2018 Society of Authors Translation Prize Shortlists Announced

The Society of Authors in the UK – of which the excellent Translators Association (TA) forms one division – has just announced the shortlists for the various translation prizes it gives out every year. The prizes themselves will be announced and awarded during a grand ceremony in London in early February. All these prizes celebrate works that were published in the UK in 2017, and there are a number of categories, so if you’d like to read your way through the shortlists and place bets on the winners, time to get reading!

Behold the lists:

The TA First Translation Prize, which goes to a first-time translator of a book-length work and their editor:

  • Gini Alhadeff and her editor Barbara Epler for a translation of I Am the Brother of XX (And Other Stories) translated from Italian
  • Janet Hong and her editor Ethan Nosowsky for a translation of The Impossible Fairytale by Han Yujoo (Tilted Axis Press) translated from Korean
  • Fionn Petch and his editor Annie McDermott for a translation of Fireflies (Charco Press) translated from Spanish
  • Alex Valente and his editor Federico Andornino for a translation of Can You Hear Me? (Two Roads Books) translated from Italian

The John Florio Prize for translations from Italian:

  • Gini Alhadeff for her translation of I Am the Brother of XX (And Other Stories) by Fleur Jaeggy
  • Jamie McKendrick for his translation of Within the Walls by Giorgio Bassani (Penguin Classics)
  • Mario Petrucci for his translation of Xenia by Eugenio Montale (Arc Publications)
  • Cristina Viti for her translation of Stigmata by Gëzim Hajdari (Shearsman Books)
  • Cristina Viti for her translation of The World Saved by Kidsby Elsa Morante (Seagull Books)

The Schlegel-Tieck Prize for translations from German:

  • Susan Bernofsky for her translation of Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck (Granta)
  • Jen Calleja for her translation of Dance by the Canal by Kerstin Hensel (Peirene Press)
  • Tony Crawford for his translation of Wonder Beyond Belief by Navid Kermani (Polity Press)
  • Tess Lewis for her translation of Kruso by Lutz Seiler (Scribe)
  • Stefan Tobler for his translation of The Old King in his Exile (And Other Stories) by Arno Geiger:

The Scott Moncrieff Prize for translations from French:

  • Aneesa Abbas Higgins for her translation of Seven Stones by Vénus Khoury-Ghata (Jacaranda Books)
  • Sophie Lewis for her translation of Blue Self-Portrait by Noémi Lefebvre (Les Fugitives)
  • Helen Stevenson for her translation of Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou (Profile Books)
  • Frank Wynne for his translation of Vernon Subutex 1 by Virginie Despentes (MacLehose Press)
  • Sophie Yanow for her translation of Pretending is Lying by Dominique Goblet (New York Review Comics)

The Bernard Shaw Prize for translations from Swedish:

  • Deborah Bragan-Turner for her translation of The Parable Book by Per Olov Enquist (MacLehose Press)
  • Sarah Death for her translation of Wilful Disregard by Lena Andersson (Picador)
  • John Irons for his translation of Selected Poems by Lars Gustafsson (Bloodaxe Books)
  • Frank Perry for his translation of Bret Easton Ellis and the Other Dogs by Lina Wolff (and other stories)

The Premio Valle Inclán Prize for translations from Spanish:

  • Simon Deefholts and Kathryn Phillips-Miles for their translation of Inventing Loveby José Ovejero (Peter Owen Publishers)
  • Daniel Hahn for his translation of In the Land of Giantsby Gabi Martínez (Scribe)
  • Megan McDowell for her translation of Seeing Redby Lina Meruane (Atlantic)
  • Sarah Moses and Carolina Orloff for their translation of Die, My Loveby Ariana Harwicz (Charco Press)

The Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for translations from Arabic:

  • Ben Koerber for his translation of Using Life  by Ahmed Naji (CMES Publications)
  • Luke Leafgren for his translation of The President’s Gardensby Muhsin Al-Ramli (MacLehose Press)
  • Khaled Mattawa for his translation of Concerto al-Quds by Adonis (Yale University Press)
  • Jonathan Wright for his translation of Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi (Oneworld)

In the case of the Banipal Prize, which is announced on an earlier schedule, we exceptionally already know who the winner is: Luke Leafgren for his translation of The President’s Gardensby Muhsin Al-Ramli (MacLehose Press). Big congratulations to Luke and best of luck to all the other translators competing for prizes. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on Feb. 13, 2019.

More information about all the prizes and shortlisted books can be found on the Society of Authors website.

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