Words Without Borders has named Jill Schoolman, founder and publisher of Archipelago Books, as the 2017 recipient of the Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature. The award will be presented November 1, during WWB's annual gala in New York City. Past recipients include editor Drenka Willen, the late editor and translator Carol Brown Janeway, and publishers Sara Bershtel and Barbara Epler.
"Throughout her career as an editor and publisher, Schoolman has been a leading voice for the promotion of international literature," WWB said. "In 2003, she founded Archipelago Books with the mission to publish essential foreign-language texts in outstanding English translations. The list of international writers she has published includes such luminaries as Karl Ove Knausgaard, Elias Khoury, Scholastique Mukasonga, Miljenko Jergovic, Julio Cortázar, Antonio Tabucchi, Magdalena Tulli and Wiesław Myśliwski."
WWB board chair Samantha Schnee commented: "As physical and political borders close in around us, Jill Schoolman's Archipelago Books offers a safe harbor to literary talent from around the world, infusing our bookshelves with vital and original work in translation. We are thrilled to celebrate her heroic efforts with this year's Ottaway Award."