Book Series Guide

Author guide

Damion Searls Books in Order

Damion Searls is an American writer in English and a literary translator from Norwegian, German, French, Dutch, and Faroese. His authored books include fiction, travel writing, a biography and history of the Rorschach test, poetry, and an account of translation. He has translated works by writers including Jon Fosse, Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Rainer Maria Rilke, Marcel Proust, and Patrick Modiano, and has received Guggenheim, NEA, and Cullman Center fellowships.

fictionliterary nonfictionpoetrytranslation studies

Catalog record updated .

Damion Searls's Newest Book

Cover of Analog Days

Analog Days

novel · First published 2025

Acclaimed translator Damion Searls's exuberant debut novella navigates the bittersweet tug-of-war between nostalgia and living life meaningfully in a world buzzing with constant connection and information overload. Analog Days is a snapshot of a circle of friends living through the sorrows and joys of a particular inflection point in history. Amid the ever-present news cycles, watching the world shift around them, they fall back on film and friendship and art as the last bastions of meaning in their fragmented lives. Moving from coffee shops to bars, from New York City to San Francisco, Analog Days immerses us in the individual lives set adrift among the pivotal events of our recent history.

Not sure where to begin?

Start with one of these

Cover of The Inkblots: Hermann Rorschach, His Iconic Test, and the Power of Seeing

The Inkblots: Hermann Rorschach, His Iconic Test, and the Power of Seeing

The strongest entry point for Searls’s literary nonfiction and historical writing.

Cover of Analog Days

Analog Days

The clearest entry point to his fiction.

Cover of The Philosophy of Translation

The Philosophy of Translation

A central statement of his thinking about reading, writing, and translation.

Outside the series

Bibliography by category

Novels (2)
  1. The Philosophy of Translation

    nonfiction · 2024

    A deep dive into the nature of translation from one of its most acclaimed practitioners Avoiding theoretical debates and clichéd metaphors, award‑winning translator Damion Searls has written a fresh, approachable, and convincing account…

  2. Analog Days

    novel · 2025

    Acclaimed translator Damion Searls's exuberant debut novella navigates the bittersweet tug-of-war between nostalgia and living life meaningfully in a world buzzing with constant connection and information overload. Analog Days is a…

Nonfiction (2)
  1. Everything You Say Is True: A Travelogue

    travelogue · 2003

  2. The Inkblots: Hermann Rorschach, His Iconic Test, and the Power of Seeing

    biography · 2017

    'Searls restores much of [the inkblot test's] potency in this rich and resonant book . . . Even in the age of alternative facts, there are still right answers, and wrong ones, and the inkblots still ring true’ Sunday Times ‘A marvelous…

Short fiction (1)
  1. What We Were Doing and Where We Were Going

    short-story-collection · 2009

    Seventeen years after the publication of the first volume of Jacques Roubaud's epic and moving "The Great Fire of London," Dalkey Archive Press is proud to publish the first English translation of The Loop, the second novel in Roubaud's…

Poetry (1)
  1. The Mariner’s Mirror

    poetry-chapbook · 2025

Frequently asked questions about Damion Searls

Who is Damion Searls?

Damion Searls is a writer in English and an award-winning literary translator from German, Norwegian, French, and Dutch. He is also known for writing literary nonfiction about subjects such as the Rorschach test.

Sources: damionsearls.com (opens in a new tab)nationalbook.org (opens in a new tab)

Where was Damion Searls born and educated?

He was born in New York City in 1971, grew up there, studied at Harvard, and earned a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.

Sources: thebookerprizes.com (opens in a new tab)catranslation.org (opens in a new tab)simonandschuster.com.au (opens in a new tab)

What languages does Damion Searls translate from?

Searls translates literary works from German, Norwegian, French, and Dutch, including works by writers such as Marcel Proust, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Jon Fosse.

Sources: damionsearls.com (opens in a new tab)thebookerprizes.com (opens in a new tab)

What inspired Damion Searls to become a literary translator?

Searls has said that Philip Boehm’s translation of Ingeborg Bachmann’s Malina was the first translation that made him want to become a translator. His love of literature also led him to learn Norwegian specifically to read Jon Fosse.

Source: thebookerprizes.com (opens in a new tab)

What awards and major honors has Damion Searls received?

He has received Guggenheim, Cullman Center, and two NEA fellowships, as well as the Schlegel-Tieck, PEN Center USA, and Helen and Kurt Wolff translation prizes. His translation of Jon Fosse’s A New Name: Septology VI–VII was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize.

Sources: thebookerprizes.com (opens in a new tab)damionsearls.com (opens in a new tab)nationalbook.org (opens in a new tab)