The latest crop of PEN Translates awards given out by English PEN (with support from Arts Council England) has just been announced. These awards are available to help with the publication costs of translations of work in a variety of genres, up to 75% of translation costs, or even up to 100% in the case of smaller publishers. Only UK publishers may apply, but the translator may be of any nationality (including U.S.-American), which is good to keep in mind when you’re thinking about whom to pitch your projects to.
Here’s the list of freshly supported projects:
- The Distance between Us by Renato Cisneros, translated from Spanish by Fionn Petch. Charco Press, August 2018 Country of origin: Peru
- The Sea Needs No Ornament edited and translated from Spanish by Loretta Collins Klobah and Maria Grau Perejoan. Peepal Tree Press, autumn 2018. Country of origin: The Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Virgin Islands
- The Book of Cairo edited by Raph Cormack. Comma Press, January 2019. Translated from Arabic by Raphael Cohen, Basma Ghalayini, Thoraya al-Rayyes, Elisabeth Jaquette, Andrew Leber, Raph Cormack, Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp, Kareem James Abu Zeid, Yasmine Seale, Adam Talib. Country of origin: Egypt
- Resistance by Julián Fuks, translated from Portuguese by Daniel Hahn. Charco Press, October 2018. Country of origin: Brazil
- Negative of a Group Photograph by Azita Ghahreman, translated from Farsi by Maura Dooley and Elhum Shakerifar. Poetry Translation Centre/Bloodaxe Books, October 2018. Country of origin: Iran/Sweden
- My Name is Adam by Elias Khoury, translated from Arabic by Humphrey Davies. Maclehose Press, November 2018. Country of origin: Lebanon
- Song of Stars by Guus Luijters, translated from Dutch by Marian de Vooght. Smokestack Books, October 2018. Country of origin: The Netherlands
- Thirteen Months of Sunrise by Rania Mamoun, translated from Arabic by Elisabeth Jacquette. Comma Press, April 2019. Country of origin: Sudan
- Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda, translated from Japanese by Polly Barton. Tilted Axis Press, 2019. Country of origin: Japan
- Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor, translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes. Fitzcarraldo Editions, October 2019. Country of origin: Mexico
- Sergius Seeks Bacchus by Norman Erikson Pasaribu, translated from Indonesian by Tiffany Tsao. Tilted Axis Press, 2019. Country of origin: Indonesia
- To Leave with the Reindeer by Olivia Rosenthal, translated from French by Sophie Lewis. And Other Stories, March 2019. Country of origin: France
- The Madwoman of Serrano by Dina Salústio, translated from Portuguese by Jethro Soutar. Dedalus Books, January 2019. Country of origin: Cape Verde
- Singer in the Night by Olja Savičević, translated from Croatian by Celia Hawkesworth. Istros Books, March 2019. Country of origin: Croatia
- The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán, translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes. And Other Stories, November 2018. Country of origin: Chile/UK
- The Frightened Ones by Dima Wannous, translated from Arabic by Elisabeth Jacquette. Harvill Secker, April 2019. Country of origin: Syria
- Zuleikha by Guzel Yakhina, translated from Russian by Lisa Hayden. Oneworld Publications, April 2019. Country of origin: Russia
Can you spot the translator who has two books on the list? How about the translator who has three? Huge congratulations to them and all the others whose work was selected for support.