PEN Translation Prize

The PEN Translation Prize (formerly known as the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize through 2008) is an annual award given by PEN America (formerly PEN American Center) to outstanding translations into the English language. It has been presented annually by PEN America and the Book of the Month Club since 1963. It was the first award in the United States expressly for literary translators.[1] A 1999 New York Times article called it "the Academy Award of Translation", stating that the award is thus usually not given to younger translators.[2]

The distinction comes with a cash prize of USD $3,000. Any book-length English translation published in the United States during the year in question is eligible, irrespective of the residence or nationality of either the translator or the original author.[3]

The award is separate from the similar PEN Award for Poetry in Translation.

The PEN Translation Prize was called one of "the most prominent translation awards."[4] The award is one of many PEN awards sponsored by International PEN affiliates in over 145 PEN centres around the world. The PEN American Center awards have been characterized as being among the "major" American literary prizes.[5]

Winners

PEN Translation Prize winners[6]
Year Translator Author Title Original title Language Ref.
1963 Archibald Colquhoun Federico de Roberto The Viceroys I Viceré Italian
1964 Ralph Manheim Günter Grass The Tin Drum Die Blechtrommel German
1965 Joseph Barnes Konstantin Paustovsky The Story of a Life Повесть о жизни Russian
1966 Geoffrey Skelton and Adrian Mitchell Peter Weiss Marat/Sade German
1967 Harriet de Onis João Guimarães Rosa Sagarana: The Duel Sagarana, o Duelo Portuguese
1968 Vladimir Markov and Merrill Sparks (eds.) Modern Russian Poetry — Russian
1969 W. S. Merwin Selected Translations 1948-1968 — Various [7][8]
1970 Sidney Alexander Francesco Guicciardini The History of Italy Storia d'Italia Italian
1971 Max Hayward Nadezhda Mandelstam Hope Against Hope Воспоминания Russian
1972 Richard Winston and Clara Winston Letters of Thomas Mann — German
1973 J. P. McCullough The Poems of Sextus Propertius — Latin
1974 Hardie St. Martin and Leonard Mades José Donoso The Obscene Bird of Night El obsceno pájaro de la noche Spanish
1975 Helen R. Lane Juan Goytisolo Count Julian Reivindicación del conde don Julián Spanish
1976 Richard Howard E. M. Cioran A Short History of Decay Précis de décomposition French
1977 Gregory Rabassa Gabriel García Márquez The Autumn of the Patriarch El otoño del patriarca Spanish
1979 Adrienne Foulke Leonardo Sciascia One Way or Another Todo modo Italian
1979 Charles Wright Eugenio Montale The Storm and Other Poems La bufera e altro Italian
1980 Charles Simic Vasko Popa Homage to the Lame Wolf — Serbian
1981 John E. Woods Arno Schmidt Evening Edged in Gold Abend mit Goldrand German
1982 Hiroaki Sato and Burton Watson From the Country of Eight Islands: An Anthology of Japanese Poetry — Japanese
1983 Richard Wilbur Molière Four Comedies: The Misanthrope, Tartuffe, The Learned Ladies, The School for Wives Le Misanthrope, Tartuffe, Les Femmes savantes, L'école des femmes French
1984 William Weaver Umberto Eco The Name of the Rose Il nome della rosa Italian
1985 (prose) Helen R. Lane Mario Vargas Llosa The War of the End of the World La guerra del fin del mundo Spanish
1985 (verse) Seamus Heaney Sweeney Astray Buile Shuibhne Irish
1986 (prose) Barbara Bray Marguerite Duras The Lover L'Amant French
1986 (verse) Dennis Tedlock Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life Popol voh Quiché
1987 John E. Woods Patrick Süskind Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Das Parfum: Die Geschichte eines Mörders German
1988 Madeline Levine and Francine Prose Ida Fink A Scrap of Time Skrawek czasu Polish [9]
1989 Matthew Ward Albert Camus The Stranger L'Étranger French
1990 William Weaver Umberto Eco Foucault's Pendulum Il pendolo di Foucault Italian
1991 Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky Fyodor Dostoevsky The Brothers Karamazov Братья Карамазовы Russian
1992 David Rosenberg A Poet's Bible Hebrew
