American readers who enjoy international or translated literature do not have accesss to many books from U.S. publishers.  Only 3% of the books published each year in the U.S. are translated into English from other languages.  For readers looking for foreign literary works, sites like amazon.co.uk have often been the only solution short of a trip abroad.

A few publishers have stepped up to expose American readers to literary works from abroad, including Open Letter Books.  Open Letter only publishes literature in translation, and it has released 16 books in the past year by authors from Mexico, Croatia, Brazil, Germany, Russian, Poland and South Africa.  Best of all, the price is right.  Open Letter offers a subscription service; for $100 a year (or $60 for six months), readers will receive every book that is published during that time.   To sweeten the deal, shipping costs within the U.S. are free.

Photo by mansionwb under license from Creative Commons.