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Olga Tokarczuk appeared on the longlist of nominees for the prestigious American National Book Award for the third time. In 2018, she made it to the finals of the competition with the novel Bieguni ("Flights") translated by Jennifer Croft; a year later, the nomination went to the translation of the book Prowadź swój pług przez kości umarłych ("Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead") by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, and this time, the jury recognised Księgi Jakubowe (“The Books of Jacob”). Jennifer Croft's translation has already received the Found in Translation award granted by the Book Institute, the Polish Cultural Institute in London, and the Polish Cultural Institute in New York.
The New Yorker magazine announced a longlist of nominees for the National Book Award in the category of "Translated Literature". This category of the award was created in 2018, and this is the third time Olga Tokarczuk appears among the nominees.
The longlist of nominees includes the following titles:
- Mohammed Hasan Alwan, Ibn Arabi’s Small Death, translated from the Arabic by William M. Hutchins, Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin
- Jon Fosse, A New Name: Septology VI-VII, translated from the Norwegian by Damion Searls, Transit Books
- Shahriar Mandanipour, Seasons of Purgatory, translated from the Persian by Sara Khalili, Bellevue Literary Press
- Scholastique Mukasonga, Kibogo, translated from the French by Mark Polizzotti, Archipelago Books
- Mónica Ojeda, Jawbone, translated from the Spanish by Sarah Booker, Coffee House Press
- Olga Ravn, The Employees, translated from the Danish by Martin Aitken, New Directions Publishing
- Samanta Schweblin, Seven Empty Houses, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell, Riverhead Books / Penguin Random House
- Saša Stanišić, Where You Come From, translated from the German by Damion Searls, Tin House Books
- Yoko Tawada, Scattered All Over the Earth, translated from the Japanese by Margaret Mitsutani, New Directions Publishing
- Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob, translated from the Polish by Jennifer Croft, Riverhead Books / Penguin Random House
In the category ‘Translated literature’, publishers submitted a total of 146 books this year. The judges for this category are Nick Buzanski, Veronica Esposito, Ann Goldstein (chair), Rohan Kamicheril, and Russell Scott Valentino. The finalists will be revealed on 4 October. Winners will be announced live at the National Book Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, November 16.