National Book Award for Translated Literature

National Book Award for Translated Literature
Awarded for	Outstanding literary work in translation.
Location	New York City
First awarded	1967-1983, 2018
Website	National Book Foundation

The National Book Award for Translated Literature is one of five annual National Book Awards recognising outstanding literary works of translation into English administered by the National Book Foundation. This award was previously given from 1967-1983 but did not require the author to be living and was for fiction only. It was reintroduced in its new version in 2018 and was open to living translators and authors, for both fiction and non-fiction.^[1]

The award recognises one book published by a U.S. publisher located in the United States from December 1 to November 30. The original text need not have been published in the year of the award submission, only the translated work. For the Translated Literature award neither author nor translator are required to be U.S. citizens.

Entries for the National Book Awards are open from March until May. A longlist is announced in September with the shortlist announced in October. The winner is announced in a ceremony in November. The prizes are split equally between the author and the translator.^[2]

Awards[]

This list only covers the current version of the National Book Award for Translated Literature from its new inaugural addition in 2018. Winners from 1967 to 1983 are covered in the complete list of winners of the National Book Award.

= winner.

2018[]

The prize was judged by , Sinan Antoon, Susan Bernofsky, Álvaro Enrigue and chaired by Harold Augenbraum. The longlist was announced on September 12.^[3] The finalists were announced October 10.^[4] The winner was announced on November 14.^[5]

Winner

• The Emissary by Yoko Tawada, translated from the Japanese by (Japan-Germany, New Directions Publishing)

Finalists

• Disoriental by Négar Djavadi, translated from the French by Tina Kover (Iran-France, Europa Editions)
• Trick by Domenico Starnone, translated from the Italian by Jhumpa Lahiri (Italy, Europa Editions)
• Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, translated from the Polish by Jennifer Croft (Poland, Riverhead Books)
• Love by Hanne Ørstavik, translated from the Norwegian by Martin Aitken (Norway, Archipelago Books)

Longlist

• Comemadre by Roque Larraquy, translated from the Spanish by (Argentina, Coffee House Press)
• The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq by Dunya Mikhail, translated from the Arabic by Max Weiss (Iraq-USA, New Directions)
• One Part Woman by Perumal Murugan, translated from the Tamil by (India, Black Cat)
• Aetherial Worlds by Tatyana Tolstaya, translated from the Russian by (Russia, Alfred A. Knopf)
• Wait, Blink: A Perfect Picture of Inner Life by Gunnhild Øyehaug, translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson (Norway, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

2019[]

The prize was judged by Keith Gessen, Elisabeth Jaquette, Katie Kitamura, and chaired by Idra Novey.^[6] The longlist was announced on September 17.^[7] Finalists were announced on October 8.^[8] The winner was announced on November 20.

Winner

• Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai, translated from the Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet (Hungary, New Directions)

Finalist

• Death is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa, translated from the Arabic by (Syria, FSG)
• The Barefoot Woman by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated from the French by (Rwanda, Archipelago)
• The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa, translated from the Japanese by (Japan, Pantheon Books)
• Crossing by Pajtim Statovci, translated from the Finnish by (Finland, Pantheon Books)

Longlist

• The Collector of Leftover Souls: Field Notes on Brazil's Everyday Insurrections by Elaine Brum, translated from the Portuguese by (Brazil, Graywolf Press)
• Space Invaders by Nona Fernández, translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer (Chile, Graywolf Press)
• Will and Testament by Vigdis Hjorth, translated from the Norwegian by (Norway, Verso Fiction/Verso Books)
• Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, translated from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Poland, Riverhead Books)
• When Death Takes Something From You Give it Back by Naja Marie Aidt, translated from the Danish by Denise Newman (Denmark, Coffee House Press)

2020[]

The prize was judged by Heather Cleary, John Darnielle, Anne Ishii, and Brad Johnson and chaired by Dinaw Mengestu. The longlist was announced on September 16^[9] and the shortlist on October 6.^[10] The winner was announced on November 18.^[11]

Winner

• Miri Yu, Tokyo Ueno Station, translated from the Japanese by Morgan Giles (Riverhead Books / Penguin Random House)

Finalists

• Anja Kampmann, High as the Waters Rise, translated from the German by Anne Posten (Catapult)
• Jonas Hassen Khemiri, The Family Clause, translated from the Swedish by Alice Menzies (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / Macmillan Publishers)
• Pilar Quintana, The Bitch, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman (World Editions)
• Adania Shibli, Minor Detail, translated from the Arabic by Elisabeth Jaquette (New Directions)

Longlist

• , Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982, translated from the Korean by Jamie Chang (Liveright / W. W. Norton & Company)
• Perumal Murugan, The Story of a Goat, translated from the Tamil by N. Kalyan Raman (Black Cat / Grove Atlantic)
• Fernanda Melchor, Hurricane Season, translated from the Spanish by Sophie Hughes (New Directions)
• Linda Boström Knausgård, The Helios Disaster, translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles (World Editions)
• Shokoofeh Azar, The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, translated from the Persian by Anonymous (Europa Editions)

2021[]

The prize is judged by Jessie Chaffee, Sergio de la Pava, Madhu H. Kaza, Achy Obejas and chaired by Stephen Snyder. The longlist was announced on September 15 and the shortlist was announced on October 5. The winner was announced on November 17.^[12]

Winner

• Elisa Shua Dusapin, Winter in Sokcho, translated from the French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins (Open Letter)^[13]

Finalists

• Ge Fei, Peach Blossom Paradise, translated from the Chinese by Canaan Morse (New York Review Books)
• Nona Fernández, The Twilight Zone, translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer (Graywolf Press)
• Benjamín Labatut, When We Cease to Understand the World, translated from the Spanish, by Adrian Nathan West (New York Review Books)
• Samar Yazbek, Planet of Clay, translated from the Arabic by Leri Price (World Editions)

Longlist

• Maryse Condé, Waiting for the Waters to Rise, translated from the French by Richard Philcox (World Editions)
• Bo-young Kim, On the Origin of Species and Other Stories, translated from the Korean, by and Sora Kim-Russell (Kaya Press)
• Elvira Navarro, Rabbit Island: Stories, translated from the Spanish by Christina MacSweeney (Two Lines Press)
• Judith Schalansky, An Inventory of Losses, translated from the German by Jackie Smith (New Directions)
• Maria Stepanova, In Memory of Memory, translated from the Russian by Sasha Dugdale (New Directions)

See also[]

• List of literary awards
• National Book Award
• Best Translated Book Award

References[]