pen translation prize – Three Percent

2016 PEN Translation Prize Shortlists!

Chad Post — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 15:13:07 +0000

Since the New York Times didn’t reference PEN’s two translation prizes AT ALL in their official this morning (grrrrr!), I thought I’d list all the finalists here, if for no other reason than that this info exists on the Internet somewhere outside of

PEN Translation Prize ($3,000): For a book-length translation of prose into English published in 2015.

JUDGES: Elisabeth Jaquette, Aviya Kushner, Ronald Meyer, Sara Nović, and Jeffrey Zuckerman

SHORTLIST:

by Clarice Lispector
Translated from the Portuguese by Katrina Dodson (New Directions)

by Vladimir Sorokin
Translated from the Russian by Jamey Gambrell (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Translated from the Russian by Oliver Ready (Penguin Classics)

by Georgi Gospodinov
Translated from the Bulgarian by Angela Rodel (Open Letter Books)

by Viola Di Grado
Translated from the Italian by Antony Shugaar (Europa Editions)

PEN Award for Poetry in Translation ($3,000): For a book-length translation of poetry into English published in 2015.

JUDGE: Urayoán Noel

SHORTLIST:

by Luis Hernández
Translated from the Spanish by Anthony Geist (Swan Isle Press)

Translated from the Chinese by David Hinton (New Directions)

by Angélica Freitas
Translated from the Portuguese by Hilary Kaplan (Phoneme Media)

Translated from the Russian by Philip Metres and Dimitri Psurtsev (Cleveland State University Poetry Center)

Translated from the Japanese by Sawako Nakayasu (Canarium Books)

Obviously, I’m most excited that is on this list, but every author, translator, and publisher on here deserves to be congratulated. As do the judges. Pairing down the ten title longlists is a daunting task, and I’m sure picking a single winner is going to be exponentially more difficult.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll get individual posts up about all of these books, but in the meantime, I hope you share this information and pick up one of them to read . . .

PEN Translation Prizes

Chad Post — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 23:52:05 +0000

This morning, PEN America for their two annual translation prizes—the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation and the PEN Translation Prize (for prose.)

I’m going to start by listing the PEN Translation Prize longlist, which includes an Open Letter title! This has never happened before, so I’m a little extra jazzed up today. (I’ll do the poetry separately, probably with fewer comments, since I’m a philistine.)

And yes, I know you could click the link above and get most of this same information, but I wanted to include links to all the books on the press’s actual websites, instead of the listings on Amazon/IndieBound. Plus, I thought I’d add some commentary.

by Ronit Matalon, translated from the Hebrew by Dalya Bilu (Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Company)

Prior to this announcement, all I knew about this book is that the review copy is sitting next to Kaija’s desk awaiting assignment and that Dalya Bilu is a translation bad ass. Now I know that it features “Sammy, a gentle giant, almost blind, but a genius with welding.”

translated from the Portuguese by Katrina Dodson (New Directions)

Is this the odds-on favorite to win? Yes, it is the odds-on favorite to win. (Especially since somehow Valeria Luiselli’s The Story of My Teeth didn’t make it. That was the biggest shocker to me.)

by Vladimir Sorokin, translated from the Russian by Jamey Gambrell (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

I wasn’t a huge fan of Sorokin’s Day of the Oprichnik (see this review), but I liked the Ice Trilogy more than most (and went bonkers with this piece) and fully intend to read this book. During a Rochester blizzard, naturally. With a lot of vodka. As you do. That said, can we finally get past this zombie thing? I’m so over it. I blame that Walking Dead abomination of a TV show for keeping this trend going way too long. Zombies are like the dabbing of monster tropes—now that it’s not cool anymore.

by Bae Suah, translated from the Korean by Sora Kim-Russell (AmazonCrossing)

