Best Translated Book Award

Last updated
Best Translated Book Award
Awarded forBest original translation of a work of fiction and poetry into English
Sponsored by Amazon.com
CountryUnited States
Hosted by Three Percent
Reward(s)$5,000
First awarded2008
Last awarded2020
Website besttranslatedbook.org

The Best Translated Book Award was an American literary award that recognized the previous year's best original translation into English, one book of poetry and one of fiction. It was inaugurated in 2008 and was conferred by Three Percent, the online literary magazine of Open Letter Books, which is the book translation press of the University of Rochester. A long list and short list were announced each year leading up to the award.

Contents

The award took into consideration not only the quality of the translation but the entire package: the work of the original writer, translator, editor, and publisher. The award was "an opportunity to honor and celebrate the translators, editors, publishers, and other literary supporters who help make literature from other cultures available to American readers." [1]

In October 2010 Amazon.com announced it would be underwriting the prize with a $25,000 grant. [2] This would allow both the translator and author to receive a $5,000 prize. Prior to this the award did not carry a cash prize.

In January 2023, the prize's initiator, Chad Post, announced on the Three Percent blog that the award, which had not been given out since 2020, would remain on "continued hiatus." [3]

Winners

Fiction

YearAuthorWorkTranslatorLanguagePublisherCountry
2008 Dorothea Dieckmann Guantanamo Tim Mohr GermanSoft SkullGermany
2009 Attila Bartis Tranquility Imre Goldstein HungarianArchipelagoHungary
2010 Gail Hareven The Confessions of Noa Weber Dalya Bilu HebrewMelville House PublishingIsrael
2011 Tove Jansson The True Deceiver Thomas Teal SwedishNew York Review BooksFinland
2012 Wiesław Myśliwski Stone Upon Stone Bill Johnston PolishArchipelago BooksPoland
2013 László Krasznahorkai Satantango George Szirtes HungarianNew DirectionsHungary
2014 László Krasznahorkai Seiobo There Below Ottilie Mulzet HungarianNew DirectionsHungary
2015 Can Xue The Last Lover Annelise Finegan Wasmoen ChineseYale University PressChina
2016 Yuri Herrera Signs Preceding the End of the World Lisa Dillman SpanishAnd Other StoriesMexico
2017 Lúcio Cardoso Chronicle of the Murdered House Margaret Jull Costa and Robin Patterson PortugueseOpen Letter BooksBrazil
2018 Rodrigo Fresán The Invented Part Will Vanderhyden SpanishOpen Letter BooksArgentina
2019 Patrick Chamoiseau Slave Old Man Linda Coverdale FrenchNew PressMartinique
2020 Daša Drndić EEG Celia Hawkesworth CroatianNew DirectionsCroatia

Poetry

YearAuthorWorkTranslatorLanguagePublisherCountry
2009 Takashi Hiraide For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut Sawako Nakayasu JapaneseNew DirectionsJapan
2010 Elena Fanailova The Russian Version Genya Turovskaya and Stephanie Sandler RussianUgly Duckling PresseRussia
2011 Aleš Šteger The Book of Things Brian Henry SlovenianBOA EditionsSlovenia
2012 Kiwao Nomura Spectacle & Pigsty Kyoko Yoshida and Forrest Gander JapaneseOmnidawnJapan
2013 Nichita Stănescu Wheel with a Single Spoke Sean Cotter RomanianArchipelago BooksRomania
2014 Elisa Biagini The Guest in the Wood Diana Thow, Sarah Stickney and Eugene Ostashevsky ItalianChelsea EditionsItaly
2015 Rocío Cerón Diorama Anna Rosenwong SpanishPhoneme MediaMexico
2016 Angélica Freitas Rilke Shake Hilary Kaplan PortuguesePhoneme MediaBrazil
2017 Alejandra Pizarnik Extracting the Stone of Madness Yvette Siegert SpanishNew DirectionsArgentina
2018 Eleni Vakalo Before Lyricism Karen Emmerich GreekUgly Duckling PresseGreece
2019 Hilda Hilst Of Death. Minimal Odes Laura Cesarco Eglin Portugueseco-im-pressBrazil
2020 Etel Adnan TimeSarah RiggsFrenchNightboat BooksLebanon

Awards

The first awards were given in 2008 for books published in 2007. The Best Translation Book Awards are dated by the presentation year, with the book publication the previous year. [4]

Blueribbon icon.png = winner.

