The National Translation Award (NTA) is awarded annually in poetry and in prose to literary translators who have made an outstanding contribution to literature in English by masterfully recreating the artistic force of a book of consummate quality. The NTA considers translations from translators of any nationality. The NTA is the only prize for a work of literary translation into English to include an evaluation of the source language text. 2022 marks the twenty-fourth year of the NTA and the eighth year in which the NTA is awarded separately in poetry and prose. Submissions for the National Translation Award in Prose are being accepted until April 18, 2022.
We are honored to spotlight this year’s National Translation Award in Prose judges, Suzanne Jill Levine, Arunava Sinha, and Annie Tucker. Learn about them below:
The eminent translator Suzanne Jill Levine is author of many essays and books including the literary biography Manuel Puig and the Spider Woman: His Life and Fictions (FSG, Faber & Faber, 2000) and The Subversive Scribe: Translating Latin American Fiction (Graywolf Press, 1991): both have been reprinted and published by major presses in English and Spanish. Having translated since 1970 over forty volumes (and hundreds of prose and poetry entries in journals, chapbooks and anthologies) of some of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, Levine has been awarded major honors that include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Guggenheim Foundation, translation prizes from PEN USA West and the 1996 PEN American prize for Career Achievement in Hispanic Studies.
Arunava Sinha translates classic, modern and contemporary Bengali fiction and nonfiction into English, and English fiction into Bengali. Sixty-eight of his translations have been published so far. His translation of Taslima Nasreen’s novel Shameless was a finalist for the National Translation Awards 2021, and his translation of Bhaskar Chakravarti’s Things That Happen and Other Poems was longlisted for the Best Translated Book Award 2018: Poetry. He has won three awards for translation in India, and 11 of his works have been longlisted or shortlisted for translation awards in India, the UK and the US. He teaches at Ashoka University, India.
Annie Tucker translates from Bahasa Indonesia. Her translation of Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty is a Wound was a New York Times Notable Book of 2015, longlisted for the 2016 Best Translated Book Award, and winner of the 2016 World Reader’s Award. Her work has been supported by PEN USA, The American Literary Translator’s Association, The Association for Asian Studies, US-INDO, Fulbright-Hays, and others. Annie holds a BA in English from Barnard and a PhD in Culture and Performance from UCLA. She has lived in Java and Bali and her research on Indonesia has been published in magazines, journals, and books.
Publishers, don’t forget to submit your 2021 prose in translation titles for our judges to consider by April 18!