The Polish Book Institute

Two translations of Polish books have been included in the longlist of translations nominated for the prestigious National Translation Award granted by the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA). Among the nominees, there are Madeline G. Levine, a winner of Found in Translation Award for her translation of Bruno Schulz, and Bill Johnston, a Transatlantyk Award winner for his translation of Adam Mickiewicz. Both translations have been published with the support of the Book Institute as part of the ©POLAND Translation Programme.

The Longlist of translations nominated in Prose 

· Uwe Johnson, Anniversaries: From a Year in the Life of Gesine Cresspahl, translated from the German by Damion Searls (New York Review Books)

· Alfred Döblin, Berlin Alexanderplatz, translated from the German by Michael Hofmann (New York Review Books)

· Alicia Kopf, Brother in Ice, translated from the Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem (And Other Stories)

· Bruno Schulz, Collected Stories, translated from the Polish by Madeline G. Levine (Northwestern University Press)

· Roque Larraquy, Comemadre, translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary (Coffee House Press)

· Amparo Davila, The Houseguest, translated from the Spanish by Audrey Harris and Matthew Gleeson (New Directions)

· Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, In Black and White, translated from the Japanese by Phyllis I. Lyons (Columbia University Press)

· Józef Czapski, Lost Time, translated from the French by Eric Karpeles (New York Review Books)

· Armonía Somers, The Naked Woman, translated from the Spanish by Kit Maude (The Feminist Press)

· Ófeigur Sigurdsson, Öraefi: The Wasteland, translated from the Icelandic by Lytton Smith (Deep Vellum Publishing)

· Cristina Rivera Garza, The Taiga Syndrome, translated from the Spanish by Suzanne Jill Levine and Aviva Kana (Dorothy, a publishing project & And Other Stories, forthcoming)

· Ersi Sotiropoulos, What’s Left of the Night, translated from the Greek by Karen Emmerich (New Vessel Press)

The list of twelve translations nominated in poetry:

· Pablo de Rokha, Architecture of Dispersed Life: Selected Poems, translated from the Spanish by Urayoán Noel (Shearsman Books)

· Juana Castro, The Color of Rivers, translated from the Spanish by Ana Valverde Osan (Diálogos)

· Hanshan, The Complete Cold Mountain: Poems of the Legendary Hermit Hanshan translated from the Chinese by Kazuaki Tanahashi and Peter Levitt (Shambhala Publications)

· Pedro Mir, Countersong to Walt Whitman, translated from the Spanish by Jonathan Cohen and Donald D. Walsh (Peepal Tree Press)

· Oliverio Girondo, Decals, translated from the Spanish by Rachel Galvin and Harris Feinsod (Open Letter Books)

· Tanella Boni, The Future Has an Appointment with the Dawn, translated from the French by Todd Fredeson (University of Nebraska Press)

· Luljeta Lleshanaku, Negative Space, translated from the Albanian by przełożyła Ani Gjika (New Directions)

· Adam Mickiewicz, Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania, translated from the Polish by Bill Johnston (Archipelago Books)

· The Popul Vuh (anonymous), translated from the K’iche’ by Michael Bazzett (Milkweed Editions)

· Robert the Devil (anonymous), translated from the French by Samuel N. Rosenberg (Penn State University Press)

· Tarjei Vesaas, Through Naked Branches: Selected Poems of Tarjei Vesaas, translated from the Norwegian by Roger Greenwald
(Black Widow Press)

· Antarah ibn Shaddad, War Songs, translated from the Arabic by James E. Montgomery and Richard Sieburth (Library of Arabic Literature/NYU Press)

The nominations were announced on 3^rd September. The ALTA Award is the only award in the United States to be awarded on the basis of a rigorous examination of both the source text and its relation to the finished English work.

 This year’s prose judges are Bonnie Huie, Charlotte Mandell, and Jeffrey Zuckerman. This year’s judges for poetry are Anna Deeny Morales, Cole Heinowitz, and Sholeh Wolpe. The winning translators will receive a $2,500 cash prize each. The shortlists will be announced at the end of September, and the winners will be announced at ALTA’s annual conference (November 7-10).