2008

The award was announced January 4, 2008 for books published in 2007. [5] It was the first award and was based on open voting by readers of Three Percent, who also nominated the longlist. [6]

Fiction shortlist

Poetry shortlist

2009

The award was announced February 19, 2009 for book published in 2008. There was a ceremony at Melville House Publishing in Brooklyn hosted by author and critic Francisco Goldman. [7]

Fiction shortlist

Poetry shortlist

2010

The award was announced March 10, 2010 at Idlewild Books. [8] According to award organizer Chad Post, "On the fiction side of things we debated and debated for weeks. There were easily four other titles that could've easily won this thing. Walser, Prieto, Aira were all very strong contenders." [9]

Fiction shortlist

Poetry shortlist

2011

The longlist was announced January 27, 2011. The shortlist was announced March 24, 2011. [10] The winners were announced April 29, 2011 at the PEN World Voices Festival by Lorin Stein. [11]

Fiction shortlist

Poetry shortlist

2012

The longlist was announced February 28, 2012. [14] The shortlist was announced April 10, 2012. [15] The winners were announced May 4, 2012. [16]

Fiction shortlist

Poetry shortlist

2013

The longlist was announced March 5, 2013. The shortlist was announced April 10, 2013. [18] [19] The winners were announced May 6, 2013. [20]

Fiction shortlist

Poetry shortlist

2014

The longlist was announced March 11, 2014, [21] the shortlist was announced April 14, 2014. [22] [23] The winners and two runners-up in each category were announced April 28, 2014. [24]

Fiction shortlist, runners-up and winner

Poetry shortlist, runners-up and winner

2015

The longlist was announced April 7, 2015. [25] [26] The shortlist was announced May 5, 2015. [27] [28] The winners were announced May 27, 2015. [29]

Fiction shortlist and winner

Poetry shortlist and winner

2016

The longlist was announced on March 29, 2016. [30] The shortlist was announced April 19, 2016. [31] [32] The winners were announced May 4, 2016. [33]

Fiction shortlist and winner

Poetry shortlist and winner

2017

The longlist for fiction and poetry was announced March 28, 2017. [34] The shortlist was announced April 19, 2017. [35] The winners were announced May 4, 2017. [36]

Fiction shortlist
Poetry shortlist

2018

The longlist for fiction and poetry was announced April 10, 2018. [37] The shortlist was announced May 15, 2018. [38] The winners were announced May 31, 2018. [39]

Fiction shortlist
Poetry shortlist

2019

The longlist for fiction and poetry was announced April 10, 2019. [40] The shortlist was announced May 15, 2019. [41] The winners were announced May 29, 2019. [42]

Fiction shortlist
Poetry shortlist

2020

The longlist for fiction and poetry was announced April 1, 2020. [43] The shortlist was announced May 11, 2020. [44] The winners were announced May 29, 2020 in a public Zoom meeting.

Fiction shortlist
Poetry shortlist

2021-present

The award went on hiatus in 2021. [45]

