The Penguin Book of the International Short Story

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by Literary Hub

The best in short fiction from around the world, from celebrated anthologist and author John Freeman and award-winning novelist Rabih Alameddine

In The Penguin Book of the International Short Story, writers from different nations, languages, and sensibilities come together in a globe-spanning and long overdue tour of modern fiction. In “Super-Frog Saves Tokyo,” Haruki Murakami brings us a man who believes a giant amphibian is enlisting him to protect his city from an impending earthquake. In “War of the Clowns,” Mozambique’s Mia Couto sketches a perfect allegory for our divided culture. In the predecessor story to her iconic novel The Vegetarian, Han Kang depicts a protagonist quietly undergoing an unlikely transformation. A Colm Tóibín character thinks, “I do not even believe in Ireland,” while Carol Bensimon reflects from Brazil, “All great ideas seem like bad ones at some point.” Salman Rushdie brings us to unsettled rural India, Olga Tokarczuk to an ugly woman exhibit at the circus, Abdellah Taïa to the queer Arab world, Ted Chiang to a far-off galaxy.

The United States is far from the center of the literary universe. This anthology is reminiscent of iconic director Bong Joon Ho’s line about overcoming “the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles” to enter a new world of film—the work of thoughtful and accomplished translators opens the door wide for those curious about what lies beyond the Western canon and classroom. Writers from six continents, ranging from new voices to literary icons, each offer a window into a distinct point of view, both transcending and illuminating their place of origin. They offer not only captivating prose, but a reminder of the power of the imagination across space and time.

Rabih Alameddine has written nine books that have been translated into more than twenty languages. His most recent awards include the 2019 Dos Passos Prize, the 2021 Lannan Literary Award for Fiction, and the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He divides his time between his bedroom and his living room.

John Freeman is the author and editor of more than a dozen books, including The Penguin Book of the Modern American Short Story and California Rewritten.

Table of Contents

Introduction, from Rabih Alameddine and John Freeman
Superfrog Saves Tokyo, by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin
The Illumination of Santiago, by Nona Fernández, translated by Idra Novey
Apples, by Gunnhild Øyehaug, translated by Kari Dickson
My Sad Dead, by Mariana Enriquez, translated by Megan McDowell
War of the Clowns, by Mia Couto, translated by Eric M.B Becker
One Minus One, by Colm Tóibín
The Flower Garden, by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Hitomi Yoshio
Night Women, by Edwidge Danticat
The July War, by Rabih Alameddine
Cattle Praise Song, by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated by Melanie Mauthner
Garments, by Tahmima Anam
Rotten Stench, by Eva Kurniawan, translated by Annie Tucker
Amira, Who Knows, by Rawaa Sonbol, translated by Katharine Halls
Petite Mort, by Zanta Nkumane
Girl, by Jamaica Kincaid
The Fruit of My Woman, by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith
Vertical Motion, by Can Xue, translated by Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping
You Can’t Get Lost in Cape Town, by Zoë Wicomb
Squatting, by Diao Duo, translated by Brendan O’Kane
Sparks, by Carol Bensimon, translated by Beth Fowler
Exhalation, by Ted Chiang
The Ugliest Woman in the World, by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones
The Good Denis, by Marie Ndiaye, translated by Jordan Stump
Frogs, by Mo Yan, translated by Howard Goldblatt
On the Occasion of Our Fourth Divorce Anniversary, by Lana Bastašić
Loba Lamar’s Last Kiss, by Pedro Lemebel, translated by Gwendolyn Harper
The Free Radio, by Salman Rushdie
The Wounded Man, by Abdellah Taïa, translated by Frank Stock
Forty-Eight Steps, by Paxima Mojavezi, translated by Sara Khalili
Magnificat, by Linnea Axelsson, translated by Saskia Vogel
A Bright and Ambitious Good-Hearted Leftist, by Adania Shibli, translated by Christopher Stone
Islands by Aleksandar Hemon
Offside, by Cristina Rivera Garza, translated by Sarah Booker
An Unlucky Man, by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell