Great Japanese Stories

The dead wreak revenge on the living, paintings come alive, spectral brides possess mortal men and a priest devours human flesh in these chilling Japanese ghost stories retold by a master of the supernatural. Lafcadio Hearn drew on the phantoms and ghouls of traditional Japanese folklore – including the headless ‘rokuro-kubi’, the monstrous goblins ‘jikininki’ […]

A spellbinding selection of short stories in the original Italian alongside their English translations. This new dual-language edition of ten stories selected from The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories celebrates some of the very best twentieth-century literature from Italy. Each story appears in the original Italian alongside an expert English translation, providing unique cultural insight and […]

This is a celebration of the Japanese short story from its modern origins in the nineteenth century to remarkable contemporary works. It includes the most well-known Japanese writers – Akutagawa, Murakami, Mishima, Kawabata – but also many surprising new pieces, from Yuko Tsushima’s ‘Flames’ to Banana Yoshimoto’s ‘Bee Honey’. Ranging over myth, horror, love, nature, […]

A riveting selection of short stories in Spanish alongside their English translations. This new dual-language edition of ten stories selected from The Penguin Book of Spanish Short Stories celebrates some of the very best twentieth-century literature from Spain. Each story appears in Spanish alongside an expert English translation, providing unique cultural insight and literary inspiration for language […]