The 2009 Rossica Prize has been awarded to Amanda Love Darragh for her translation of Maria Galina's novel Iramifications (Glas).
The Rossica Prize is awarded for the best new translation of a high-quality Russian literary work into English.
This unique prize, which is awarded biennially, aims to promote the best of Russian literary culture in the English-speaking world, serving and encouraging the translation of a broad range of authors, genres and periods.
It recognises the vital role of translation in culture and the contribution that Russian literature continues to make towards enriching the intellectual life of the English-speaking world.
The inaugural Rossica Young Translators Prize – for the best English translation of a passage of contemporary Russian literature – was awarded to James Rann.
The Rossica Prize Committee includes distinguished literary figures – Boyd Tonkin, literary editor of the Independent and founder of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize; Professor John Elsworth, academic and translator; the publisher Christopher MacLehose; Amanda Hopkinson, the Director of the British Centre for Literary Translation; and Susanna Nicklin, Director of Literature at the British Council.
The Rossica Translation Prize was established by Academia Rossica, a UK Registered Charity created in London in 2000 with the aim of promoting cultural collaboration between Russia and the English-speaking world. The prize is sponsored by the First President of Russia Boris Yeltsin Foundation.
The shortlist for the 2009 Rossica Prize was announced at London Book Fair on 22 April.
One Soldier's War by Andrei Babchenko, trans. Nick Allen (Portobello)
Romance with Cocaine by Mikhail Ageyev, trans. Hugh Aplin (Hesperus)
Humiliated and Insulted by Fyodor Dostoevsky, trans. Ignat Avsey (One World Classics)
The Sacred Book of the Werewolf by Victor Pelevin, trans. Andrew Bromfield (Faber)
Iramifications by Maria Galina, trans. Amanda Love Darragh (Glas)
Birdsong on the Seabed by Elena Shvarts, trans. Sasha Dugdale (Bloodaxe)
Ice by Vladimir Sorokin, trans. James Gambrell (New York Review Books)
Find out more about the shortlisted titles
The awards were presented on 25 May 2009, the Day of Saints Cyril and Methodius (the creators of the Slavic alphabet).
Read Anthony Briggs' thoughts about judging this year's Rossica Prize
For more details, visit the Academia Rossica website or email rossica-prize@academia-rossica.org
