Geography Challenge

Geography Challenge

Below is a list of (mostly sovereign) countries and, in gray, their local names in alphabetical order. (Disclaimer: I am not a political scientist so I may have made some mistakes here and there. Plus some of the local names have characters I don't know how to render on my Western keyboard.)

Next to the countries, in greenish, are the names of authors I have read who are from that country. I focus primarily on the birthplaces of authors. Many authors, like Nabokov, write in exile or move because life is like that; they're listed with their birthplace. Some authors are from historical localities which no longer exist: some like Kafka (Austria-Hungary) have been placed according to the modern country that holds their city (in order to aid in mapping my data), some have been omitted.

The UK and Ireland are over represented in my reading habits and have not been listed. Other countries like the USA, Australia, and Canada are also over represented in my reading habits but I list any native authors.

Authors have been entered with most recently read closest to the country name. Only authors I have read since 2006 are included.

At the bottom are Iberian minority language authors.

Recommendations are welcome! There are many countries I've not heard from directly...

A

Afghanistan (Afghanestan) Osman Yousefzada, Qais Akbar Omar, Atiq Rahimi

Albania (Shqiperia) Gazmend Kapllani, Ismail Kadare

Algeria (AlJaza'ir) Ghania Mouffok, Assia Djebar, Albert Camus

American Samoa

Andorra

Angola Eduardo Agualusa

Anguilla

Antigua and Barbuda

Argentina many but listed, see here 

Armenia (Hayastan)

Aruba

Australia/Aboriginal Tara June Winch, Doris Kartinyerig

Austria (Österreich) Peter Handke, Harry Seidler, Verena Stefan, Bachmann, Arthur Schnitzler

Azerbaijan (Azarbaycan)

B

Bahamas Cholet Kelly Josue

Bahrain (Al Bahrayn) Ali Aldairy

Bangladesh Taslima Nasrin

Barbados Glenville Lovell

Belarus (Byelarus) 

Belgium (Belgique/Belgie) Katherine Angel, Pieter Aspe, Paul Emond

Belize

Benin

Bermuda

Bhutan

Bolivia Edmundo Paz Soldán

Bosia and Herzegovina (Bosnia i Hercegovina) Saša Stanišić, Meša Selimović, Aleksandar Hemon

Botswana

Brazil (Brasil) Bruna Dantas Lobato, Adriana Lisboa, Rodrigo de Souza Leão, Gabriela Alemán, Luiza Sauma, Hilda Hilst, Paulo Coelho,

Brunei Darussalam (Negara Brunel Darussalam)

Bulgaria Kapka Kassabova

Burkina Faso

Burundi

C

Cambodia (Kampuchea) Vaddey Ratner, Putsata Reang

Cameroon Mutt-Lon, Imbolo Mbue

Canada/First Nation Tomson Highway, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Terese Marie Mailhot, Michelle Good, Tasha Spilett, Katherena Vermette, Richard Wagamese, Catherine Knutsson

Cape Verde (Cabo Verde)

Cayman Islands

Central African Republic (Republique Centrafricaine)

Chad (Tchad)

Chile Alia Trabucco Zerán, Mónica Ramón Ríos, Isabel Allende, Ramón Díaz Eterovic, Antonio Skámeta, Roberto Bolaño, Pablo Neruda

China (Zhong Guo)  many but listed, see here

Christmas Island

Cocos (Keeling) Islands

Colombia Pilar Quintana, Juan Cárdenas, Jorge Franco, Anika Fajardo, Tomás González, Laura Restrepo, Gabriel García Márquez

Comoros

Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasha) Dambisa Moyo

Republic of Congo (République du Congo) Alain Mabanckou

Cook Islands

Costa Rica

Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire) Ahmadou Kourouma

Croatia (Hrvatska) Miljenko Jergović

Cuba many but listed, see here

Curaçao
Cyprus (Kibris (Turkish) Kypros (Greek))

Czechia Bohumil Hrabal, Madeleine Albright, Egon Hostoský, Milan Kundera, Franz Kafka, Dominika Dery

