Translation prizes

The new Translators Association First Translation Prize and other new awards in the UK

The new Translators Association First Translation Prize has been won by the translator Bela Shayevich and her editor at Fitzcarraldo, Jacques Testard, for Second-Hand Time by Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich. The £2,000 prize was set up by translator Daniel Hahn with the Society of Authors and support from the British Council with his own 25,000€ winnings from the International Dublin literary award, which he won in 2017 with his translation A General Theory of Oblivion, a novel by José Eduardo Agualusa. →

Macron: we owe translators a lot

At the recent Frankfurt Book Fair, the French president Emmanuel Macron paid homage to the translator’s profession, and announced the creation of a “real” prize in France for translation into French (Note: a number of well regarded translation prizes already exist in France).

“Knowledge of language is knowledge of books, and such is the eminent role played by translators that I cannot speak here, before you, without paying them the homage we owe them, because translation is the first thing our diplomats do, indeed it is sometimes the heart of what they do. →

Former CEATL President Ros Schwartz receives John Sykes Memorial Prize

On 19 May 2017, former CEATL President and literary translator Ros Schwartz has received the John Sykes Memorial Prize for Excellence for achievements in the field of translation at a gala dinner at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.

The Institute of Translation and Interpreting (http://www NULL.iti NULL.org NULL.uk/) (ITI) presents this prize to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the world of translation or interpreting over a long period. →

The first Jerome’s Lion Award in Hungary went to publishers Magvető and Typotex

Saint Jerome was a church scholar and Bible translator, originator of the Vulgata, the first Latin translation that our present bible translations are based on. According to fable he once pulled a thorn from a lion’s paw, whereby the animal became his faithful pet.

Publisher of one of the award winning publishing houses, Magvető

By awarding the Jerome’s Lion, the Association of Hungarian Literary Translators (MEGY (http://www NULL.muforditok NULL.hu/)) is following the footsteps of the Polish Literary Translators Association in adapting a best practice model to the Hungarian publishing market. →

2016 Austrian State Prize for Literary Translation goes to Ulla Ekblad-Forsgren and Alexander Sitzmann

Ulla Ekblad-Forsgren

Translators Ulla Ekblad-Forsgren (Sweden) and Alexander Sitzmann (Austria) are the winners of Austria’s State Prize for Literary Translation 2016 (€ 10,000). The annual prize under the patronage of Austria’s Chancellor is awarded annually for the translation of Austrian literature into a foreign language and to Austrian literary translators.

Ulla Ekblad-Forsgren received the prize for her translation of Austrian poet Friederike Mayröcker’s complete works into Swedish. →

2016 Leipzig Book Fair Prize for Translation goes to Eva Lüdi Kong

Eva Lüdi Kong

Eva Lüdi Kong has been awarded the Leipzig Book Fair Prize for Translation for Die Reise in den Westen (‘Travel into the West’), her translation of an at least 400 year old Chinese book. In this book, whose author is unknown, four pilgrims who have been expelled from heaven and condemned to earth, describe their travel west to honour Buddha. →

The Society of Authors Translation Prizes were announced on 22 February in an event at the British Library

The £3000 Saif Ghobash Prize for Translation from the Arabic was won by Jonathan Wright for his translation The Bamboo Stalk by the Kuwaiti writer Saud Alsanousi.

The John Florio Prize of £2000 for Translation from the Italian went to Jamie McKendrick for his translation Archipelago by the Sardinian poet Antonella Anedda. →

Latest from Ireland: Literary correspondent receives award from translators and publishing house receives major funding for translations

The Irish Translators’ and Interpreters’ Association (ITIA (http://www NULL.translatorsassociation NULL.ie/)) awarded honorary membership to Eileen Battersby (http://www NULL.irishtimes NULL.com/profile/eileen-battersby-7 NULL.1010655), literary correspondent of the Irish Times, at the Irish Writers’ Centre on Friday 2 December. Ms Battersby was recognised for her championing of fiction in translation, raising awareness of translated novels and of translation in general, which plays such an important role in ensuring access to literature in other languages. →

Slovenian Jerman prize goes to Alenka Mercina

The German > Slovenian translator Alenka Mercina won the second edition of the Jerman prize (which is awarded for the translation of a work in the humanities and social sciences) for Govorica tretjega rajha: Filologova beležnica, her translation of LTI – Lingua Tertii Imperii by the author Victor Klemperer.

The award ceremony was held at the Slovenian Association of Literary Translators (http://www NULL.dskp-drustvo NULL.si/) on Tuesday, 8 November 2016. →

The 2016 Sovre Prize goes to the Russian > Slovenian translator Lijana Dejak

The Slovenian Association of Literary Translators (http://www NULL.dskp-drustvo NULL.si/) has awarded the 2016 Sovre Prize to the famous Slovenian translator Lijana Dejak for her translation of the novel Laurus by the Russian author Jevgenij Vodolazkin. The translation was published by Cankarjeva založba in 2015.

Lijana Dejak

The Sovre Prize, named after Anton Sovre (1885-1963), a Slovenian philologist and translator, is Slovenia’s main award for literary translations. →

Slovenian Prize for Young Translator of the Year awarded to Tanja Petrič and Diana Pungeršič

The 2016 Radojka Vrančič Prizes were awarded by the Slovenian Association of Literary Translators (http://www NULL.dskp-drustvo NULL.si/) on the Writers’ Stand at the 31st Slovenian Book Fair, on 24th November 2016.

