August 2026

Hello,

After all the excitements of June and July, I’d hoped August was going to be a quieter month. Admittedly, I have taken myself off to sunny Norfolk for some sitting down and reading – amongst which there’ll hopefully be some time for some extra-curriculum books, maybe even in English – but with Women in Translation month in full swing and the announcement of the Booker Prize long list, there’s still a lot of book news to talk about.

If Independent Bookshop Week creates a buzz, Women in Translation month is like an enormous apiary in full production. It’s so fantastic to see such widespread engagement for this celebration of the plurality of women’s writing from around the globe. I’ve got to say that I’ve been swept away too, and although my TBR list isn’t as long or comprehensive as many of the excellent ones that are floating around the digital bookosphere, there are two titles that I’ve committed to.

Firstly, from our friends at Pereine, SEA NOW by Dutch writer Eva Meijer, translated by Anne Thompson Mello, a cautionary piece of climate fiction that tells the story of the sea claiming back the Netherlands. I’m about halfway through and so far, it’s brilliant. It’s also making me want to find the southern European equivalent about swathes of mountainsides being claimed by fire, so if any of you have come across something that might be of interest, please let me know.

Book two is a classic, Marguerite Yourcenar’s MEMOIRS OF HADRIAN. I worked out that it was at least twenty years since I last read this – realisations with high numbers like that are quite upsetting – so decided it was time to return, and to return to the translation rather than reading it in French. I have the Penguin Classics edition which still uses the 1954 translation by Grace Frick, which, wonderfully, Yourcenar apparently worked on. With its exceptionally beautiful writing, its avant-le-jour treatment of queer themes, its nostalgic attempt to make sense of a changing world, and the trend for reinstating classics, I’d have thought this was a novel ripe for a new translated edition. Allez, mes braves, what are you waiting for?

As a final note, I must say, it is exceedingly gratifying to see so many Foundry titles featuring on WIT reading lists from all over the place. We are very proud of the women authors we bring into English and hope they represent what I mentioned earlier, the excellence, excitement and plurality of women’s writing to be experienced from Madrid to Nicosia.

Booker Prize longlist announcement

Having been lucky enough to be swept away in the euphoria of the International version of the prize with Matteo Melchiorre’s THE DUKE, translated by Antonella Lettieri, Instagram-induced Booker fever rather got to me too. I’m not as abreast of what’s happening in the English-speaking world of letters as I either should or would like to be – there just aren’t enough hours in the day – but like most people commentaries I’ve seen, this looks to be a pretty thrilling, multi-faceted list. (With those judges, it was always going to be, right?) I have to confess to only having read one of the books so far but am really looking forward to getting my teeth into more. I’m instinctively drawn to HELEN OF NOWHERE, ALL THEM DOGS, THE DISAPPEARERS and THE PALM HOUSE, but if would love to hear from you with your takes on what I should dive into during the dog days of August.

I’m especially excited by the range of writing and writers that the list celebrates this year. As we hope you can tell from our titles, we think hard about bringing a similar sense of variety to our list at Foundry with a broad range of genres, styles and writers, from well-established favourites in their home territories to debut authors with something exciting to say. Literary fiction, after all, is not just one thing, not the reserve of any group of writers or readers and celebrating a multiplicity of voices and imaginations is a brilliant thing to do.

Less literary, but ubiquitous in other headlines is the continued bafflement of the UK’s political live, which we can only observe with our jaws on the floor. We have our sixth prime minister in ten years, and next week, a faux byelection between a populist, whose ideas seem scanter than ever, and a man dressed as a dustbin.

One of the genres I was always keen to explore (see above re the Booker Prize) was political satire. From Swift to Orwell to The Thick of It, it feels very much part of UK writing, but non-anglophone books that deal with machinations of power structures are rarer birds. It is brilliantly (and entirely coincidentally) timed, that our October title is a fantastic Italian book that unpicks the vicissitudes of a local election in a tiny Pugliese town. I’m not going to give much away right now but make sure your radar is tuned in to PITY PIETY MERCY, by Antonio Galetta. It’s a quite brilliant debut, by a very exciting, very clever and very young writer that won Italy’s leading prize for debuts, the Campiello Opera Prima last year. It’s fascinating how a young Italian man has so much to say about what’s wrong with nation that vaunts the mother of all parliaments. It’s out at the beginning of October and is translated by the brilliant Antonella Lettieri.

Coming up soon

I’m not an autumn fan. I like days to get longer, not shorter and I’m perfectly happy not in a woolly jumper, especially as the mad climate is making mid-season so treacherous. However, this year, as the nights draw in, we have a lot of good things coming up and it makes sense to give you a bit of a preview.

Most imminently, we have Ryan Falzon visiting us from Malta in September. He’s going to be over for a week and will be speaking in Newcastle with OptIndie on Monday 14th, Libreria in London on Tuesday 15th, Borderless Books in Stroud on Wednesday 16th and wrapping up at Hatchards on Thursday 17th. I’m excited to say that judging by reactions, the inimitable YOU KNOW THE SUN BOTHERS ME has really been touching readers since it was published six weeks ago and I can’t wait to have Ryan here in the flesh to talk about the book, the inspiration behind it, and what it means to write in Maltese. You can already find more details and links to tickets on the venue websites and we’ll have more for you in the next newsletter at the beginning of September.

Following Ryan, we have two more of this year’s authors paying us a visit. We’re really excited that Ève Guerra will be here for a week at the end of October. There’ll be more details about her trip next month too but it’s going to take in Bristol, Birmingham, Belper (as a Derbyshire boy, I’m thrilled) and the ever-supportive Institut Français in London.

In November, we are extremely lucky that Karim Kattan is going to be with us again on a whistlestop visit in between promoting his new French book throughout the autumn. We’re bringing out his second novel EDEN AT DAWN, translated by Jeffrey Zuckerman, on September 22nd and we can’t wait for Karim to introduce it to his many fans here.

For a holiday month, there’s quite a lot going on! We hope that you can take it a bit easy and sink into a relaxing August. Don’t forget, if you’re going away and want to some Foundry company without getting sand into the French flaps, our titles are all available as eBooks, and if you just like the feel of paper in your hands, and fancy some inspirational reading, use the code WITM26 to get 10% off on our Women In Translation Titles in August, to celebrate the height of summer.

One last thing, if you’ve enjoyed a Foundry book, and you have some time over the summer, we’d love it if you thought about leaving a review, wherever you read them yourselves. We know that word of mouth is really the best thing to spread the love for our authors and that the best recommendations are the ones that come from other readers, so letting others read what you have to say is a brilliant way to help us build the lovely Foundry community together.

Hope you keep enjoying the Summer!

Richard

Richard Village

Editor

Foundry Editions