D

Denmark (Danmark) Olga Ravn, Siri Ranva Hjelm Jacobsen, Ida Jessen, Søren Sveistrup, Gunnhild Øyehaug, Anne Fortier, Sandi Toksvig

Djibouti  Abdourahman A. Waberi

Dominica

Dominican Republic (La Republica Dominicana) Julia Alvarez, Junot Diaz

E

East Timor (Timor)

Ecuador

Egypt (Misr) André Aciman,Sonallah Ibrahim, Omar Robert Hamilton, Yasmine El Rashidi, Yousseff Ziedan, M.M. Tawfik, Ahdaf Soueif, Lucette Lagnado

El Salvador Horacio Castellanos Moya, Manlio Argueta

Equatorial Guinea (Guinea Ecuatorial) Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel, Trifonio Melibea Obono

Eritrea (Hagere Ertra) Haji Jabir

Estonia (Eesti Vabariik) Kalle Lasn

Ethiopia (Ityop'iya) Abraham Verghese

F

Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)

Faroe Islands (Foroyar)

Fiji

Finland (Suomen Tasavalta) Antti Tuomainen, Malin Fabbri,Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen, Wanjiku Wa Ngugi, Arto Paasilinna, Tove Jansson

France many but listed, see here 

French Guiana (Guyane)

French Polynesia (Polynésie Française)

G

Gabon Justine Mintsa

Gambia

Georgia (Sak'art'velo)

Germany (Deutschland) many but listed, see here

Ghana Ivana Akotowaa Ofori, Roseanne A. Brown, Yaa Gyasi

Gibraltar

Great Britain (United Kingdom)

Greece (Ellada) Lena Manta, Christos Ikonomou,Ioanna Karystiani, Amanda Michalpoulou, Panos Karnezis, Nikos Kazantzakis

Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat) Niviaq Korneliussen

Grenada

Guadeloupe Gerty Dambury, Maryse Condé

Guam

Guatemala Rodrigo Rey Rosa

Guinea (Guinee)

Guinea-Bissau (Guine-Bissau)

Guyuana

H

Haiti Marie Vieux-Chauvet, Edwidge Danticat

Honduras

Hong King (Xianggang) Kai-Cheung Dung, Chan Ho-Kei, Dorothy Tse 

Hungary (Magyarorszag) Arthur Koestler, Countess Emmuska Orczy

I

Iceland (Lyoveldio Island) Sjón,Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, Yrsa Sigurðóttir

India (Bharat) many but listed, see here 

Indonesia

Iran (Islamic Republic of) many but listed, see here

Iraq many but listed, see here

Ireland (Éire) overrepresented-unlisted

Israel (Yisra'el) many but listed, see here

Italy (Italia) many but listed, see here 

J

Jamaica Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn, Staceyann Chin, Nalo Hopkinson

Japan (Nippon) many but listed, see here 

Jordan (Al Urdun) Haya Saleh, Rabih Alameddine, Pierre Jarawan

K

Kazakhstan (Qazaqstan)

Kenya Ndirangu Githaiga, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o

Kiribati

Democratic People's Republic (N) Korea (Choson) Bandi, Kang Kwi-mi, Hong Seok-jung, Lim Hwa-won, Byungu Chon

Republic of (S) Korea (Han-guk) Jang Sung-Lak, Singshong, Cheon Myeong-Kwan, Un-su Kim,You-jeong Jeong, Han Kang, Jung Yun, Kyung-Sook Shin

Kosovo Pajtim Statovci 

Kuwait (Al Kuwayt) Saud Alsanousi, Saleem Haddad

Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz Respublikasy)

L

Lao

Latvia (Latvija) Irina Vladimirovna Odoevtseva

Lebanon (Lubnan) Nada Awar Jarrar, Lamia Ziadé, Charles Chahwan, Hanan Al-Shaykh

Lesotho Olive Schreiner

Liberia Helene Cooper

Libya (Libiyah) M Kamel al-Maghur, Ashur Etwebi, Mohamed Mesrati

Liechtenstein

Lithuania (Lietuva)

