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| Barbara Epler | |
Barbara Epler, president and publisher of New Directions Publishing Company, has won the 2016 Ottaway Award for the Promotion of International Literature, sponsored by Words Without Borders and recognizing "an individual whose work and activism have supported WWB's mission of promoting cultural understanding through the publication and promotion of international literature."
"Throughout her long and illustrious tenure at New Directions, Barbara Epler has broadened our literary tastes by introducing us to some of the world’s great writers," said Words Without Borders board chair Samantha Schnee. "For her unyielding commitment to international literature in translation, we are delighted to honor her with the Ottaway Award."
The Ottaway Award will be presented to Epler at the annual Words Without Borders gala on November 1 in New York City.
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A 13-book longlist has been unveiled for the £50,000 (about $71,135) Man Booker International Prize. This is the first longlist announcement in the history of the award, which has joined forces with the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and is now presented annually. The award will be divided equally between the author of the winning book and its translator. A shortlist of six books will be released April 14, and the winner named May 16. This year's longlisted titles are:
A General Theory of Oblivion by José Eduardo Agualusa (Angola), translated by Daniel Hahn
The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante (Italy), translated by Ann Goldstein
The Vegetarian by Han Kang (South Korea), translated by Deborah Smith
Mend the Living by Maylis de Kerangal (France), translated by Jessica Moore
Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan (Indonesia), translated by Labodalih Sembiring
The Four Books by Yan Lianke (China), translated by Carlos Rojas
Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila (Democratic Republic of Congo/Austria), translated by Roland Glasser
A Cup of Rage by Raduan Nassar (Brazil), translated by Stefan Tobler
Ladivine by Marie NDiaye (France), translated by Jordan Stump
Death by Water by Kenzaburō Ōe (Japan), translated by Deborah Boliner Boem
White Hunger by Aki Ollikainen (Finland), translated by Emily Jeremiah & Fleur Jeremiah
A Strangeness in My Mind by Orhan Pamuk (Turkey), translated by Ekin Oklap
A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler (Austria), translated by Charlotte Collins
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Winners were announced for the Kitschies, which honor "novels containing elements of the speculative and fantastic" that were deemed the most "progressive, intelligent and entertaining" books of 2015. Margaret Atwood won the £1,000 (about $1,420) Red Tentacle (best novel) category for The Heart Goes Last. The Golden Tentacle (debut) went to Tade Thompson for Making Wolf. Jet Purdie received the Inky Tentacle (cover art) for Sally Gardner's The Door That Led to Where. The Invisible Tentacle ("natively digital fiction") went to Life Is Strange by Square Enix Studios. They each received £500 (about $710).
The Black Tentacle, a judges' discretionary award for "an outstanding achievement in encouraging and elevating the conversation around genre literature," was given to the genre community, personified by Patrick Ness, for response to the humanitarian refugee crisis. The fund Ness began raised £689,793 (about $981,362) for Save the Children, from more than 6,000 donors, including a marathon series of £10,000-plus matching prizes from more than 20 authors. Virgin Giving even waived their fees.
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Iona Grey won the Romantic Novelists' Association's £5,000 (about $7,115) Romantic Novel of the Year award for Letters to the Lost. The judges described Letters to the Lost as "a skillfully told story with captivating characters, convincing and compelling. Beautifully done." This year's RoNA category winners are:
Contemporary romantic: The Wedding Cake Tree by Melanie Hudson
Epic: The Secrets We Share by Emma Hannigan
Historical: Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey
Romantic comedy: Afternoon Tea at the Sunflower Café by Milly Johnson
RoNA Rose: Doctor... to Duchess? by Annie O'Neil
Young adult: Crow Mountain by Lucy Inglis