Nolan's 'Odyssey' Film Boosts Homer Translations, Emily Wilson's Bestseller

Key facts

• Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' grossed over $264 million worldwide in its opening weekend and $1.1 billion globally, becoming his biggest hit and the highest-grossing IMAX release ever.
• After the film's release, translations of 'The Odyssey' reached Nos. 4, 8, and 49 on Amazon's bestsellers list, with the 'Iliad' at No. 61.
• Variety reported a 76 percent sales increase across all editions of the book, including text and audio.
• Spotify audiobook listens for 'The Odyssey' jumped more than 240 percent before the premiere and were up roughly 680 percent after.
• In the U.K., print sales of the epic rose by 700 percent in the week following the film's release compared to the same period in 2025.
• Stephen Fry's and Ian McKellen's audiobook narrations entered the Spotify U.K. and U.S. Top 10 lists, respectively.
• Emily Wilson's translation sits at No. 14 on Amazon and No. 2 on USA Today's bestseller list; Robert Fagles' is at No. 19 on Amazon.
• The New York Public Library reported a 338 percent increase in demand for the 'Odyssey' last month; Libby saw a 1,005.93 percent increase in checkouts compared to the same period in 2025.
• McNally Jackson bookstore chain saw sales of Wilson's translation triple between June and July; Books Are Magic sold nearly 100 copies in a month compared to its usual 10.
• Publishers Weekly reported in late July that Wilson's 'Odyssey' was the second-bestselling book in the U.S.
• Emily Wilson became the first woman to publish a complete translation of the 'Odyssey' into English verse in 2017.
• Nolan has cited Wilson's translation when discussing his film, despite Wilson publishing two critical reviews of the movie.
• New readers include a 19-year-old from France and a 56-year-old program analyst from Alabama, both choosing Wilson's translation.
• Other retellings seeing a boost include Madeline Miller's 'The Song of Achilles' and 'Circe', Emily Hauser's 'Penelope's Bones', and Mara Gold's 'Ancient Myths and Legends Without Men'.
• Karen Klaiber Hersch, chair of religion and ancient Mediterranean studies at Temple University, noted that multiple versions of Odysseus' story existed in antiquity and that these texts belong to all.