September 1, 2022—The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) is pleased to announce the longlists for the 2022 National Translation Awards (NTA) in Poetry and Prose! 2022 marks the twenty-fourth year for the NTA, and the eighth year to award separate prizes in poetry and prose. The NTA, which is administered by ALTA, is the only national award for translated fiction, poetry, and literary nonfiction that includes a rigorous examination of both the source text and its relation to the finished English work.
Featuring authors writing in 14 different languages, this year’s longlists expand the prize’s dedication to literary diversity in English. The selection criteria include the quality of the finished English language book, and the quality of the translation. This year’s prose judges are Suzanne Jill Levine, Arunava Sinha, and Annie Tucker. This year’s judges for poetry are Hélène Cardona, Boris Dralyuk, and Archana Venkatesan.
The winning translators will receive a $2,500 cash prize each. The awards will be announced at ALTA’s annual awards ceremony, which in 2022 will be held virtually. The awards ceremony will air on October 6, 2022 on ALTA’s Eventbrite page; this event is free and open to the public.
The 2022 NTA Longlist in Prose (in alphabetical order by title):
The Assommoir
by Émile Zola
translated from French by Brian Nelson
(Oxford University Press)
Billy Wilder on Assignment: Dispatches from Weimar Berlin and Interwar Vienna
by Billy Wilder
translated from German by Shelley Frisch
(Princeton University Press)
Harsh Times
by Mario Vargas Llosa
translated from Spanish by Adrian Nathan West
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Here in Our Auschwitz and Other Stories
by Tadeusz Borowski
translated from Polish by Madeline G. Levine
(Yale University Press)
In Case of Emergency
by Mahsa Mohebali
translated from Persian/Farsi by Mariam Rahmani
(The Feminist Press)
A Long Way from Douala
by Max Lobe
translated from French by Ros Schwartz
(Other Press)
More Than I Love My Life
by David Grossman
translated from Hebrew by Jessica Cohen
(Jonathan Cape)
The Morning Star
by Karl Ove Knausgaard
translated from Norwegian by Martin Aitken
(Penguin Press)
Moshkeleh the Thief: A Rediscovered Novel
by Sholom Aleichem
translated from Yiddish by Curt Leviant
(The Jewish Publication Society, University of Nebraska Press)
On Time and Water
by Andri Snaer Magnason
translated from Icelandic by Lytton Smith
(Biblioasis / Open Letter Books)
The Tale of Princess Fatima, Warrior Woman: The Arabic Epic of Dhat Al-Himma
by an unknown author
translated from Arabic by Melanie Magidow
(Penguin Classics)
The Wedding Party
by Liu Xinwu
translated from Mandarin by Jeremy Tiang
(Amazon Crossing)
Follow this link to see what the judges had to say about each of the longlisted titles.
The 2022 NTA Longlist in Poetry (in alphabetical order by title):
Another Life
by Daniel Lipara
translated from Spanish by Robin Myers
(Eulalia Books)
Black Earth: Selected Poems and Prose
by Osip Mandelstam
translated from Russian by Peter France
(New Directions)
Eccentric Days of Hope and Sorrow
by Natalka Bilotserkivets
translated from Ukrainian by Ali Kinsella and Dzvinia Orlowsky
(Lost Horse Press)
Exhausted on the Cross
by Najwan Darwish
translated from Arabic by Kareem James Abu-Zeid
(NYRB Poets)
The Flowers of Evil
by Charles Baudelaire
translated from French by Aaron Poochigian
(Liveright Publishing Corporation, W. W. Norton & Company)
Purgatorio
by Dante Alighieri
translated from Italian by D. M. Black
(NYRB Classics)
The Science of Departures
by Adalber Salas Hernández
translated from Spanish by Robin Myers
(Kenning Editions)
Follow this link to see what the judges had to say about each of the longlisted titles.
Congratulations to all the translators, authors, and publishers on these lists!