Orenda Books, Arc Publications and Tilted Axis Press are among the 16 publishers to be awarded PEN Translates awards in a round dominated by independents. Awarded authors include Laia Jufresa (one of Hay Festival’sMéxico20 authors), celebrated Argentinian man of letters César Aira, Thai rising star Prabda Yoon and multi-award-winning French YA writer Sarah Cohen-Scali. Five poetry collections, from Cuba, Malta, Ukraine, Israel and Italy, also received awards in this round.

Books are selected for PEN Translates awards on the basis of outstanding literary quality, strength and innovation of the publishing project, and contribution to literary diversity in the UK. The winners of the current round, which closed in mid-May, will be announced in October 2016. Every book receiving an English PEN award is featured on the English PEN World Bookshelf website, in partnership with Foyles bookshop.

Samantha Schnee, a trustee of English PEN and Chair of the Writers in Translation Committee, said:

We’re very pleased to be able to support the translation of these 19 diverse titles that present perspectives ranging from a north African migrant’s odyssey, to a family’s multi-generational journey from Georgia to Moscow to London and Berlin, to a young girl’s escape from ISIS into Germany. It is also great to see independent publishers leading the field with their bold and imaginative projects. We are excited that some of these PEN-supported books will be available to UK readers as early as the summer.

Winner of a 2016 PEN Translates award

• The Proof by César Aira, translated from Spanish by Nick Caistor. Published by And Other Stories. July 2017
• The Poetry of Bohdan Ihor Antonych, translated from Ukrainian by Stephen Komarnyckyj. Published by Kalyna Language Press. September 2016
• Alpha: Abidjan–Gare du Nord by Bessora and Barroux, translated from French by Sarah Ardizzone. Published by Barrington Stoke. August 2016
• Constellation by Adrien Bosc, translated from French by Willard Wood. Published by Serpents Tail. August 2016
• The Return by Dulce Maria Cardoso, translated from Portuguese by Angel Gurría-Quintana. Published by MacLehose Press. August 2016
• Diary of a Gulag Prison Guard by Ivan Chistyakov, translated from Russian by Arch Tait. Published by Granta Books. November 2016
• Max by Sarah Cohen-Scali, translated from French by Penny Hueston. Published by Walker Books. July 2016
• The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili, translated from German by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin. Published by Scribe UK. April 2017
• Affections by Rodrigo Hasbún, translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes. Published by Pushkin Press. July 2016
• A House in Norway by Vigdis Hjorth, translated from Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund. Published by Norvik Press. May 2017
• Umami by Laia Jufresa, translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes. Published by Oneworld Publications. July 2016
• The Girl Who Beat ISIS by Farida Khalaf and Andrea-Claudia Hoffman, translated from German by Jamie Bulloch. Published by Square Peg. July 2016
• Lives of the Dead by Hanoch Levin, translated from Hebrew by Atar Hadari. Published by Arc Publications. October 2016
• Penelope Waits: A Handful of Poems by Immanuel Mifsud, translated from Maltese by Maurice Riordan. Published by Arc Publications. March 2017
• Xenia by Eugenio Montale, translated from Italian by Mario Petrucci. Published by Arc Publications. August 2016
• Malacqua by Nicola Pugliese, translated from Italian by Shaun Whiteside. Published by And Other Stories. November 2017
• The Bird Tribunal by Agnes Ravatn, translated from Nynorsk by Rosie Hedger. Published by Orenda Books. September 2016
• A Vampire Goes Missing in Pattaya [title TBC] by Prabda Yoon, translated from Thai by Mui Poopoksakul. Published by Tilted Axis Press. February 2017
• Nothing out of This World by various, translated from Spanish by Katherine Hedeen. Published by Smokestack Books. December 2016