December 2019 - TRANSLATIONiSTA

December 23rd, 2019

2020 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Winners

This year’s PEN/Heim Translation Fund grant recipients were chosen from among a record-size pool of 272 applicants. These grants, made possible by a donation by legendary translator and translation advocate Michael Henry Heim, support translations-in-progress, often work by first-time or otherwise emerging translators and often lead to projects finding publishers. This year’s advisory board, including Alta Price, Elisabeth Jaquette, Jenny Wang Medina, Jeremy Tiang, Katie Dublinski, Lara Vergnaud, Natasha Wimmer, Peter Constantine, Tess Lewis, and Chair Samantha Schnee, selected 11 projects translated from ussian, Italian, Korean, French, Portuguese, Galician, Vietnamese, Bengali, and Spanish. Ten of this year’s grants are worth $3,481 each, while one, to the winner of the PEN Grant for the English Translation of Italian Literature (always given out at the same time), amounts to $5000. More than half of this year’s supported projects are for books by women authors, which I’m delighted to see.

Here’s the list: Read More…

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December 14th, 2019

2020 PEN Translation Prize Longlists Announced

PEN America has just announced the longlists for the 2020 PEN Translation Prize (for a book-length work of translated fiction) and the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation (for a book of translated poems). Each prize comes with a purse of $3000. This year’s jury in fiction includes Sean Gasper Bye, Jim Hicks, Geoffrey C. Howes, Sara Khalili, Elizabeth Lowe, Jenny McPhee; the poetry jury is comprised of Michael Eskin, Forrest Gander, and Pierre Joris.

PEN Translation Prize Semifinalists:

When Death Takes Something From You Give It Back: Carl’s Book, Naja Marie Aidt (Coffee House Press)
Translated from the Danish by Denise Newman
If You Cross the River: A Novel, Geneviève Damas (Milkweed Editions)
Translated from the French by Jody Gladding Read More…

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December 13th, 2019

Modern Language Association Announces 2018 Translation Prizes

So it turns out I’ve been misnumbering the Modern Language Association’s translation prizes for years now (unless they have). But rather than retroactively renumbering every announcement to date, I’ll leave earlier posts alone and start with this year counting the years the crazy way the MLA does, which is as follows: the 2018 prizes are for books published in 2018; they are announced in 2019 (i.e. now) and awarded in 2020. Go figure. So last year’s awards, which I announced as the “2018” awards, are actually 2017 by the MLA’s reckoning. If you have any questions about this, please consult the MLA.

Now onwards to the prize announcements! The following prizes have just been announced and will be presented at the MLA convention in January.

Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Literary Work:

Linda Coverdale, Brooklyn, New York, for Slave Old Man, by Patrick Chamoiseau (New Press, 2018)
Honorable mention: Ellen Elias-Bursać, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and David Williams, Raglan, New Zealand, for Fox, by Dubravka Ugresic (Open Letter Press, 2018)
Honorable mention: Michael Hofmann, University of Florida, Gainesville, for Berlin Alexanderplatz, by Alfred Döblin (New York Review Books, 2018)

Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for a Translation of a Scholarly Study of Literature (for 2017/2018): Read More…

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December 2nd, 2019

2019 Society of Authors Translation Prize Shortlists Announced

The Translators Association (TA) in the UK, a division of the Society of Authors, has just announced the shortlists for the various translation prizes it gives out every year. The prizes themselves will be announced in early February. All these prizes celebrate works that were published in the UK in 2018, and all of these books are already highly recommended (or they wouldn’t have made the shortlists), so why not pick your favorite category and start reading? Maybe you’ll even pick the winning books ahead of the judges!

Behold the lists:

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

Sarah Booker and their editor Lauren Rosemary Hook for a translation of The Iliac Crest by Cristina Rivera Garza (And Other Stories). Translated from Spanish.
Natascha Bruce and their editor Jeremy  Tiang  for a translation of Lonely Face by Yeng Pway Ngon (Balestier Press). Translated from Chinese (Singapore).
Morgan Giles and their editor Saba Ahmed for a translation of Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri (Tilted Axis Press). Translated from Japanese.
Ellen Jones and their editors Fionn Petch and Carolina Orloff for a translation of Trout, Belly Up by Rodrigo Fuentes (Charco Press). Translated from Spanish.
William Spence and their editor  Tomasz Hoskins  o r  a translation of The Promise: Love and Loss in Modern China by XinRan Xue (I. B. Tauris). Translated from Mandarin.
Charlotte Whittle and their editor Bella Bosworth for a translation of People in the Room by Norah Langé (And Other Stories). Translated from Spanish.

Translation on Tap in NYC, Dec. 1 – 31, 2019

As we enter the dark weeks of the year, it’s good to remember that the days will start getting longer again before the month is out. Maybe some translation events will help as well! (~~So far I’ve just heard about one, so~~ if you know of others, please send them my way.)

Saturday, Dec. 7:

Aline & Valcour: launch event for the first-ever translation of this book by the Marquis de Sade. With the book’s translators Jocelyne Genvieve Barque and John Galbraith Simmons joined by Allan Graubard and Tuli Velazquez Farley, moderated by translator Christopher Wink. More information here. Unnameable Books, 600 Vanderbilt Ave., Brooklyn, 7:00 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 11:
SUPER / NATURAL launch & reading featuring translator Gnaomi Stevens joined by Tori Ashley Matos, Timothy Liu, Robert Ostrom, and Justin Boening. More information here. Berl’s Brooklyn Poetry Shop, 141 Front St., Brooklyn, 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 12:

Geometry of Shadows: a discussion and bilingual reading of Giorgio de Chirico’s Italian poetry featuring translator Stefania Heim joined by John Yau. More information here. Tibor De Nagy Gallery, 11 Rivington St., 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, Dec. 14:

Tradurre (Translate): a movie about literary translators from 2008, directed by Pier Paolo Giarolo. More information here. MoMA, Fl. T2/T1, 11 W. 53rd St., 4:00 p.m.

Also Saturday, Dec. 14:

Thought Edge Insolvent: Translator Genya Turovskaya joins Moina Pam Dick and Jeremy Hoevenaar for a reading. More information here. Berl’s Brooklyn Poetry Shop, 141 Front St., Brooklyn, 4:00 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 17:

The Next Loves: launch event for this book by Stéphane Bouquet, translated by Lindsay Turner. Turner and Bouquet will be joined by readers including Rijard Bergeron, Peter Gizzi, Brian Hochberger, Jaye Elizabeth Johnson, Rachel Levitsky, Lucky, Maureen McClane, and Aldrin Valdez. More information here. Callicoon Fine Arts, 49 Delancey St., 6:30 p.m.

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