The Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize, which was inaugurated in 2009, recognizes the importance of Asian translation for international literature and promotes the translation of Asian works into English. Stryk was an internationally acclaimed translator of Japanese and Chinese Zen poetry, renowned Zen poet himself, and former professor of English at Northern Illinois University. Both translators and publishers are invited to submit titles, and submissions are open this year until April 15.
We’re thrilled to have Chenxin Jiang, Vivek Narayanan, and Hai-Dang Phan as this year’s Lucien Stryk judges! Find out more about them below:
Chenxin Jiang translates from Chinese, German, and Italian. Her recent translations include Tears of Salt: A Doctor’s Story by Pietro Bartolo and Lidia Tilotta (Norton), the PEN/Heim-winning The Cowshed: Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution by Ji Xianlin (NYRB), and French Concession by Xiao Bai. She has also translated works by Zsuzsanna Gahse and Jan Wagner, and is currently working on translations of the Hong Kong-based poet Yau Ching. Chenxin is a member of the Third Coast Translators Collective.
Credit: Dyuti Mittal
Vivek Narayanan’s books of poetry include Universal Beach (Mumbai: Harbour Line, 2006; re-issued, in a re-imagined US edition by ingirumimusnocteetconsumimurigni in 2011) and Life and Times of Mr S (HarperCollins, 2012). A full-length collection of his poems in Swedish translation was published in 2015 by the Stockholm-based Wahlström & Widstrand. He has been a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University (2013-14) and a Cullman Fellow at the New York Public Library (2015-16) as part of work for his ongoing current project, an experimental “writing through” of the Sanskrit of Valmiki’s Ramayana. He currently teaches at George Mason University.
Hai-Dang Phan is the author of Reenactments, a book of poems and translations (Sarabande 2019). His poetry has been published widely, including in the New Yorker, Poetry, New England Review, Lana Turner, and Best American Poetry 2016, and his translations of Vietnamese poet Phan Nhien Hao have appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Cerise Press, Sink Review, Waxwing, and Two Lines. He has received fellowships and scholarships from the National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the American Literary Translators Association. Born in Vietnam, he teaches at Grinnell College and lives in Iowa City.