September 30, 2019—This International Translation Day, the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) is pleased to announce the shortlists for the 2019 National Translation Awards (NTA) in Poetry and Prose! 2019 marks the twenty-first year for the NTA, and the fifth 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 six different languages, this year’s shortlists 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 Bonnie Huie, Charlotte Mandell, and Jeffrey Zuckerman. This year’s judges for poetry are Anna Deeny Morales, Cole Heinowitz, and Sholeh Wolpe.
The winning translators will receive a $2,500 cash prize each. The awards will be announced at ALTA’s annual conference, ALTA42: Sight and Sound, held this year at the Joseph A. Floreano Riverside Convention Center and the Hyatt Regency Rochester in Rochester, NY, from November 7-10, 2019. If you can’t join us in person, follow our Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (@littranslate) for the announcement of the winners!
The 2019 NTA Shortlist in Prose (in alphabetical order by title):
Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl
by Uwe Johnson
translated from the German by Damion Searls
(New York Review Books)
Collected Stories
by Bruno Schulz
translated from the Polish by Madeline G. Levine
(Northwestern University Press)
In Black and White
by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki
translated from the Japanese by Phyllis I. Lyons
(Columbia University Press)
The Naked Woman
by Armonía Somers
translated from the Spanish by Kit Maude
(The Feminist Press)
What’s Left of the Night
by Ersi Sotiropoulos
translated from the Greek by Karen Emmerich
(New Vessel Press)
The 2019 NTA Shortlist in Poetry (in alphabetical order by title):
Architecture of Dispersed Life: Selected Poems
by Pablo de Rokha
translated from the Spanish by Urayoán Noel
(Shearsman Books)
Decals
by Oliverio Girondo
translated from the Spanish by Rachel Galvin and Harris Feinsod
(Open Letter Books)
The Future Has an Appointment with the Dawn
by Tanella Boni
translated from the French by Todd Fredson
(University of Nebraska Press)
Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania
by Adam Mickiewicz
translated from the Polish by Bill Johnston
(Archipelago Books)
Robert the Devil
by Anonymous
translated from the French by Samuel N. Rosenberg
(Penn State University Press)