Notes

  1. ↑ "EVENT: '2009 Best Translated Book Awards' to be Announced on Feb. 19", Feb 13, 2009
  2. ↑ "Amazon.com to Underwrite Open Letter's Best Translated Book Awards". The Daily Record . 2010-10-21. Retrieved September 25, 2012.
  3. ↑ Post, Chad. "To All the Posts I Didn't Write Last Year". Three Percent. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  4. ↑ Three Percent has been inconsistent in naming the award, sometimes using the year in which the books were published, as in this example, other times naming it for the year in which the award is given (the following year), as in this official press release.
  5. ↑ "And the winner is..", post by Chad Post
  6. ↑ 2007 long list
  7. ↑ "2009 Best Translated Book Winners"
  8. ↑ official 2010 BTBA Winners Press Release
  9. ↑ Chad Post. "Best Translated Book Award Winners (BTBA) 2010", March 10, 2010.
  10. ↑ 2011 Best Translated Book Award Finalists, Chad Post, March 23, 2011
  11. ↑ "2011 Best Translated Book Award Winners: Aleš Šteger’s "The Book of Things" and Tove Jansson’s "The True Deceiver"", Chad Post, Three Percent, April 29, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Swedish novel, Slovenian poetry win $5,000 prizes". Associated Press. May 5, 2011.
  13. ↑ RD Pohl (May 11, 2012). "Steger's "The Book of Things" wins Best Translated Book Award for BOA Editions". Buffalo News .
  14. ↑ And Here It Is: The BTBA 2012 Fiction Longlist, Chad Post, Three Percent, 28 Feb 2012.
  15. ↑ "2012 Best Translated Book Award Finalists: Fiction and Poetry", Chad Post, Three Percent, April 10, 2012.
  16. ↑ The 2012 Best Translated Book Award Winners, Chad Post, Three Percent, May 4, 2012.
  17. ↑ "Books from Japan and Poland win translation awards". Associated Press. May 4, 2012.
  18. ↑ Chad W. Post (April 10, 2013). "2013 Best Translated Book Award: The Fiction Finalists". Three Percent. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
  19. ↑ Chad W. Post (April 10, 2013). "2013 Best Translated Book Award: The Poetry Finalists". Three Percent. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
  20. ↑ Chad W. Post (May 6, 2013). "2013 BTBA Winners: Satantango and Wheel with a Single Spoke". Three Percent. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
  21. ↑ Chad W. Post (March 11, 2014). "BTBA 2014 Fiction Longlist: It's Here!". Three Percent. Retrieved March 11, 2014.
  22. ↑ Chad W. Post (April 14, 2014). "2014 Best Translated Book Awards: Poetry Finalists". Three Percent. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  23. ↑ Chad W. Post (April 14, 2014). "2014 Best Translated Book Awards: Fiction Finalists". Three Percent. Retrieved April 18, 2014.
  24. ↑ Chad W. Post (April 28, 2014). "BTBA 2014: Poetry and Fiction Winners". Three Percent. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
  25. ↑ Chad Post (April 7, 2015). "2015 Best Translated Book Award Fiction Longlist (Fiction)". Three Percent. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  26. ↑ Chad Post (April 7, 2015). "2015 Best Translated Book Award Fiction Longlist (Poetry)". Three Percent. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  27. ↑ Chad post (May 5, 2015). "2015 Best Translated Book Award Fiction Finalists". Three Percent. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  28. ↑ Chad post (May 5, 2015). "2015 Best Translated Book Award Poetry Finalists". Three Percent. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  29. ↑ Chad Post (May 27, 2015). "BTBA 2015 Winners: Can Xue and Rocío Cerón!". Three Percent. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  30. ↑ "Three Percent: 2016 BTBA Fiction Longlist". www.rochester.edu. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  31. ↑ "Three Percent: 2016 Best Translated Book Award Fiction Finalists". www.rochester.edu. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  32. ↑ "Three Percent: 2016 Best Translated Book Award Poetry Finalists". www.rochester.edu. Retrieved 2016-05-03.
  33. ↑ Chad W. Post (May 4, 2016). "2016 Best Translated Book Award Winners: "Signs Preceding the End of the World" and "Rilke Shake"". Three Percent. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  34. ↑ "Announcing the 2017 BTBA Longlists for Fiction and Poetry". The Millions. March 28, 2017. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
  35. ↑ "The 2017 Best Translated Book Award Shortlist". World Literature Today . April 18, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  36. ↑ "And the Winners of the 2017 Best Translated Book Awards Are…". The Millions. May 4, 2017. Retrieved May 4, 2017.
  37. ↑ "ANNOUNCING THE BEST TRANSLATED BOOK AWARD 2018 LONGLIST". Bookriot. April 10, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  38. ↑ "The 2018 Best Translated Book Award Finalists Have Been Announced". Literary Hub. May 15, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  39. ↑ "And the Winners of the 2018 Best Translated Book Awards Are…". The Millions. May 31, 2018. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  40. ↑ "Best Translated Book Awards Names 2019 Longlists". The Millions. April 10, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  41. ↑ "Best Translated Book Awards Names 2019 Finalists". The Millions. 15 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  42. ↑ "And the Winners of the 2019 Best Translated Book Awards Are…". The Millions. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
  43. ↑ "Best Translated Book Awards Names 2020 Longlists". The Millions. 2020-04-01. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  44. ↑ "Best Translated Book Awards Names 2020 Finalists". The Millions. 11 May 2020. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  45. ↑ "Best Translated Book Award 2021 « Three Percent" . Retrieved 2021-05-11.

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