The Booker Prizes celebrates the world’s most outstanding fiction, whether written in or translated into English, and each month they shine a spotlight on a different book from the Booker Library.
This month, they are celebrating Norman Erikson Pasaribu’s Happy Stories, Mostly with a reading guide, an extract, a Q&A with translator Tiffany Tsao and a chance to win a copy of the book. Access the Booker Monthly Spotlight today
We will be sharing the Booker Prizes Monthly Spotlight for you to enjoy each month.
Introducing the Booker Prizes July Monthly Spotlight: Happy Stories, Mostly by Norman Erikson Pasaribu, translated by Tiffany Tsao
It’s a collection of 12 tragicomic tales that blend the everyday and the absurd. The book centres queer experiences and exposes the fragility of happiness.
Longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2022, Pasaribu’s collection was described by the judges as ‘bittersweet’ and as a work of translation that ‘shimmers and soars’.
Norman Erikson Pasaribu is a queer Indonesian writer and poet. Their story and poetry collections have been nominated for multiple prizes in their home country and abroad, including the PEN Translates Award and the Republic of Consciousness Prize.
Tiffany Tsao is an American translator of Indonesian fiction and poetry. She’s written three books of her own and translated six books by Indonesian authors.
Three years on from the nomination, Tiffany Tsao tells us how important it was to bring Pasaribu’s voice to an English-speaking audience.
Our Monthly Spotlight for July includes a reading guide and extract from Happy Stories, Mostly, along with a Q&A with Tiffany Tsao and a chance to win a copy of the book.
The International Booker Prize 2025
The Booker Prizes have announced the winner for this year’s International Booker Prize – the world’s most influential prize for a single work of translated fiction.
Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq and translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi, is the first collection of short stories to win the prize – written over 30 years, the 12 stories chronicle the lives of women in patriarchal communities in southern India.
Find out all about the winner here.
Get your winner digital pack here.
Reminder of the shortlist here.
Get involved
If you work in a library or workplace and would like to promote the winner, you can download a free digital pack from our shop.
Share your thoughts with us on Facebook, X and Instagram using #InternationalBooker2025.
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