Night of a Thousand Hells is Longlisted for the National Book Award for Translated Literature

We are extremely pleased to announce that Night of a Thousand Hells by Intan Paramaditha, translated from the Indonesian by Stephen Epstein and Tiffany Tsao, has been longlisted for the 2026 National Book Award for Translated Literature! 

“Characters in three of this year’s honored novels travel great distances to uncover truths about their loved ones and, ultimately, themselves,” the judges of this year’s award wrote. “In the opening scene of Intan Paramaditha’s Night of a Thousand Hells, the youngest of three sisters becomes a suicide bomber, compelling her surviving siblings to reckon with their turbulent family history and uncover their grandmother’s destiny-altering prophecy. Translated from the Indonesian by Stephen Epstein and Tiffany Tsao, the novel blends Indonesian folklore and Islamic mysticism in an examination of social mobility, migration, and sisterhood set across Indonesia, the United States, and Australia.”

The selection of Night of a Thousand Hells for the longlist marks the first time a book translated from the Indonesian has appeared in this category. The longlist was selected from 159 submissions from publishers. The finalists will be announced on Tuesday, October 6. Winners will be announced at the 77th National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner on Wednesday, November 18, 2026.

”An unforgiving tale of political horror and womanhood by a writer that is fearless.” —Mariana Enriquez