Books from 14 countries and 10 languages are among the 15 winners of English PEN's translation awards, which are selected "on the basis of outstanding literary quality, the strength of the publishing project, and their contribution to U.K. bibliodiversity." The winners include--for the first time--a title from Mali and the first memoir by a Sudanese woman to be translated from Arabic to English.
"The ambition, originality, and variety of works submitted to this round of PEN Translates both warmed the heart and made reaching a final portfolio near-impossible; that ambition, originality, and variety is reflected in the 15 significant works of literature our panel have ultimately selected," said Will Forrester, translation and international manager at English PEN. "We have a graphic novel from Lebanon, a pioneering work of memoir from Sudan, a series of courageous dissident works written in exile, Hong Kong poetry, crime fiction from Mali and more, on their way into English-language readers' hands. We're delighted to have been able to support these projects, from publishers who are continuing to publish bravely despite our current economic climate."
So Mayer, co-chair of the English PEN translation advisory group, commented: "This PEN Translates round is a brilliant reflection of the breadth of U.K. publishing in translation, showcasing a graphic novel memoir from Lebanon, cosy crime fiction from Mali, feminist activism from Sudan, animal and workers' rights fiction from Spain and Brazil, and feminist cli-fi from Uruguay. Awarding 15 titles across ten languages, it particularly highlights the work of small publishers investing in books in still-underrepresented languages such as Thai, Hungarian and Belarusian. Alongside the award for a book written in a Belarusian prison, there are awards for poetry by Yang Liang that could not be published in China, and for bold novels dealing with themes of gender and sexuality by two acclaimed Russian authors, as PEN continues its charter commitment to writers facing censorship worldwide."
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The PEN/Faulkner Foundation released the longlist for the 2023 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Finalists will be announced in early March and the winner named in April. Awards committee chair Louis Bayard said: "This delightfully diverse list showcases the breadth of American literature, and underscores our ongoing mission to champion fiction that matters." This year's longlisted titles are:
Does My Body Offend You? by Mayra Cuevas and Marie Marquardt (Knopf)
The Family Izquierdo by Rubén Degollado (Norton)
If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery (MCD)
Hawk Mountain by Conner Habib (Norton)
Fruiting Bodies by Kathryn Harlan (Norton)
The Islands by Dionne Irving (Catapult)
Self-Portrait with Ghost by Meng Jin (Mariner)
Invisible Things by Mat Johnson (One World)
The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm by Laura Warrell (Pantheon)