Susan Bernofsky's Blog, page 39

2015 National Translation Award Shortlists Announced

I’m sure you’ve been on tenterhooks ever since the longlists for the National Translation Award were announced back in July. Well, the wait is over. The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) has just published its 2015 NTA shortlists in Poetry and Prose. I’m thrilled to be on one of them, and in such excellent company. The winners will be announced at a prize ceremony at the annual ALTA conference (to be held this year in Tucson, AZ, Oct. 28-31, 2015). Maybe I’ll see you there? With no further ado, behold the lists:

The 2015 NTA Shortlist in Poetry (in alphabetical order by author):

Breathturn into Timestead by Paul Celan (Romania)

Translated from the German by Pierre Joris

(Farrar Straus and Giroux)

Guarding the Air: Selected Poems of Gunnar Harding (Sweden)

Translated from the Swedish by Roger Greenwald

(Black Widow Press)

Wallless Space by Ernst Meister (Germany)

Translated from the German by Graham Foust and Samuel Frederick

(Wave Books)

In the Illuminated Dark: Selected Poems of Tuvia Ruebner (Slovakia)

Translated from the Hebrew by Rachel Tzvia Back

(University of Pittsburgh Press/Hebrew Union College Press)

Sheds/Hangars  by José-Flore Tappy (Switzerland)

Translated from the French by John Taylor

(The Bitter Oleander Press)

The 2015 NTA Shortlist in Prose (in alphabetical order by author):

New Waw, Saharan Oasis by Ibrahim al-Koni (Libya)

Translated from the Arabic by William M. Hutchins

(Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin)

End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck (Germany)

Translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky

(New Directions)

The Woman Who Borrowed Memories by Tove Jansson (Finland)

Translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal & Silvester Mazzarella

(New York Review Books)

Why I Killed My Best Friend by Amanda Michalopoulou (Greece)

Translated from the Greek by Karen Emmerich

(Open Letter Books)

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (Russia)

Translated from the Russian by Marian Schwartz

(Yale University Press)

Running Through Beijing by Xu Zechen (China)

Translated from the Chinese by Eric Abrahamsen

(Two Lines Press)

For descriptions of the books and their translations, see the ALTA website.

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Vote for Your Favorite Work in Translation Supported by English PEN

English PEN’s Writers in Translation programme (yes, I can occasionally manage British spelling) just turned ten. For a decade now, in other words, they’ve been helping U.K. publishers pay to have books translated and promoted, and have provided support for U.K.- and Europe-based translators wishing to undertake translation and readers reports to place their favorite foreign-language books with English-language publishers. Feeling envious, U.S.-based translators and publishers? Well, you should. U.S. translators can still benefit indirectly from the support if they sometimes work for U.K. publishers, but for the most part we’re out in the cold. The British have all these nice programs because they have a government that supports the arts (via the British Council) at a significantly higher level than we have in the U.S., where the National Endowment for the Arts does all it can (and we’re grateful for the grants it gives), but our government keeps it on a starvation budget. Apparently we as a nation prefer to spend our tax money on fancy new drones and bombs.

Anyhow, English PEN is celebrating its decennial by presenting its “Best of the World Bookshelf,” featuring 100 translated books that have been supported by PEN. I’m proud to see my translation of Jenny Erpenbeck’s The End of Days among them, but on a list of 100 books you’re bound to find other favorites as well. And PEN would like to see which of your favorites actually are your favorites, so if you’ve got a moment, do have a glance at their list and then put in a vote for a book that has meant something to you over the past decade. The winning book will enjoy a new round of publicity courtesy of PEN. You can keep an eye on the leader board here. Get your votes in before November, and may the most beloved book win.

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Goodmorning Menagerie’s 2nd Annual Chapbook Translation Prize

Things worked out well last year with the Goodmorning Menagerie chapbook translation prize (including new and improved translation rights instructions), so they’re running it again. Who’s in? For a pay-what-you-will submission fee, you can compete for the chance to have your work appear in a limited-edition handmade chapbook with a woodblock-printed cover that will come out in time for AWP 2016. Any questions? Check out submission details on the GM website, and make sure to submit by Halloween. Oh, and congratulations to last year’s winners, poet Enrique Winter and translator David McLoghlin, who together produced Sign Tongue.

