Today, the American Literary Translators Association announced its shortlists for the 2024 National Translation Awards, which celebrate “literary translators who have made an outstanding contribution to literature in English by masterfully recreating the artistic force of a book of consummate quality.” Prizes will be awarded in both poetry and prose.
“Our judges had the very difficult task of narrowing down this year’s submissions to these two shortlists of impressive translations, ranging from the intimate to the epic in scale,” said Corine Tachtiris, ALTA’s Vice President, in a press release. “In a year where AI is dominating the headlines, these translations all attest that AI will never be able to replace the artistry, nuance, and risk that characterizes the work of human translators.”
The winners, who will each be awarded a prize of $4,000, will be announced in a ceremony on October 26th.
In the meantime, here are the shortlists:
Prose:
Mathias Énard, The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers’ Guild
Translated from French by Frank Wynne
New Directions (US), Fitzcarraldo Editions (UK)
Tezer Özlü, Cold Nights of Childhood
Translated from Turkish by Maureen Freely
Transit Books
Yu Miri, The End of August
Translated from Japanese by Morgan Giles
Riverhead Books (US), Tilted Axis Press (UK)
Marosia Castaldi, The Hunger of Women
Translated from Italian by Jamie Richards
And Other Stories
Juan Gómez Bárcena, Not Even the Dead
Translated from Spanish by Katie Whittemore
Open Letter Books
Cheon Myeong-kwan, Whale
Translated from Korean by Chi-Young Kim
Archipelago Books (US), Europa Editions (UK)
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Poetry:
Pierre Alferi, And the Street
Translated from French by Cole Swensen
Green Linden Press
Balam Rodrigo, Central American Book of the Dead
Translated from Spanish by Dan Bellm
FlowerSong Press
Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi, A Friend’s Kitchen
Translated from Arabic by Bryar Bajalan with the poet Shook
The Poetry Translation Centre
Ovid, Ovid’s Metamorphoses
Translated from Latin by C. Luke Soucy
University of California Press
Ulrike Almut Sandig, Shining Sheep
Translated from German by Karen Leeder
Seagull Books
Ostap Slyvynsky, Winter King
Translated from Ukrainian by Vitaly Chernetsky and Iryna Shuvalova
Lost Horse Press
