English PEN’s flagship grant programme PEN Translates has awarded:
- 14 titles from 10 publishers, 13 languages and 11 regions.
- First English publications for globally renowned writers Mohammed Al-As’ad, Conceição Evaristo, and Peter Kurzeck.
- Anthologies from Palestine, Ukraine and Latin America.
- Titles from Hindi and Urdu as part of the PEN Translates x SALT (South Asian Literature in Translation) round.
The latest round of PEN Translates recognises essay collections, short stories, speculative fiction, and novellas, with themes ranging from postpartum experience to reflections on genocide.
The PEN Translates x SALT round features two titles from Hindi and Urdu: trace press’s Eyes, Eyes, Eyes by Sara Shagufta, translated from the Urdu by Javeria Hasnain, and Tilted Axis Press’s Once Elephants Lived Here from International Booker Prize winners Geetanjali Shree and Daisy Rockwell. This strand of PEN Translates, 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.
English PEN’s translation grant PEN Translates has now supported over 400 books translated from over 90 languages, awarding over £1.3m in grants. The PEN Translates-supported title Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq, translated from the Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi (And Other Stories), recently won the 2025 International Booker Prize. The title was also supported by English PEN’s PEN Presents programme, which supports the often-unpaid labour of translating samples and gives UK publishers access to titles from underrepresented languages and regions, helping to diversify the translated literature landscape.
Books are selected for PEN Translates awards by an independent cross-sector Selection Panel on the basis of their outstanding literary quality, the strength of the publishing project, and their contribution to UK bibliodiversity.
PEN Translates winners are:
- Children of the Dew by Mohammad Al-As’ad (Palestine), translated from the Arabic by Anaheed Al-Hardan and Maia Tabet (Tilted Axis Press)
- Chilco by Daniela Catrileo (Chile), translated from the Spanish by Jacob Edelstein (Charco Press)
- The Backstreet of Memory by Conceição Evaristo (Brazil), translated from the Portuguese by Annie McDermott (And Other Stories)
- Jacaranda by Gaël Faye (Rwanda/France), translated from the French by Sarah Ardizzone (Chatto & Windus)
- The History of Vertebrates by Mar García Puig (Spain), translated from the Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem (Peninsula Press)
- Across the Ice by Peter Kurzeck (Germany), translated from the German by Imogen Taylor (And Other Stories)
- On Earth as it is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia (Brazil), translated from the Portuguese by Padma Viswanathan (Charco Press)
- Lamento by Madame Nielsen (Denmark), translated from the Danish by Gaye Kynoch (Prototype Publishing)
- Disappearing Acts by Maria Stepanova (Russia), translated from the Russian by Sasha Dugdale (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
- Take Six: Six Ukrainian Women (Ukraine), translated from the Ukrainian by Stephen Komarnyckyj (Dedalus Books)
- Palestine Minus One (Palestine), translated from the Arabic (Comma Press)
- La Lucha: Latin American Feminism Today, translated from Spanish, Portuguese, Mapuche and Quechua (Charco Press)
PEN Translates x SALT winners are:
- Eyes, Eyes, Eyes by Sara Shagufta (Pakistan), translated from the Urdu by Javeria Hasnain (trace press)
- Once Elephants Lived Here by Geetanjali Shree (India), translated from the Hindi by Daisy Rockwell (Tilted Axis Press)
So Mayer, English PEN Translation Advisory Co-chair and Chair of the PEN Translates Selection Panel, said:
There’s so much ambition and scope to celebrate, starting with first English publications for globally renowned writers Mohammed Al-As’ad, Conceição Evaristo, and Peter Kurzeck. Like these writers, Daniela Catrileo, Gaël Faye, Mar García Puig, Ana Paula Maia, Madame Nielsen and Maria Stepanova push at the boundaries where fiction and non-fiction meet in profound truths. That resonates across three anthologies compiled by Comma Press, Dedalus Books and Charco Press, which offer dispatches of the most urgent and dynamic contemporary writing from Palestine, Ukraine and across Latin America. We’re proud that through them we can support dozens of experienced and emerging translators.
Preti Taneja, Co-chair of the English PEN Translation Advisory Group and Chair of the PEN Translates x SALT Selection Panel, said:
I am delighted with the selections for this round of PEN Translates x SALT. The projects we have selected come from passionate publishers who we felt will benefit most from English PEN’s support. The high quality of the applications presented the panel with the best translations by new and established voices, and showed a commitment to publishing work that will rightly elevate a writer’s – and their translator’s – reputation among Anglophone readers. These projects contribute to bibliodiversity in exciting ways, as well as being of the highest literary merit. I know the finished books will go on to enthral and inspire English-language readers around the world.
Nadia Saeed, Translation and International Manager at English PEN, said:
It’s incredibly encouraging, in these times of growing uncertainty and censorship, to see publishers submitting projects with such range and nuance. The ability to support narratives filled with courage and originality – and which are thought-provoking and build empathy across linguistic borders – is integral to everything we do as part of the translation programme at English PEN. And so we’re thrilled to add these 14 brilliant and affecting titles to the PEN Translates portfolio.