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2015 ALTA Mentorships Announced

This year ALTA (the American Literary Translators Association) is starting a new mentorship program designed to pair emerging translators with seasoned pros for a year of expert guidance. The first year of the program is modest by design: three mentorships are being offered in three languages. Assuming all goes well during this pilot year, the idea is to expand the program in future years. The single largest challenge involved in this expansion is finding additional donors able to support new mentorships, either in a particular language area or “at large.” (If you have ideas for funding sources or would like more information on funding a mentorship yourself, please get in touch!) The costs of the program include an honorarium for mentors and travel expenses for participants to attend the yearly conference, where mentors can work with their mentees in person; for most of the year, the advising sessions take place by telephone, email, and video chat. This program is an important addition to ALTA’s support of emerging translators, and I am thrilled to see it taking shape. Special kudos to the civic-minded translators behind ELTNA (the Emerging Literary Translators Network in America), who were instrumental in the development of this new program.

And now (drumroll) here are the three emerging translators selected from a group of more than 60 applicants to participate in ALTA’s first-ever mentorship program:

Scott Shanahan (Catalan) – who will work with Ronald Puppo

Anna Zaranko (Polish) – who will work with Bill Johnston

Joyce Zonana (French) – who will work with Alyson Waters

Wishing all mentors and mentees a productive and energizing collaboration!

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Translation on Tap in NYC, Oct. 1 – 15, 2015

Thursday, Oct. 1:

Circumference Reading Series: The poetry-in-translation journal returns to its Columbia University roots with an open-to-the-public reading on campus featuring translation faculty Edith Grossman and Rowan Ricardo Phillips along with alumna Yvette Siegert. More information here. 501 Dodge Hall, Columbia University, 7:00 p.m.

 

Friday, Oct. 2:

Us & Them: A Writer/Translator Reading Series. The Fall 2015 installment of this reading series featuring writers who are also translators reading both their own and translated work will present Idra Novey translating Garous Abdolmalekian (Persian); Sara Novic translating Izet Sarajlić (Bosnian); Matt Turner translating Lu Xun & Fei Ming (Chinese) and Alex Woodend translating Bei Dao (Chinese). Molasses Books, 770 Hart St. (Dekalb L), Brooklyn, 8:00 p.m.

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2015 Harold Morton Landon Translation Award Announced

The Harold Morton Landon Translation Award has been given out by the Academy of American Poets annually since 1976. Previous recipients of this $1000 award include Susanna Nied, Robert Fagles, Jen Hofer, and W.S. Merwin (full list here). This year’s prize, judged by Bill Johnston, goes to Roger Greenwald for his translation of Guarding the Air: Selected Poems of Gunnar Harding.

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2015 ALTA Fellows Announced

Every year the American Literary Translators Association gives out 5 or 6 $1000 fellowships to emerging translators attend the annual conference (to be held this year in Tucson, AZ, the last week of October, details here). ALTA Fellows present their work in a festive reading the first evening (Thursday) of the conference – it’s great exposure (everyone goes), and they have many other opportunities in the course of the conference to connect with established translators who share their language areas and interests. This year’s slate of fellows has just been announced:

Claire Eder (French)

Anne Greeott (Italian & Spanish)

Audrey Hall (Spanish)

Christiana Hills (French)

Canaan Morse (Chinese)

Visit the ALTA website for full profiles of each of the 2015 Fellows and information about the conference. Congratulations, Claire, Anne, Audrey, Christiana, and Canaan – I look forward to meeting you!

