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2009 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
The 2009 prize is now open for submissions. Eligible titles must have been published in the UK between 1 January and 31 December 2008. The author must be alive at the time the translation is published in the UK.
The closing date is 12 December 2008.
Further information and entry forms are available at www.artscouncil.org.uk/iffp
EU cuts subsidies to European translation centres
The Translators Association notes that 'the European Union (internal translation budget estimated at €1 billion) has decided to cut its subsidies to Europe’s translation centres, which offer residencies to literary translators and play a key role in bringing together translators and authors.
'There are more than 12 centres in Europe which enable translators to work in the countries of the authors they are translating and gain a deeper knowledge of the language and culture, to take part in translator training initiatives and public events, or simply to concentrate unhindered on their very demanding task.
'The European Council of Literary Translators Associations (CEATL) is shocked and outraged by this decision not to support the translation centres, which is in blatant contradiction with the very idea of a multilingual, multicultural Europe, where the work of literary translators is fundamental for mutual understanding, not only in literature but also in the fields of philosophy, science, the social sciences, fine arts, cinema and theatre.'
Manotti wins Duncan Lawrie International Dagger
Dominique Manotti's Lorraine Connection, translated by Amanda Hopkinson and Ros Schwartz and published by EuroCrime, has won the Crime Writers' Association's 2008 Duncan Lawrie International Dagger.
The prize (£5,000 to the author, £1,000 to the translator(s)) celebrates the best crime, thriller, spy or suspense novel to have been translated into English for UK publication.
al Aswany short stories to Fourth Estate
It has been announced that Fourth Estate will publish Friendly Fire, a collection of short stories by the author of The Yacoubian Building.
Earlier in the year it was reported that the book was going to be one of the first titles to be published by new imprint Arabia Books (see below).
The Maias wins again
Having won the $3,000 PEN/Book of the Month Translation Prize, Margaret Jull Costa's translation of The Maias by Eça de Queiroz (Dedalus) has now been awarded the Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize.
Helen Dunmore, who presented the prize on 5 June, said:
'Eça de Queiroz spent eight years writing The Maias. This is a novel in the tradition of Flaubert or Dickens, in which de Queiroz anatomizes a society through a brilliant drama of a family’s decline and downfall.
'Margaret Jull Costa’s translation is supple, transparent and wonderfully paced. There seems to be no barrier at all between the reader and what the author intended. The novel shades from realism to romanticism, from satire to tragedy. The vigour and charm of the characters come across beautifully in this translation, and so does de Queiroz’s biting, sometimes despairing view of Lisbon society in the last quarter of the nineteenth century.'
2008 Duncan Lawrie International Dagger shortlist
The Crime Writers Association has announced the shortlists for this year's Daggers, the awards that celebrate the best crime writing.
One of the Daggers is awarded to the best translated crime, thriller, suspense or spy fiction novel that has been translated into English from their original language, for UK publication.
The Maias march on
Margaret Jull Costa's translation of The Maias by Eça de Queiroz (Dedalus) has won the $3,000 PEN/Book of the Month Translation Prize.
The book has also been shortlisted for the Oxford Weidenfeld Translation Prize, along with another Dedalus title, George Rodenbach's The Bells of Bruges (tr. Mike Mitchell).
The shortlist in full is:
The Maias by Eça de Queiroz, tr. Margaret Jull Costa (Dedalus)
Raving Language: Selected Poems 1946-2006 by Friederike Mayröcker, tr. Richard Dove (Carcanet)
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Giorgio Bassani, tr. Jamie McKendrick (Penguin)
The Bells of Bruges by Georges Rodenbach, tr. Mike Mitchell (Dedalus)
We byYevgeny Zamyatin, tr. Natasha Randall (Vintage)
The Darkroom of Damocles by WF Hermans, tr. Ina Rilke (Harvill Secker)
The Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize is for literary translations into English from living European languages. It is funded by Lord Weidenfeld and by New College, The Queen’s College and St Anne’s College, Oxford. This year’s judges were Helen Dunmore (Guest Judge), Katherine Lunn-Rockliffe, Chris Miller and Matthew Reynolds (Chair).
The winner will be announced at St Anne's College, Oxford, on 5 June
Belgian author/translator wins Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
Paul Verhaeghen has won the 2008 IFFP for his translation of his own novel Omega Minor (Dalkey Archive Press)
UK translator wins Swedish Academy's Interpretation Prize
Sarah Death, who has been translating Swedish literature for more than twenty years and also edits the Swedish Book Review, has been awarded the Swedish Academy's Interpretation Prize.
The prize, which was first awarded in 1965, is for a body of translation work rather than a single book and can be given to a translator out of Swedish into any other language.
Arcadia and Haus launch new imprint
Two UK publishers have joined forces to promote and publish contemporary translated fiction from the Arab world. Their joint venture ties in perfectly with the focus on Arabic writing at the 2008 London Book Fair.
Arabia Books will publish ten titles this autumn, one of which will be Friendly Fire: Ten Tales of Today's Cairo by Alaa Al Aswany, auhtor of the bestselling The Yacoubian Building.
(April 2008)
Dubai to host international festival of literature
The Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature will be held in Dubai between 25 February and 1 March 2009.
EAIFL is directed by Isobel Abulhoul, Director of Magrudy’s, the region’s leading chain of bookshops, and Bill Samuel, Vice Chairman of London’s bookshop, Foyles.
Abulhoul said: 'This festival is the first of its kind in the Middle East to provide a showcase for authors from the region, as well as bringing internationally bestselling writers to a new audience.
2008 International Impac Dublin Prize
The shortlist for the world's largest literary award was announced on 2 April. Four of the eight titles are translated novels; almost all of them are set in foreign countries:
The Speed of Light by Javier Cercas (Bloomsbury); translated from Spanish by Anne McLean
Let it be Morning by Sayed Kashua (Atlantic); translated from Hebrew by Miriam Shlesinger
The Attack by Yasmina Khadra (William Heinemann); translated from French by John Cullen
The Woman Who Waited by Andrei Makine (Sceptre); translated from French by Geoffrey Strachan
The other titles that make up the shortlist are Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones (Harvill Secker), De Niro's Game by Rawi Hage (Old Street), The Sweet and Simple Kind by Yasmine Gooneratne (Perera-Hussein Publishing, Sri Lanka) and Winterwood by Patrick McCabe (Bloomsbury).
Routledge to sponsor Dedalus
In the wake of the Arts Council's decision to no longer fund Dedalus Press, Routledge has announced that it will sponsor the publisher for two years as part of its parent company Informa's corporate social responsibility programme.
