New Translated YA Book Shortlist from GLLI; New Translators' Grants From SCBWI

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators has opened a new work-in-progress grant program for translators, and GLLI soon will name its first Translated YA Book Prize.

On the Piazza Sordello in Mantua. Image – iStockphoto: Uta Maria

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

Seven Countries Represented in Shortlist

The Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (GLLI), as Publishing Perspectives readers will remember from its introduction in the spring of 2017, is an American organization that advocates for the acquisition of translated literature by libraries.

The still-young nonprofit on Tuesday (January 15) announced the shortlist for its inaugural Translated YA Book Prize, with a winner to be announced around the end of this month.

Jurors in the competition for 2019 are Annette Goldsmith, Gene Hayworth, Kim Rostan, Laura Simeon, and Elaine Tai.

GLLI Translated YA Prize Shortlist 2019

Alpha by Bessora and Barroux, translated from the French by Sara Ardizzone (Bellevue Literary Press) – France
Bronze and Sunflower by Cao Wenxuan, translated from the Chinese by Helen Wang (Candlewick Press (US), Walker Books (UK)) – China
Defying the Nazis: The Life of German Officer Wilm Hosenfeld by Hermann Vinke, translated from the German by H.B. Babiar (Star Bright Books) – Germany
La Bastarda by Trifonia Melibea Obono, translated from the Spanish by Lawrence Schimel (Feminist Press) – Equatorial Guinea
Max by Sarah Cohen-Scali, translated from the French by Penny Hueston (Walker Books) – France
My Brother’s Husband: Vol. 1 & 2 by Gengoroh Tagame, translated from the Japanese by Anne Ishii (Pantheon) – Japan
Piglettes by Clementine Beauvais, translated from the French by the author (Pushkin Children’s Books) – France
Rasha by Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, translated from the Bengali by Arunava Sinha (Penguin Random House India) – India
The Secret of the Blue Glass by Tomiko Inui, translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori (Pushkin Children’s Books) – Japan
Wonderful Feels Like This by Sara Lövestam, translated from the Swedish by Laura A. Wideburg (Flatiron Books) – Sweden

Because the prize program is in its first cycle, the submission guidelines have been generous, allowing titles published within three yeas of the submission deadline, which was November 15.

“The purpose of the GLLI Translated YA Book Award,” the organization writes, ‘is to recognize publishers, translators, and authors of books in English translation for young adult readers.

“The award has been established to honor the most outstanding translated work originally written and published (or simultaneously published) in a language other than English.”

SCBWI Opens Submissions for Translator Grants

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) has opened a new grant for translators of children’s literature. Designed as a work-in-progress grant, the support is offered for projects in the following categories:

Picture Book Text
Chapter Books/Early Readers
Middle Grade
Young Adult Fiction
Nonfiction (Anna Cross Giblin Nonfiction Award)
Multicultural Fiction or Nonfiction
Translation

In order to apply for a grant, a translator must be a member of SCBWI.

Submission requires 10 pages of a translation into English of a relevant text. Avery Udagawa, who coordinates international work for SCBWI, points out that the full text of the project need not be completed, hence the work-in-progress aspect. All that’s required (or allowed) in submission is the opening 10 pages. If there are questions in this regard, Udagawa can be reached at itc@scbwi.org

“This kind of support has been sorely needed in kidlit translation,” Udagawa tells Publishing Perspectives, “particularly for new translators and works from nations that do not subsidize translations. The type of support this new grant category provides for translating children’s literature, is similar to the support the PEN/Heim Translation Fund grants have provided for adult literature.

Details on making submissions are here. Translators, see Point 7 of the information on that page under “Eligibility” guidelines.

A part of the process asks translators to describe why the text needs to be translated into English for young readers at this time—what is its relevance for the market?

The submission period runs March 1 through 31.

More from Publishing Perspectives on translation is here, and more from us on publishing awards is here.

About the Author

Porter Anderson

Porter Anderson is a non-resident fellow of Trends Research & Advisory, and he has been named International Trade Press Journalist of the Year in London Book Fair's International Excellence Awards. He is Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives. He formerly was Associate Editor for The FutureBook at London's The Bookseller. Anderson was for more than a decade a senior producer and anchor with CNN.com, CNN International, and CNN USA. As an arts critic (Fellow, National Critics Institute), he was with The Village Voice, the Dallas Times Herald, and the Tampa Tribune, now the Tampa Bay Times. He co-founded The Hot Sheet, a newsletter for authors, which now is owned and operated by Jane Friedman.