2013 Best Translated Book Award Finalists Announced

In What's the Buzz by Dennis Abrams

best translated book awardThe finalists for the Best Translated Book Award in fiction and poetry have been announced. The award, founded in 2007 by the Three Percent weblog and underwritten with $25,000 in prize money from Amazon.com, exists to help bring attention to great works of international literature published in the previous year.

BTBA Fiction Finalists 2013:

  • The Planets by Sergio Chejfec, translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary (Open Letter Books, Argentina)
  • Prehistoric Times by Eric Chevillard, translated from the French by Alyson Waters (Archipelago Books, France)
  • The Colonel by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, translated from the Persian by Tom Patterdale (Melville House, Iran)
  • Satantango by Laszlo Krasznahorkai, translated from the Hungarian by George Szirtes (New Directions, Hungary)
  • Autoportrait by Edouard Leve, translated from the French by Lorin Stein (Dalkey Archive Press, France)
  • A Breath of Life: Pulsations by Clarice Lispector, translated from the Portuguese by Johnny Lorenz (New Directions, Brazil)
  • The Hunger Angel by Herta Muller, translated from the German by Philip Boehm (Metropolitan Books, Romania)
  • Maidenhair by Mikhail Shishkin, translated from the Russian by Marian Schwartz (Open Letter Books, Russia)
  • Transit by Abdourahman A. Waberi, translated from the French by David Ball and Nicole Ball (Indiana University Press, Djibouti)
  • My Father’s Book by Urs Widmer, translated from the German by Donal McLaughlin (Seagull Books, Switzerland)

BTBA Poetry Finalists 2013:

  • Transfer Fat by Aase Berg, translated from the Swedish by Johannes Goransson (Ugly Duckling Presse, Sweden)
  • pH Neutral History by Lidija Dimkovska, translated from the Macedonian by Ljubica Arsovska and Peggy Reid (Copper Canyon Press, Macedonia)
  • The Invention of Glass by Emmanuel Hocquard, translated from the French by Cole Swensen and Rod Smith (Canarium Books, France)
  • Wheel with a Single Spoke by Nichita Stanescu, translated from the Romanian by Sean Cotter (Archipelago Books, Romania)
  • Notes on the Mosquito by Xi Chuan, translated from the Chinese by Lucas Klein (New Directions, China)
  • Almost 1 Book/Almost 1 Life by Elfriede Czurda, translated from the German by Rosmarie Waldrop (Burning Deck, Austria)

The winning books will be announced on Friday, May 3rd at 5:30 p.m. at a PEN World Voices/CLMP Fest event taking place in the Washington Mews in New York City. The event is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a street party.

About the Author

Dennis Abrams

Dennis Abrams is a contributing editor for Publishing Perspectives, responsible for news, children's publishing and media. He's also a restaurant critic, literary blogger, and the author of "The Play's The Thing," a complete YA guide to the plays of William Shakespeare published by Pentian, as well as more than 30 YA biographies and histories for Chelsea House publishers.