English PEN’s flagship grant programme PEN Translates has awarded:
– 19 titles from 17 publishers, 13 languages and 17 regions, including first-ever PEN Translates award for a title from Somaliland.
– One title previously supported through English PEN’s grant for sample translations, PEN Presents.
– Titles from Hindi and Tamil as part of the inaugural PEN Translates x SALT (South Asian Literature in Translation) round.
The latest round of PEN Translates has awarded works spanning poetry, science fiction, non-fiction reportage, and mixed-genre collection, with themes ranging from environmentalism to migration, and – for the first time – a title from Somaliland.
Among this round’s winners is Carnaval Fever by Yuliana Ortiz Ruano (Ecuador), translated from the Spanish by Madeleine Arenivar (Tilted Axis Press), a title previously supported by English PEN’s PEN Presents programme for sample translations. The initiative aims to support the often-unpaid labour of translating samples and give UK publishers access to titles from underrepresented languages and regions, helping to diversify the translated literature landscape.
The inaugural PEN Translates x SALT round has awarded two titles from Hindi and Tamil: Our City, That Year by Geetanjali Shree (India), translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell (Tilted Axis Press) and Songs in a Time of Confinement by Mohamed Rashmy Ahamed (Sri Lanka), translated from Tamil by Nedra Rodrigo (trace press). This new PEN Translates strand, in partnership with the SALT project at the University of Chicago, is open to works of South Asian literature in English translation published anywhere outside the region.
PEN Translates has now supported over 390 books translated from over 90 languages, awarding over £1.2m in grants.
Books are selected for PEN Translates awards on the basis of outstanding literary quality, the strength of the publishing project, and their contribution to UK bibliodiversity.
PEN Translates award winners:
Hell of Solitude: Selected Writings by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (Japan), translated from the Japanese by Ryan Choi (Prototype Publishing).
False War by Carlos Manuel Álvarez (USA), translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer (Fitzcarraldo Editions).
Small Boats by Vincent Delecroix (France), translated from the French by Helen Stevenson (HopeRoad/SmallAxes).
Blue Moon by Damir Karakaš (Croatia), translated from the Croatian by Ellen Elias-Bursać (Selkies House).
The Palace on the Higher Hill by Karim Kattan (France/Palestine), translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman (Foundry Editions).
Wild Boar by Hannah Lutz (Denmark), translated from the Swedish by Andy Turner (The Emma Press).
Terricide by Moira Millán (Argentina), translated from the Spanish by Marcela Lopez Levy and Ines Gallegos Santinoli (Latin America Bureau).
Conversations with an Executioner by Kazimierz Moczarski (Poland), translated from the Polish by Sean Gasper Bye (Duckworth Books).
Species of the Chthulucene by Maria Ptqk (Spain), translated from the Spanish by Nicolas Salazar Sutil (Lawrence Wishart).
Carnaval Fever by Yuliana Ortiz Ruano (Ecuador), translated from the Spanish by Madeleine Arenivar (Tilted Axis Press).
Forty-Kilometre Night by Lutz Seiler (Germany), translated from the German by Ken Babstock and Stefan Tobler (And Other Stories).
My Secret Life: Selected Poems by Krisztina Tóth (Hungary), translated from the Hungarian by George Szirtes (Bloodaxe Books).
Anima Fatua by Anna Lidia Vega Serova (Cuba), translated from the Spanish by Robin Munby (Amaurea Press).
Walking with the Dead by Micheliny Verunschk (Brazil), translated from the Portuguese by Sophie Lewis (Dead Ink Books).
A Message by Weedhsame (Somaliland), translated from the Somali by Martin Orwin (Poetry Translation Centre).
Paprika by Yasutaka Tsutsui (Japan) translated from the Japanese by Helen O’Horan (Gollancz).
Selected Poems (1966–2017) by Dan Ying (Singapore), translated from the Chinese by Christina Ng (Poetry Translation Centre).
PEN Translates x SALT
Songs in a Time of Confinement by Mohamed Rashmy Ahamed (Sri Lanka), translated from Tamil by Nedra Rodrigo (trace press).
Our City, That Year by Geetanjali Shree (India), translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell (Tilted Axis Press).
Nichola Smalley, English PEN Translation Advisory Co-chair and Chair of the PEN Translates Selection Panel, said:
We’re thrilled to see such a diversity of voices coming through the PEN Translates project, with strong applications and innovative thinking from so many publishers, big and small. The awarded titles are evidence of the continued vitality of the translation sector, and it was a privilege to be party to the considered and in-depth deliberations of the selection panel.
Preti Taneja, Co-chair of the English PEN Translation Advisory Group and Chair of the PEN Translates x SALT Selection Panel, said:
We are delighted to support two such different but equally vital projects – vital in the sense of their contribution to literature in translation and to bibliodiversity, and in the perfect match of project with publisher. Anglophone readers will be enriched and inspired by these works for generations to come.
Nadia Saeed, Translation and International Manager at English PEN, said:
These 19 titles show the continued resilience of literature in translation amid international and sectorial shifts. The standard of this round is testament to the commitment of publishers – particularly of independent presses – to bringing works into translation that challenge and engage readers across linguistic borders. From graphic novels to non-fiction reportage, from themes such as the environmental crisis to the legacy of conflict, we’re delighted to be supporting such a fantastic range of titles.