This is huge for two reasons: It’s the first time I’ve seen an AmazonCrossing book up for a big translation award, and Bae Suah is about eleven months from taking the world by storm. (We’re bringing out her next novel next fall and everyone is going to go apeshit over it.) I love Bae and Sora Kim-Russell, which is why this is probably the most pleasant surprise to see on the list. I actually reviewed this one for

by Richard Weiner, translated from the Czech by Benjamin Paloff (Two Lines Press)

Super intrigued by this title, which has been on my to read shelf for a while. Benjamin Paloff is a great translator, and the cover is pretty intriguing. I’m always attracted to books that are categorized as “dreamlike, anxiety-ridden fiction.” Which is maybe why my anxiety levels are so damn high. We should translate more sedate literature. Books about perhaps.

by Anne Garréta, ranslated from the French by Emma Ramadan (Deep Vellum Publishing)

Deep Vellum opened yesterday! They also finally updated their website! Also, this is the first novel by a female member of the Oulipo to be translated into English. It will probably make the shortlist on that fact alone.

by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, translated from the Russian by Oliver Ready (Penguin Classic)

Just what the world needs now! A new translation of a Dostoevsky novel to go along with all the other new translations of Dostoevsky novels! I’m sure it’s great! But I’ll personally never read this book again. One and done, like Kentucky basketball.

by Georgi Gospodinov, translated from the Bulgarian by Angela Rodel (Open Letter Books)

This should win. Obviously. Also, you can buy it now via our website for 40% off. Just use the code “BookSeason” at checkout.

by Viola Di Grado, translated from the Italian by Antony Shugaar (Europa Editions)

Another book I’m not familiar with, although I’m pretty sure that my heart is hollow. And filled with rage. I once met Antony in Turin, which is an incredible city. Watch, this is the book that will win, mostly because I’m too lazy to look up the description.

by Patrick Modiano, translated from the French by Phoebe Weston-Evans (Yale University Press/Margellos World Republic of Letters)

So many Modiano books! I went on and on about this on the last podcast, but my god are there so many of his books coming out. From so many presses! I’m actually looking forward to reading this and the one from HMH, but I’ll pass on the Other Press one. (Hey look, no Other Press books on the list!)

PEN Award Shortlists [Spoiler: One of Our Books is a Finalist!]

Chad Post — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 18:27:21 +0000

PEN just announced the shortlists for a ton of their annual awards, including the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation and the PEN Translation Prize, which, for obvious reasons, are the ones that I’m most interested in.

First off, here’s the which is the one featuring an Open Letter title:

Spit Temple by Cecilia Vicuña (Ugly Duckling Presse), Rosa Alcalá

Diadem by Marosa di Giorgio (BOA Editions), Adam Giannelli

Tales of a Severed Head by Rachida Madani (Yale University Press), Marilyn Hacker

The Smoke of Distant Fires by Eduardo Chirinos (Open Letter Books), G. J. Racz

Almost 1 Book/Almost 1 Life by Elfriede Czurda (Burning Deck), Rosmarie Waldrop

The Shock of the Lenders and Other Poems by Jorge Santiago Perednik (Action Books), Molly Weigel

Don Mee Choi is the judge for this award, and to digress for a second, I want to recommend her translation of Kim Hyesoon’s book of poetry, All the Garbage of the World, Unite! As I mentioned on here before (and in our podcast), I recently judged a South Korean literature contest and this was one of the absolute best books that was included. She’s a fantastic translator and All the Garbage of the World, Unite! is a really interesting, strange collection. (And has a fun title.)

Moving onto the here are the finalists:

A Long Day’s Evening by Bilge Karasu (City Lights Books), Aron Aji and Fred Stark

Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector (New Directions), Alison Entrekin

Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), Rosalind Harvey

The Cardboard House by Martín Adán (New Directions), Katherine Silver

The Island of Second Sight by Albert Vigoleis Thelen (Galileo Publishers), Donald O. White

Really solid list, although Maidenhair deserves to be on there . . . and no Satantango? Anyway . . . Judging this award are Margaret Carson, Bill Johnston, and Alex Zucker.

Congrats to all the authors, translators, and publishers. The winners will be announced in August, and we’ll post about them here when they are . . .