English PEN’s flagship grant programme PEN Translates has awarded:
- 14 titles from 13 publishers, 7 languages and 8 regions;
- A first-time award for Atsushi Sato, Badriah Al-Bishr, and Zineb Mekouar, among others;
- A collection of Tamil poetry as part of the PEN Translates x SALT;
- The awarded projects are described as “radical and political”, “intimate and personal”.
The latest round of PEN Translates has awarded titles ranging from memoir to poetry to literary fiction, with works spanning themes of love, loss, and social reflection.
PEN Translates x SALT – a strand of the programme in partnership with the South Asian Literature in Translation project at the University of Chicago – has awarded a collection of poetry by Selvi and Sivaramani, translated from the Tamil by Shash Trevett. Grants were also awarded to Lakeer Magazine and Toronto International Festival of Authors through a grant for the promotion of South Asian literature in translation – a programme administrated for the SALT project by English PEN.
PEN Translates has now supported over 400 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:
- Love Stories on al-‘Asha Street by Badriah Al-Bishr (Saudi Arabia), translated from the Arabic by Sawad Hussain (Héloïse Press).
- The Man Who Read Books by Rachid Benzine (Morocco), translated from the French by Sam Taylor (Canongate Books).
- Blinding: The Body by Mircea Cărtărescu (Romania), translated from the Romanian by Gabi Reigh (Penguin International Writers).
- Rue Des Paquerettes by Mehdi Charef (Algeria), translated from the French by Sarah Ardizzone (HopeRoad/Small Axes).
- Poems from the Loophole by Maksym Kryvtsov (Ukraine), translated from the Ukrainian by Larissa Babij and Helena Kernan (Jantar Publishing).
- The Skull by Xavier Le Clerc (Algeria/France), translated from the French by Helen Stevenson (HopeRoad/Small Axes).
- The Lord’s Ways by Shady Lewis (Egypt/UK), translated from the Arabic by Katharine Halls (Peirene Press).
- All the Iron in the Eiffel Tower by Michele Mari (Italy), translated from the Italian by Brian Robert Moore (And Other Stories).
- Remember the Bees by Zineb Mekouar (Morocco), translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud (Foundry Editions).
- Unbalancing Act by Alcide Pierantozzi (Italy), translated from the Italian by Antonella Lettieri (Fitzcarraldo Editions).
- 98 Seconds without Shadow by Giovanna Rivero (Bolivia), translated from the Spanish by Isabel Adey (Charco Press).
- Family of the Wasteland by Atsushi Sato (Japan), translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori (Akoya Publishing).
- Paper Lineages by Anna Lidia Vega Serova (Cuba), translated from the Spanish by Jennifer Shyue (Amaurea Press).
- The Adventures, Misfortunes, and Dreams of Adonis García, the Vampire of Colonia Roma by Luis Zapata (Mexico), translated from the Spanish by Karim Kazemi (Sternberg Press).
PEN Translates x SALT
- Selected Poems from Selvi and Sivaramani by Selvi and Sivaramani (Sri Lanka), translated from Tamil by Shash Trevett (The Poetry Translation Centre).
Nichola Smalley, English PEN Translation Advisory Co-chair and Chair of the PEN Translates Selection Panel, said:
A wonderful thing about PEN Translates panel discussions is the panellists’ openness to having their minds changed when presented with new information or perspectives. It was no different this time around. The projects submitted provoked prolonged and impassioned debate. Through thoughtful consideration we ended up with 14 fantastic titles ranging from the radical and political to the wildly imaginative to the intimate and personal (and in many cases a skillful blend of these) from presses big and small and medium, with re-discovered contemporary classics, social commentary and unexpected love stories. With authors and translators from across the experience scale and languages spanning the globe, this portfolio is a microcosm of the literary diversity PEN Translates exists to support.
Preti Taneja, Co-chair of the English PEN Translation Advisory Group and Chair of the PEN Translates x SALT Selection Panel, said:
Each of these projects will bring writers, translators and their outstanding work to new readers and audiences who might not otherwise have access to them. In a world in which funding is increasingly difficult to secure, the panel is glad to support festivals and publications that celebrate translation and diverse literary culture.
Nadia Saeed, Translation and International Manager at English PEN, said:
When I see the range of applications we receive each round, the calibre of the work we are yet to be able to read in translation never ceases to amaze me, and these 14 titles are no exception. From love stories from Saudi Arabia to cult queer fiction from Mexico to seminal feminist poetry from Sri Lanka, these titles further exemplify the importance of bibliodiversity in times where we aren’t always quick to look beyond the surface of things. We’re excited to be supporting such vital contributions to literature in translation.