1993 Thomas Hoisington Ignacy Krasicki The Adventures of Mr. Nicholas Wisdom Mikołaja Doświadczyńskiego przypadki Polish
1994 Bill Zavatsky and Zack Rogow André Breton Earthlight Clair de terre French
1995 Burton Watson Selected Poems of Su Tung-p'o — Chinese
1996 Stanisław Barańczak and Clare Cavanagh Wisława Szymborska View With a Grain of Sand Widok z ziarnkiem piasku Polish
1997 Arnold Pomerans The Letters of Vincent van Gogh — Dutch
1998 Peter Constantine Thomas Mann Six Early Stories — German
1999 Michael Hofmann Joseph Roth The Tale of the 1002nd Night Die Geschichte von der 1002. Nacht German [10]
2000 Richard Sieburth Gérard de Nerval Selected Writings — French
2001 Tiina Nunnally Sigrid Undset The Cross Korset Norwegian [11]
2002 Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky Leo Tolstoy Anna Karenina Анна Каренина Russian
2003 R. W. Flint Cesare Pavese The Moon and the Bonfires La Luna e i falò Italian
2004 Margaret Sayers Peden Antonio Muñoz Molina Sepharad Sefarad Spanish
2005 Tim Wilkinson Imre Kertész Fatelessness Sorstalanság Hungarian
2006 Philip Gabriel Haruki Murakami Kafka on the Shore 海辺のカフカ Japanese
2007 Sandra Smith Irène Némirovsky Suite française French
2008 Margaret Jull Costa Eça de Queirós The Maias Os Maias: Episódios da Vida Romântica Portuguese [12]
2009 Natasha Wimmer Roberto Bolaño 2666 Spanish [13]
2010 Michael Henry Heim Hugo Claus Wonder De verwondering Dutch [14][15]
2011 Ibrahim Muhawi Mahmoud Darwish Journal of an Ordinary Grief يوميات الحزن العادي Arabic [16]
2012 Bill Johnston Wiesław Myśliwski Stone Upon Stone Kamień na kamieniu Polish [17]
2013 Donald O. White Albert Vigoleis Thelen The Island of Second Sight Die Insel des zweiten Gesichts German [18][19][20]
2014 Joanne Turnbull and Nikolai Formozov Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky Autobiography of a Corpse Автобиография трупа Russian [21][22][23]
2015 Denise Newman Naja Marie Aidt Baboon Bavian Danish [24][25][26]
2016 Katrina Dodson Clarice Lispector The Complete Stories Todas as Crónicas Portuguese [27][28][29][30]
2017 Tess Lewis Maja Haderlap Angel of Oblivion Engel des Vergessens German [31][32]
2018 Len Rix Magda Szabó Katalin Street Katalin utca Hungarian [33][34][35][36]
2019 Martin Aitken Hanne Ørstavik Love Kjærlighet Norwegian [37][38]
2020 Allison Markin Powell Hiromi Kawakami The Ten Loves of Nishino ニシノユキヒコの恋と冒険 Japanese [39][40]
2021 Emma Ramadan Abdellah Taïa A Country for Dying Un pays pour mourir French [41][42][43][44]
2022 Julia Sanches Mariana Oliver Migratory Birds Aves migratorias Spanish [45][46]
2023 Tiffany Tsao Budi Darma People from Bloomington Orang-orang Bloomington Indonesian [47]
2025 Brian Robert Moore Michele Mari Verdigris Verderame Italian [48]

See also

References

  1. ^ "PEN honors Norwegian translations". Norway.com (Norway's official website in the USA). 2001. Archived from the original on February 19, 2012. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
  2. ^ Lewine, Edward (January 17, 1999). "MAKING IT WORK; The Man Who Tracked Down Chekhov". New York Times. Archived from the original on September 26, 2015. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
  3. ^ "Pen Translation Prize". PEN America. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
  4. ^ Wechsler, Robert (1998). "Performing Without a Stage". Performing Without a Stage: The Art of Literary Translation. Catbird Press. pp. 278–279.
  5. ^ Bendixen, Alfred (2005). "Literary Prizes and Awards". The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 689. Archived from the original on 2023-02-24. Retrieved 2016-10-19.
  6. ^ "PEN Translation Prize". PEN America. 2020-06-10. Archived from the original on 2023-02-25. Retrieved 2023-02-27.
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  17. ^ "2012 PEN Translation Prize". PEN America. Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
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  47. ^ Mem: 10118712. "Tsao wins US PEN Translation Prize | Books+Publishing". Retrieved 2023-04-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  48. ^ "2025 PEN America Literary Awards Winners". Retrieved 2025-05-18.
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