Finalists in both poetry and fiction categories have been selected for the 2019 Best Translated Book Award, sponsored by Three Percent, the Millions reported. Winners from both categories will be announced May 29 as part of the New York Rights Fair. Winning authors and translators each receive $5,000. This year's BTBA finalists are:
Fiction
Congo Inc.: Bismarck's Testament by In Koli Jean Bofane, translated from the French by Marjolijn de Jager (Democratic Republic of Congo, Indiana University Press)
The Hospital by Ahmed Bouanani, translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud (Morocco, New Directions)
Slave Old Man by Patrick Chamoiseau, translated from the French by Linda Coverdale (Martinique, New Press)
Pretty Things by Virginie Despentes, translated from the French by Emma Ramadan, (France, Feminist Press)
Moon Brow by Shahriar Mandanipour, translated from the Persian by Khalili Sara (Iran, Restless Books)
Bricks and Mortar by Clemens Meyer, translated from the German by Katy Derbyshire (Germany, Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori (Japan, Grove)
The Governesses by Anne Serre, translated from the French by Mark Hutchinson (France, New Directions)
Öræfï by Ófeigur Sigurðsson, translated from the Icelandic by Lytton Smith (Iceland, Deep Vellum)
Fox by Dubravka Ugresic, translated from the Croatian by Ellen Elias-Bursac and David Williams (Croatia, Open Letter)
Poetry
The Future Has an Appointment with the Dawn by Tenella Boni, translated from the French by Todd Fredson (Cote D'Ivoire, University of Nebraska)
Moss & Silver by Jure Detela, translated from the Slovenian by Raymond Miller and Tatjana Jamnik (Slovenia, Ugly Duckling)
Of Death. Minimal Odes by Hilda Hilst, translated from the Portuguese by Laura Cesarco Eglin (Brazil, co-im-press)
Autobiography of Death by Kim Hysesoon, translated from the Korean by Don Mee Choi (Korea, New Directions)
Negative Space by Luljeta Lleshanaku, translated from the Albanian by Ani Gjika (Albania, New Directions)
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A shortlist has been released for the £15,000 (about $19,280) Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for best published novel, presented by the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation. The winner will be honored during a ceremony September 12 in London. This year's shortlisted titles are:
Sleeper: The Red Storm by J D Fennell
The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar
The Firefly by Henry Porter
The Devil Aspect by Craig Russell
Preservation by Jock Serong
To the Lions by Holly Watt
In its fourth year, the prize now is partnering with national charity the Reading Agency to make the award "as much about readers as it about the writers." As part of this partnership, each author on the shortlist and the prize's judging panel have been invited to work with the foundation to support a new generation of young people to become readers. Working in further education colleges across the U.K., as part of the Reading Ahead program, the partnership "will provide a stepping stone for many young people to continue their reading journeys through adventure," the foundation said.
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The West Philadelphia Alliance for Children has won the National Book Foundation's $10,000 Innovations in Reading Prize, awarded annually to an organization or individual that has "developed an innovative project that creates and sustains a lifelong love of reading in the community they serve."
WePAC formed in 2004 as a response to the City of Philadelphia closing its school libraries. With the help of hundreds of volunteers, the organization coordinates the reopening and operation, including staffing, stocking and programming, of area libraries. All told, these libraries serve more than 5,000 students in Philadelphia. WePAC aims to support literacy development, foster the joy of reading and close the resource gap between under-served public schools and those in neighboring districts.
Honorable mentions were Oakland International High School and Word Up Community Bookshop, which will both receive $1,500.