Tanja Petrič received the award for Smrt zaradi muz, a collection of poems by the Austrian poet Friederike Mayröcker, published Mladinska knjiga in their Nova lirika collection in 2015. →

Grand Prize for Literary Translation 2016 awarded by the APT and the SPA

The APT (http://www NULL.apt NULL.pt/) (Associação Portuguesa de Tradutores) and the SPA (https://www NULL.spautores NULL.pt/) (Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores) had the honour of awarding the Grand Prize for Literary Translation 2016 at a ceremony on 10th November 2016.

The joint winners of the prize were Rui Carvalho Homem for his translation of Ricardo III (Richard III by William Shakespeare) and Rui Pires Cabral for his translation of Na Margem (En la orilla by the Spanish writer Rafael Chirbes). →

Gerardo de Cremona International Translation Award 2016

The Spanish association ACE Traductores (http://www NULL.ace-traductores NULL.org/) has been awarded the 2016 Gerardo de Cremona International Award (http://blog NULL.uclm NULL.es/premiogerardocremona/?lang=en) within the category Institutions from the Northern Shore. For the Southern Shore, the prize has gone to the National Centre for Translation in Egypt (http://nct NULL.gov NULL.eg/?___store=english&___from_store=default). →

Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize for 2016 for the translation of non-fiction literature awarded to Oda Myran Winsnes

Oda Myran Winsnes has been awarded the Norwegian Booksellers’ Prize for 2016 for her Norwegian translation of Samar Yazbek’s The Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria. The prize, which is awarded each year by the Norwegian Booksellers’ Association (http://www NULL.bokhandlerforeningen NULL.no/) and the Norwegian Non-fiction Writers and Translators Association (http://www NULL.nffo NULL.no/)(NFF), goes to a newly established translator of non-fiction who has produced a high quality translation of a new work of non-fiction literature. →

NORLA’s Translator’s Award 2016 goes to Nargis Shinkarenko

The Russian translator Nargis Shinkarenko is the recipient of NORLA’s 2016 Translator’s Award for her translations of non-fiction literature from Norwegian into Russian. The announcement was made on 29 September in Oslo, during the celebration of International Translation Day and the feast of St. Jerome. The award, now in its 11th year, is given annually and on an alternating basis to talented translators of fiction and non-fiction and is intended as a measure to encourage the promotion of Norwegian literature. →

Bastian translation awards for Kristina Solum and Stian Omland

Kristina Solum (Photo: Blünderbuss)

During International Translation Day celebrations in Oslo on 29 September 2016, the Bastian Prize for Outstanding Literary Translation, the Norwegian Association of Literary Translators’ (Norsk Oversetterforening (http://oversetterforeningen NULL.no/)) annual translation prize, was awarded to Kristina Solum for her translation of Roberto Bolano’s 2666.

Four other titles were featured on the shortlist: Johann Grip’s translation of Kerstin Ekman’s Herrarna i skogen, Preben Jordal’s translation of David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King, Thomas Lundbo’s translation of George Perec’s Un homme qui dort, and Silje Beite Løken’s translation of Hallgrímur Helgason’s Konan við 1000°. →

20th Helmut M. Braem Prize (2016) goes to Frank Heibert

On 11th June, the translator, novelist and jazz singer Frank Heibert was honoured for his translation of Tenth of December, a collection of short stories by George Saunders, winner of the British Folio Prize 2014. Heibert translates literature and theatre from English, French, Italian and Portuguese, by authors such as Don De Lillo, Richard Ford, William Faulkner, Boris Vian, Raymond Quenau and Yasmina Reza. →

Shortlist for European Literature Award shows a wide variety of source languages

The shortlist for the Dutch Europese Literatuurprijs (http://www NULL.europeseliteratuurprijs NULL.nl/) [European Literature Award] for 2016 has been published and shows a beautiful diversity in source languages. It is an example of the wealth in translated literature available for readers in a small-language country. This year’s laureates are: Soumission (Onderworpen) by Michel Houellebecq (France) and translator Martin de Haan, Neljäntienristeys (Waar vier wegen samenkomen) by Tommi Kinnunen (Finland) and translator Sophie Kuiper, Mees, kes teadis ussisõnu (De man die de taal van slangen sprak) by Andrus Kivirähk (Estonia) and translator Jesse Niemeijer, Vielleicht Esther (Misschien Esther) by Katja Petrowskaja (Ukraine, written in German) and translator Wil Hansen, and last but not least Terre rare (Zeldzame aarden) by Sandro Veronesi (Italy) and translator Rob Gerritse. →

2016 Leipzig Book Fair Translation Prize and 2016 Straelen Translation Award go to Brigitte Döbert

Last March, the German author, editor and translator Brigitte Döbert was awarded two important prizes for her translation of Die Tutoren, the monumental novel by the Serbian author Bora Ćosić, who left Serbia 1992 in protest against the regime. The 800-page cult epic tells the story of five generations and uses a vast array of literary techniques and genres, from farmer’s almanac and folk legend, to instruction manals, quotes from James Joyce, kitchen recipes and imaginary concoctions, constituting an enormous literary compendium of the Serbian language and gaining it a reputation for being hugely challenging for translators. →

The Jerome Lion: An award for publishers supporting literary translators

The Polish Literary Translators’ Association (http://www NULL.stl NULL.org NULL.pl/) has announced that the publisher Wydawnictwo Czarne is to be awarded the first ever Jerome Lion for supporting literary translators. Their publishing activities have demonstrated an appreciation of the importance of competent translators and a respect for translators’ work at every stage of the collaboration by offering honest contracts, staying in touch throughout the editorial process, respecting the translator’s opinion on difficult or contentious issues, promptly paying fees, and giving due recognition to the input of the translator in the presentation of the final publication. →

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