Night of a Thousand Hells by Intan Paramaditha, translated by Stephen J. Epstein and Tiffany Tsao, has been selected as one of five Finalists for the 2026 National Book Awards, in the category of Translated Literature.
The winners will be announced at the 77th National Book Awards Ceremony, on November 18.
More information HERE
Scribe's edition of Night of a Thousand Hells is coming out in February 2027.
FINALIST FOR THE 2026 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATED LITERATURE
A genre-defying feminist gothic novel blending Indonesian folklore, Islamic mysticism, horror, and political reckoning.
International literary sensation Intan Paramaditha returns with her most ambitious and haunting work to date. The novel opens with a devastating act: the youngest of three sisters becomes a suicide bomber. In the aftermath, her surviving siblings are forced to confront the violent, buried truths of their family history. Their search leads them to long-concealed secrets, and to the prophecies of their grandmother, whose shadowy wisdom has shaped their fates.
Set across Indonesia, the United States, and Australia, the novel explores class divides, sisterhood, migration, shame, abandonment, and the politics of care — all through a ghostly, atmospheric lens that draws on Asian folktales and occult traditions.
With its blend of political urgency, mythic resonance, and psychological depth, Night of a Thousand Hells is a singular contribution to global feminist literature.
Intan Paramaditha is an Indonesian author, scholar, and feminist activist. Her latest novel, Night of a Thousand Hells, translated by Stephen J. Epstein and Tiffany Tsao, is a finalist for the 2026 National Book Award for Translated Literature. A Harvard Radcliffe Fellow, she has also written The Wandering (2020), longlisted for the Stella Prize and winner of an English PEN Translates Award, and the story collection Apple and Knife (2018), part of Vintage Classics’ ‘Weird Girls’ series. She holds a PhD from New York University and is Senior Lecturer in the School of Communication, Society and Culture at Macquarie University, Sydney. She co-founded the feminist collective Sekolah Pemikiran Perempuan.
Tiffany Tsao is a writer and literary translator. Her translations of Indonesian writing have been awarded the PEN Translation Prize, the NSW Premier’s Translation Prize, the Republic of Consciousness Prize for Small Presses, and longlisted for the International Booker Prize. She is the author of But Won't I Miss Me and The Majesties. She holds a PhD in English from UC-Berkeley and works as Deputy Editor at Sydney Review of Books.
