British readers are devouring foreign fiction in record numbers amid a mini-boom in translated novels, inspired by the success of Scandinavian authors such as Jo Nesbø.

Among a string of high-profile launches, Penguin Classics is soon to publish a collection of Arabic short stories, entitled Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange, translated by the Cambridge academic Malcolm Lyons. It is the first time in 1,000 years that the earliest-known Arabic stories will have been printed in English.

Harvill Secker, a mainstream publisher focused on translated literature, is this year publishing authors from 18 countries including Haruki Murakamiand Nesbø, the Norwegian crime writer who has sold more than 23 million copies internationally. Next year they release the fourth of a six-book autobiographical series by Karl Ove Knausgård. In Norway alone, the volume has sold 450,000 copies.

Liz Foley, Harvill Secker’s publishing director, said: “There used to be a feeling translations were ‘good for you’ and not enjoyable … like vegetables … But actually they’re wonderful books.” Translations had “become more mainstream”, said Foley, with competition for translation rights intensifying.

Surging interest in foreign literature in recent years has been sparked partly by the success of Scandinavian fiction – notably Stieg Larsson, whose Millennium books have sold more than 75 million copies in 50 countries, and popular television dramas such as The Killing. More.

See: The Guardian

Related Translation News articles:

• Books in translation take off in the U.K.; can they do the same in Canada?

Subscribe to the translation news daily digest here. See more translation news.