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2015 PEN Center USA Translation Award Announced

The PEN Center USA (with headquarters in California, not to be confused with the PEN American Center with headquarters in NYC) has just announced its 2015 literary award winners, including in the category of literary translation. This year’s prize goes to Ainsley Morse & Peter Golub for their translation of Anatomical Theater by Andrei Sen-Senkov (Zephyr Press). Three runners-up have also been named as a longlist:

Dick Cluster, for A Corner of the World by Mylene Fernández-Pintado (City Lights)

Jessica Cohen, for Falling Out of Time by David Grossman (Alfred A. Knopf)

Susan McLean, for Selected Epigrams of Martial (University of Wisconsin Press)

This year’s panel of judges included Sean Cotter, Piotr Florczyk and Anthoyn Seidman. Congratulations for all the translators whose work was honored!

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Translation on Tap in NYC, Sept. 16 – 30, 2015

It’s Brooklyn Book Festival time, and there’ll be a lot of juicy translation-flavored events before, during, and after the main day of festivities (Sunday, Sept. 20). You’ll find a complete festival program here. But I picked out the translationlicious plums for you:

Thursday, Sept. 17:

Discovering Emmanuel Bove: A Discussion with Donald Breckenridge and translator Alyson Waters apropos of the publication of Henri Duchemin and His Shadows, more information here. Albertine, 972 Fifth Avenue, 7:00 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 18:

PEN Translation Presents: “Expressive Expedients,” on the translation of works containing both words and images, with Robert Bononno, Cobina Gillitt, Alyson Waters, and Hans Witschi, moderated by Alta Price.

Die Mücke (The Gnat), ©Hans Witschi

By the way, Hans Witschi isn’t a translator per se, he’s a really wonderful painter who lives in the East village. I’m a huge fan of his work and think he’s brilliant. There’s also an extremely impressive lineup on translators on this event, so it should be pretty spectacular all round. More information here. A Public Space, 323 Dean St., Brooklyn, 6:30 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 20:

PEN Translation Presents: “Translating Books for Youth,” with translators Claudia Zoe Bedrick, Julia Heim, Mara Lethem, and Lyn Miller-Lachmann, moderated by Alex Zucker. This one’s an official BBF event. More information here. St. Francis College Workshop Room, 180 Remsen St., 2:00 p.m.

Also Sunday, Sept. 20:

​Community Bookstore presents: A Celebration of Elena Ferrante, featuring translator Ann Goldstein, joined by Michael Reynolds, Lauren Groff and Lisa Lucas. More information here. St. Francis McArdle, 180 Remsen St., 5:00 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 21:

Net Lit Unlimited: A discussion on the limits and un-limits of sharing literature on the net, with translators Katy Derbyshire and Eric M.B. Becker, joined by Geoff Mak. If you don’t know Katy’s blog yet, check it out!.Event information here. Goethe-Institut, 30 Irving Place, 6:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Sept. 22:

The things we don’t do: Andrés Neuman in conversation with translator Heather Cleary apropos of the publication of The Things We Don’t Do, translated by Nick Caistor & Lorenza Garcia. More information here. McNally Jackson Books, 52 Prince St., 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, Sept. 24:

In Celebration of Heda Margolius Kovály’s Lost Novel: Innocence; or, Murder on Steep Street, with translator Alex Zucker. More information here. Greenpoint Public Library, 107 Norman Ave. at Leonard St., Brooklyn, 6:30 p.m.

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Call for Nominations: Italian Prose in Translation Award

The American Literary Translators Association has just announced a new prize for works of Italian literature in English translation: the Italian Prose in Translation Award (IPTA), a $5000 prize that recognizes the importance of contemporary Italian prose (fiction and literary non-fiction) and promotes the translation of Italian works into English. Starting this year, the prize will be awarded annually.

Here’s how the judging will go:

Submissions will be judged according to the literary significance of the original and the success of the translation in recreating the literary artistry of the original. While the IPTA is primarily intended to recognize the translation of contemporary works, re-translations or first-time translations of important older works will also be seriously considered.

For this inaugural year of the prize’s existence, works published in English between 2011 and 2014 are eligible. Both translators and publishers may submit nominations. For more information or to nominate a title, click here, and click fast: the deadline for nominations is Sept. 15, 2015.

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