Luxembourg (Letzebuerg)

M

Macau (Aomen)

Macedonia (FYROM, Makedonija)

Madagascar Johary Ravaloson

Malawi

Malaysia

Maldives (Dhivehi Raajje)

Mali

Malta Joe Sacco

Marshall Islands

Martinique Patrick Chamoiseau

Mauritania (Muritaniyah)

Mauritius Nathacha Appanah

Mayotte

Mexico (Estados Unidos Mexicanos) Yuri Herrera, José Luis Zárate, Jennifer Clement, Fernanda Melchor, Cristina Rivera Garza, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Juan Pablo Villalobos, Sofía Segovia, Martín Solares, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Guadalupe Nettel, Valeria Luiselli,

Micronesia

Moldova

Monaco

Mongolia (Mongol Uls)

Montenegro (Crna Gora)

Montserrat

Morocco (Al Maghrib) Abdellah Taïa, Laila Lalami

Mozambique (Mocambique) Mia Couto

Myanmar, Burma (Myanma Naingngandaw)

N

Namibia

Nauru

Nepal Samrat Upadhyay

Netherlands (Nederland/Holland) Marijke Schermer, Anna Enquist, Willem Frederik Hermans, Gerard Reve, Hendrik Groen, N.S. Köenings, Bert Teunissen, Frank Westerman

New Caledonia (Nouvelle-Calédonie)

New Zealand (Aotearoa) Meg Mason,Emma Timpany, Anna Smaill, Alex Adams, Witi Ihimaera, Dylan Horrocks

Nicaragua Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, Gioconda Belli

Niger

Nigeria  many but listed, see here

Niue

Northern Mariana Islands

Norway (Norge) many but listed, see here

O

Oman (Saltanat Umar)

P

Pakistan Dur e Aziz Amna, Bina Shah, Nadeem Aslam, Roopa Farooki, Kamila Shamsie, Tariq Ali, Mohsin Hamid

Palau (Belau)

Palestine (Dawlat Filastin) Anton Shammas, Mourid Barghouti

Panama

Papua New Guinea (Papua Niu Gini)

Paraguay

Peru Mario Vargas Llosa, Santiago Roncagliolo, Edgar Prado, Daniel Alarcón

Philippines (Pilipinas) Jose Antonio Vargas (USA)

Pitcairn Island

Poland (Polska) Wioletta Greg, Tomasz Jedrowski, Józef Wittlin, Zygmunt Miloszewski, Marzena Sowa, Ania Ahlborn, Marek Krajewski, Bruno Schultz, Helga Schneider

Portugal Gonçalo M. Tavares, José Saramago

Puerto Rico Ann Dávila Cardinal, Eduardo Lalo, Esmeralda Santiago

Q

Qatar (Dawlat Qatar)

R

Reunion Island (Ile de la Réunion)

Romania Herta Müller, Elie Wiesel

Russian Federation (Rossiya) many but listed, see here

Rwanda Scholastique Mukasonga

S

Saint Kitts and Nevis Caryl Phillips

Saint Lucia
Saint Maarten

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Samoa Lani Wendt Young

San Marino

Sao Tome e Principe

Saudi Arabia (Al Arabiyah as Suudiyah) Rajaa Alsanea, Eman Quotah, Raja Alem, Zeba Talkhani, Safa Al Ahmad

Senegal

Serbia (Srbija) David Albahari, Dejan Tiago-Stanković, Charles Simic

Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Singapore Thea Lim, Balli Kaur Jaswal, Ovidia Yu

Sint Maarten
Slovakia (Slovensko) Uršuľa Kovalyk

Slovenia (Slovenija) Lojze Kovačič, Slavoj Žižek

Soloman Islands

Somalia Nuruddin Farah

South Africa Masande Ntshanga, J.M. Coetzee, Chanette Paul, Kenneth Bonert, Henrietta Rose-Innes, Alan Paton, Karel Schoeman, André Carl van der Merwe, Deborah Levy

