Celebrate Book Lovers Day 2025 with Storytelling Across Cultures
This Book Lovers Day, immerse yourself in storytelling from around the world by exploring books that celebrate diversity, bring attention to social justice, and remind us of beloved classics. From powerful narratives to lyrical poetry to literature in translation to works that delve into the relationship between language and the formation of the self, our collections offer something for every reader.
We feature a rich selection of Asian literature in translation published by Columbia University Press and by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. New from Columbia University Press, Eyes of the Ocean introduces English-language readers to Syaman Rapongan, one of the leading Indigenous writers of Taiwan. This year’s collection includes two new novels. Soft Burial and The Running Flame, by one of contemporary China’s most celebrated writers, Fang Fang. And finally, an unparalleled account of the Chinese Communist Party’s takeover of Tibet, The Red Wind Howls is both a richly imaginative work of fiction and a vital piece of historical testimony.
New from the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, The Classic of Poetry is the oldest existing collection of poetry in China. In this edition, Edward L. Shaughnessy presents a complete English translation of the 305 discrete poems. In The Poetry of Yuan Haowen, John Timothy Wixted presents the poems in translation and in their original. A Vibrant Voyage from China showcases the pith paper paintings that vividly depict daily life scenes of nineteenth-century Guangzhou. And Form Follows Fever is the first in-depth account of the turbulent years of initial urban settlement and growth of colonial Hong Kong across the 1840s.
Eris is a publisher of art, literature, and nonfiction, with a particular emphasis on politics and philosophy. Some books that speak to our times include Literature and Politics, which features Robert Musil’s writings on the relationship between literature and politics from World War I through World War II and elucidates his personal struggle to bear witness during the Age of Totalitarianism. At an ominous moment in American history, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon Contempt Is a Dangerous Way to Lead a Country stands as a calm but resonant call for compassion in an increasingly vicious and punitive political culture. I Want to Die, I Hate My Life is at once a searching philosophical engagement with tragedy and a bracing argument against the widespread tendency to reduce literary texts to mere illustrations of philosophical ideas. And NG6461 is an unforgettable account of what has gone wrong in the art world.
Julia Kristeva is a prominent French intellectual known for her work in psychoanalysis, linguistics, and literary theory. Our library of Kristeva titles explore themes of language, subjectivity, the abject, and the intersection of these concepts with culture, politics, and literature. In This Incredible Need to Believe Kristeva suggests that human beings are formed by their need to believe; in Hatred and Forgiveness she contends that constant questioning is essential to achieving the coming to terms we all seek at the core of forgiveness; Intimate Revolt ponders the future of rebellion; and Tales of Love, she focuses on the role of narcissism and idealization in the formation of a love object.
Roseway Publishing, an imprint of Fernwood Publishing, is dedicated to literary works rooted in struggles for social justice. Some of our favorites are He Who Would Walk the Earth, a debut novel that explores memory, identity, trauma, and healing through a timeless journey; Where the Jasmine Blooms is at once a political historical thriller and a Muslim feminist love story set amid the arid glamour of Lebanon’s beaches and urban landscapes; Born Sacred is an in-time reflection honoring the shared histories of Indigenous Peoples of North America and of the people in Palestine; and the beautifully illustrated One Box is a children’s counting story about a migrant worker sending a box of gifts and supplies to their loved ones in the Philippines.
Sundial House, which was launched by Columbia University’s Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures, is dedicated to showcasing the works of Iberian and Latin American authors in translation and bilingual editions. For Book Lovers Day, we recommend Archaeology of a Swan / Arqueología de un cisne, in which the Colombian writer Juliana Rozo traces two paths where beauty, trauma, and violence intersect in works of art, family lore, and historical events in Colombia. Day’s Fortune, the debut poetry collection by the Colombian poet Carlo Acevedo, carries the reader into deep reflection. Critically acclaimed in her native Brazil, Marília Arnaud’s short story collection, The Book of Affects uncovers the moving, complex, and often mystifying workings of the human heart. And Luisa Etxenike’s Cruzarelagua / Crossing Waters is a powerful reflection on the need to avoid nostalgia, move forward, and grow and adapt to new situations and environments.
This is just a sample of works of global fiction and nonfiction that we offer. Follow us throughout the year to discover literature from around the world!
