Somehow the announcement of the West-Coast-based PEN Center USA’s awards didn’t reach my desk on the East Coast in a timely fashion this year. But now that the news has belatedly arrived, I’m delighted to share it with you. This year’s prize in the category literary translation has gone to Kareem James Abu-Zeid for his translation of Confessions by Rabee Jaber (New Directions). Three runners-up were also named as a shortlist (which contains, I’m happy to see, 50% female authors):
Philip Boehm, The Fox Was Ever The Hunter by Herta Müller (Metropolitan)
Geoffrey Brock, Six Memos For The Next Millennium by Italo Calvino (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Jordan Stump, Cockroaches by Scholastique Mukasonga (Archipelago)
For a list of the 2017 prizewinners in all eight categories, please visit the PEN USA website. Congratulations to all the translators whose work was honored!