READ THE WORLD A to Z

With World Editions.

26 letters. 26 countries. 26 opportunities to discover stories from around the world.

I’m incredibly excited to be joining the launch team for Read the World A to Z, a new collectible series from World Editions that will take readers around the globe through translated fiction, travelling from Argentina to Zambia one letter at a time.

The concept immediately appealed to me. One of the things I love most about reading is the opportunity to experience places, cultures and perspectives beyond my own, and this series provides the perfect reason to deliberately broaden my reading even further.

Rather than simply selecting a book set in each country, World Editions has curated the collection around contemporary, influential authors whose writing reflects the social and cultural realities of their countries.

The aim is to introduce readers to modern societies, changing cultures and conversations taking place across the world, including voices from countries that remain underrepresented in English translation.

And the first three destinations have now been revealed!

🇦🇷 A is for Argentina:
All That Dies in April by Mariana Travaccio (Translated by Will Morningstar and Samantha Schnee)

Set high above the Argentine pampas, the story follows members of one family as they individually leave their isolated mountain home in search of something better.

🇧🇪 B is for Belgium:
The Woman Who Fed the Dogs by Kristien Hemmerechts (Translated by Paul Vincent).

Inspired by the real-life case of Michelle Martin, the former wife of Belgian murderer Marc Dutroux, this promises to be a particularly challenging exploration of complicity, responsibility and the woman behind one of Belgium's most infamous criminal cases.

🇨🇳 C is for China:
Cocoon by Zhang Yueran (Translated by Jeremy Tiang)

Two friends born during the 1980s begin investigating the experiences of their parents and grandparents during a turbulent period of Chinese history, uncovering a terrible crime connecting their families in the process.

I'm already intrigued by how completely different these first three selections are. From an isolated family in Argentina to one of Belgium's most notorious criminal cases and an intergenerational mystery in China, this doesn't feel like a collection designed simply to tick countries off a list.

I'm also really looking forward to discovering authors I might never otherwise have encountered. There are certain countries whose literature is readily available in English, while others remain considerably harder to find, and the prospect of eventually reaching letters such as Q, U, Y and Z makes me especially curious about what's still to come.

Then, of course, there are the books themselves. The coordinating designs make this feel like a genuine collectible series, and I already know I'm going to want to see the complete alphabet sitting together on my shelves!

The first three books are here and I'll be sharing much more as we begin travelling through the alphabet together.

Thank you World Editions for including me in this world tour!

All the books are available to purchase from World Editions here.