English PEN and the Booker Prize Foundation announce the translators shortlisted for the inaugural round of PEN Presents x International Booker Prize, a grant programme launched to support translators from the Global Majority.
- The shortlist features 12 titles, 13 translators, nine languages, and nine territories.
- This is the first time the English PEN translation grants programme has supported work originally published in Malay, Filipino and Cebuano, and the first time it has supported work from Martinique and the Philippines.
- Multiple projects from Palestine, the Philippines and Malaysia are supported in a single round of English PEN’s grant programmes for the first time.
- 12 translators recognised for the first time by PEN Presents, with a second shortlisting for Tiffany Tsao.
- The shortlisted projects are “staunchly distinct in character and voice, but united by the fact of their originality, timeliness and quality”.
Since 2016, submissions to both English PEN’s PEN Translates programme and the International Booker Prize have told the same story: while the representation of authors of the Global Majority is increasing, translators from the Global Majority remain significantly underrepresented. PEN Presents x International Booker Prize was launched in 2024 to address this disparity by funding and promoting the work of Global Majority translators so that more literature in translation, created by more people, reaches English-language readers.
For this round of PEN Presents, translators from the Global Majority, based anywhere in the world, were invited to submit proposals to create sample translations of previously untranslated works of long-form fiction or collections of short stories by any author, from any language and region, and of any style, genre and era. PEN Presents supports and showcases sample translations, funding the often-unpaid work of creating samples and giving UK publishers access to titles from underrepresented languages and regions. The International Booker Prize is the world’s most influential award for translated fiction and each year it awards the best work of fiction translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland.
This shortlist announcement follows the news that a previous PEN Presents winner has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2025: Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated from the Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi. The collection, which emerged through the first round of PEN Presents in 2022 before being published by And Other Stories, is the first work translated from Kannada to appear on the International Booker Prize shortlist – underscoring the impact of the initiative.
The PEN Presents x International Booker Prize shortlist is:
- Christian Jil R. Benitez for a translation from the Filipino of Time of the Eye by Alvin B. Yapan (Philippines)
- John Bengan for a translation from the Cebuano of The Man With a Thousand Names: Stories by R. Joseph Dazo (Philippines)
- YZ Chin for a translation from the Chinese of Storied Ruins by Teng Kuan Kiat (Malaysia)
- Nayereh Doosti for a translation from the Persian of A Tale in Ruins by Aboutorab Khosravi (Iran)
- Pauline Fan for a translation from the Malay of The Last Days of Jesselton by Ruhaini Matdarin (Malaysia)
- Mayada Ibrahim and Najlaa Eltom for a translation from the Arabic of Ireem by Stella Gaitano (Sudan)
- Annalise Peters for a translation from the French (with Martinican Creole) of My Heart Beats Fast by Nadia Chonville (Martinique)
- Özsu Riv for a translation from the Turkish of My Mother’s Rib by Burçin Tetik (Turkey)
- Tiffany Tsao for a translation from the Indonesian of The Born Out of Wedlock Club by Grace Tioso (Indonesia)
- Victoria Issa Yacoub for a translation from the Arabic of The Light by Israa Kalash (Palestine)
- Catherine Xinxin Yu for a translation from the Chinese of Little Brother by Chan Wai (Taiwan)
- Anam Zafar for a translation from the Arabic of Playing With Soldiers by Tariq Asrawi (Palestine)
The shortlist was selected by a cross-sector panel of seven experts, chaired by Preti Taneja, writer, Professor of World Literature and Creative Writing at Newcastle University, and English PEN Translation Advisory Co-chair. She was joined by Safae El-Ouahabi, Associate at RCW; Elisabeth Jaquette, translator from the Arabic and Executive Director of Words Without Borders; Željka Marošević, Editorial Director at Jonathan Cape; Nii Ayikwei Parkes, writer, editor and Director at flipped eye publishing; Fiammetta Rocco, Administrator of the International Booker Prize; and Shash Trevett, poet and translator from the Tamil.
Preti Taneja, Chair of the selection panel and English PEN Translation Advisory Co-chair, said:
“The PEN Presents Selection Panel – a group with diverse expertise, backgrounds and opinions – considers each proposal carefully, in several rounds, using rigorous criteria. We are proud to announce this outstanding shortlist, which recognises both the literary quality of the projects and translations, and the contribution to bibliodiversity that each project will make. I can’t wait to see how these projects develop, and I’m delighted to support them to reach new readers across the world.”
Fiammetta Rocco, Administrator of the International Booker Prize, said:
“Over the past decade, the International Booker Prize has helped fiction in translation become one of the most vibrant sectors of British publishing. We are confident that PEN Presents, the prize’s new initiative with English PEN, will boost that further. By mentoring and promoting six talented translators from the Global Majority as they look to progress in their careers, the programme will in turn bring an array of new international fiction to Anglophone readers. The best submissions, recognised here, cut across geographic, social and linguistic divides, offering us narratives that are intensely local while also universal and enduring.”
Will Forrester, Head of Literature Programmes, English PEN, said:
“This partnership between English PEN and the Booker Prize Foundation came from a recognition that translators from the Global Majority were not being equitably represented in the titles submitted to PEN Translates and the International Booker Prize. The excellence of these projects shows the value of working concertedly to correct this: these are 12 significant works of literature, with 13 brilliant translators ready to convey them to English-language publishers and readers. From a crystalline story of childhood and lost innocence in Palestine to an intimate, intergenerational family saga in Sudan, from a lyrical story of identity, kinship and community in Martinique to finely drawn stories of queer men in the Philippines, these projects are staunchly distinct in character and voice, but united by the fact of their originality, timeliness and quality. We’re excited to read the samples the shortlistees create; we’re excited to read the full-length translations that we know will come from them, will capture the interests of UK publishers, and will find their ways into new readers’ hands.”
The shortlisted translators each receive £500 grants to create 5,000-word sample translations of their proposed projects. Independent assessors, drawn from English PEN’s pool of established literary translators, are commissioned to evaluate the samples and original works, before the Selection Panel then select six projects as PEN Presents x International Booker Prize winners. The winning translators receive editorial support, working with English PEN, editors and experienced translators on their samples, with the winners announced and the samples published and promoted to UK publishers in Summer 2025.
Alongside Heart Lamp, four other projects supported through PEN Presents have now been acquired by publishers in the UK and USA.