drops from the sky to save the helpless.
BBC Ukrainian Book 2010 · Winner
Ворошиловград · Voroshylovhrad
Serhiy Zhadan · 36 when first published
Novel · 456 pages · Crime
AI-generated summary:A young man is pulled out of his settled life when his brother vanishes without a trace and strangers lay claim to his business, forcing him to return to his home town in eastern Ukraine.
BBC Ukrainian Book 2010 · Shortlist
Музей покинутих секретів · Muzei pokynutykh sekretiv
Oksana Zabuzhko · 49 when first published
Novel · 727 pages · Historical, Family, War
AI-generated summary:Spanning three generations from the autumn of 1943 to the spring of 2004, a novel links the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Stalin's era, the dissidents of the 1960s and the 1990s through family secrets buried in the ground.
BBC Ukrainian Book 2008 · Shortlist
Москалиця · Moskalytsia
Maria Matios · 49 when first published
Novella · 108 pages
AI-generated summary:A woman in mortal danger finds no fear strong enough to break her will to resist, and keeps her secret all her life as she keeps her honour.
BBC Ukrainian Book 2007 · Shortlist
Майже ніколи не навпаки · Maizhe nikoly ne navpaky
Maria Matios · 48 when first published
Novel · 154 pages · Family, Historical
AI-generated summary:A family saga in three linked novellas follows the Hutsul families Chev'iuk, Keivan and Varvarchuk from Austria-Hungary and the First World War to the mid-twentieth century, beginning with a man who marries for money instead of love.