NBG‘s recommendation list celebrates a wide range of writing forms; it isn’t just limited to novels and non-fiction studies. Below you’ll find a list of short story collections and novellas which have recently made the NBG recommendation list.

Short stories

Novellas

For the purposes of the list, we’ve defined the novella as a short novel, so here you’ll find works of fiction which are under 200 pages.

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Jury recommendations: Autumn 2025

September 1, 2025

Our Autumn 2025 selection features book titles from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, handpicked by our expert jury as particularly suitable for an international audience.

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Recap of a Virtual Translation Workshop

December 5, 2025

Riky Stock recaps a virtual translation workshop run by the Frankfurter Buchmesse, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut New York

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Where Poetry Meets the Novel: The Lyric Voices Shaping German Fiction

November 25, 2025

Sheridan Marshall, NBG’s Editorial Consultant, highlights some of the poet-novelists we have featured recently on the website.

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‘As for empathy for other societies and peoples, I think translated fiction has an essential role to play’ – an interview with François von Hurter of Bitter Lemon Press

November 14, 2025

François von Hurter of Bitter Lemon François von Hurter of Bitter Lemon talks to New Books in German about why translated crime fiction resonates so strongly with readers. talks to New Books in German about why translated crime fiction resonates so strongly with readers.

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‘Creating a stage to talk about translation’ – an interview with Simon Pare

November 11, 2025

New Books in German speaks to literary translator Simon Pare about his career, communities of translators and making translation more theatrical.

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A Year on the Magic Mountain

November 11, 2025

New Books in German speaks to literary translator Simon Pare about translating Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain and blogging about his work.

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Shining a light on travel writing in English and German – the Ilse Schwepke Prize

November 7, 2025

The Ilse Schwepcke Prize — the world’s most valuable award for travel writing by women — was created to celebrate the legacy of Ilse Schwepcke, a publisher who championed stories of exploration and discovery. We sat down with Dr Barbara Schwepcke to talk about how the prize came to be, what it stands for, and the importance of women’s perspectives on travel.

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