South Sudan

Spain (España) many but listed, see here

Sri Lanka Mary Anne Mohanraj, Nayomi Munawaera, Romesh Gunesekera, Roma Tearne, Ru Freeman, Shyam Selvadurai

Sudan (As Sudan) Tarek Eltayeb, Leila Aboulela

Suriname Cynthia McLeod

Swaziland

Sweden (Sverige) many but listed, see here 

Switzerland (Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera) Richard Weihe, Bernadette Calonego, Emily Esfahani Smith, Alain de Botton

Syria (Suriyah) Hanna Mina, Salim Barakat, Khawla Dunia, Samar Yazbek

T

Tahiti  Célestine Hitiura Vaite
Taiwan (T'ai-wan) Qi You,Kotomi Li

Tajikistan (Jumhurii Tojikiston)

Tanzania Abdulrazak Gurnah

Thailand (Prathet Thai)

Tibet (Bod)

Togo (Republique Togolaise) Tété-Michel Kpomassie

Tokelau

Tonga

Trinidad and Tobago Ian Williams, Krystal A. Sital, V.S. Naipaul, Elizabeth Nunez

Tunisia (Tunis) Malek Sghiri

Turkey (Turkiye) Elif Shafa, Sabahattin Ali

Turkmenistan

Turks and Caicos Islands

Tuvalu

U

Uganda Moses Isegawa

Ukraine (Ukrayina) Maria Tumarkin, Markiyan Kamysh, Eugene Vodolazkin, Oksana Zabuzhko, Marina Lewycka, Irene Zabytko, Nikolai Gogol, Svetlana Alexievich

United Arab Emirates (Al Imarat al Arabiyah al Muttahidah) A.M. Kherbash

United Kingdom overrepresented
United States/Native Marcie R. Rendon, Margaret Verble, Diane Wilson, Anton Treuer, D.M. Rowell, Danielle Geller, Traci Sorell, Peter Razor, Joy Harjo, Kawai Strong Washburn, Kelli Jo Ford, Tommy Orange, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Erika T. Wurth, Janet Campbell Hale, James Welch, Thomas King, Sherman Alexie, Louise Erdrich

Uruguay (Republica Oriental del Uruguay) Eduardo Galeano

Uzbekistan Hamid Ismailov

V

Vanuatu

Venezuela Karina Sainz Borgo, Alberto Barrera Tyszka

Viet Nam Jolie Hoang, Phuc Tran, Ocean Vuong, Viet Thanh Nguyen

Virgin Islands Kacen Callender

W

Wallis and Futuna Islands

Western Sahara (As-Sahrā' al-Gharbīyah)

Y

Yemen (Al Yaman) Jamal Jubran

Z

Zambia Gaile Parkin

Zimbabwe Andrew Chatora, NoViolet Bulawanyo, Taona D. Chiveneko, Alexandra Fuller

Minority Languages of Iberia

Since I have a vested interest in minority Iberian cultures here are authors who write in their native languages. 

This list of languages is by no means comprehensive and some are controversial items. Some of these, like Extremaduran, do not actually have official recognition. Others, like Fala, may be dialects. I just keep in mind the long battle Galician had for official linguistic recognition and then for political recognition and keep them on because of my own personal interest. For this last reason (my own interest), no languages currently classified as dialects of Castellano are on here.

Catalan (Catalá/Valencià) Maria Barbal, Milena Busquets, Albert Espinosa, Josep Pla, Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, Esther Tusquets, Mercé Rodoreda, Maria Antonia Olíver, Ana María Moix,

Galician (Galego) Cristina Sánchez-Andrade, Manual Rivas, Antonio Jímenez-Landi, Camilo José Cela

Basque (Euskara) Gabriela Ybarra, Herkaitz Cano, Bernardo Atxaga, Mari Jose Olaziregi, Arantxa Iturbe, Xabier Montoia

Aragonese (Fabla Aragonés)

Occitan (Aranés/Lenga d'òc)

Asturian (Bable)

Cantabrian (Montañés)

Leonese (Llionés)

Extremaduran (Estremeñu)

Fala

Caló

Mirandese (Mirandés)

Judeo-Spanish (Ladino)