The TA First Translation Prize is an annual prize for a debut literary translation into English published in the UK and Ireland. The winner is awarded £3,000 and a runner-up is awarded £1,000. The Prize is shared between the translator and their editor.
It was established in 2017 and generously endowed by Daniel Hahn and Jo Heinrich, with support from the British Council.
The 2024 TA First Translation Prize is now closed for submissions.
‘So, it’s recognising new talent in the translation profession, but also those editors who take a chance on a debut and then work with them to make them better – a role we all depend on, but don’t acknowledge often enough.’
Daniel Hahn
The 2023 TA First Translation Prize winner
Sophie Collins and editor Marigold Atkey for a translation of The Opposite of a Person by Lieke Marsman (Daunt Books)
Sophie Collins’ translation is an extraordinary act of art — careful, caring, and mesmerisingly clever. It moves between ideas, individuals, genres, styles and speeds with utter ease.
The TA First judges
The 2023 TA First Translation Prize runner-up
Nguyễn An Lý and editor Deborah Smith for a translation of Chinatown by Thuận (Tilted Axis Press)
Nguyễn An Lý’s translation, beautiful and unflinching in its stylistic choices, takes us on a trance of a ride.
The TA First judges
The 2023 TA First Translation Prize shortlist
Tash Aw and editor Ellie Steel for a translation of A Woman’s Battles and Transformations by Édouard Louis (Penguin Random House)
Katharina Hall and editor Abigail Scruby for a translation of Punishment by Ferdinand von Schirach (Baskerville, John Murray)
Victor Meadowcroft and editors Juliet Mabey and Polly Hatfield for a translation of This World Does Not Belong to Us by Natalia García Freire (Oneworld Publications)
Johanne Sorgenfri Ottosen and editor Tom Conaghan for a translation of Awake by Harald Voetmann (Lolli Editions)
Claire Wadie and editor Gesche Ipsen for a translation of Of Saints and Miracles by Manuel Astur (Peirene Press)
If you are interested in any of the books here please visit Bookshop.org.
2022 (presented in 2023)
Winner: Marta Dziurosz and editors Zeljka Marosevic and Sophie Missing for a translation of The Things I Didn’t Throw Out by Marcin Wicha (Daunt Books Publishing) Translated from Polish.
Runner Up: Jo Heinrich and editor Gesche Ipsen for a translation of Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp (Peirene Press) Translated from German.
Shortlisted:
Bethlehem Attfield and editor David Henningham for a translation of The Lost Spell by Yismake Worku (Henningham Family Press) Translated from Amharic.
Elena Pala and editor Federico Andornino for a translation of The Hummingbird by Sandro Veronesi (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, Orion) Translated from Italian.
Kat Storace and editor Jen Calleja for a translation of what will it take for me to leave by Loranne Vella (Praspar Press) Translated from Maltese.
Abigail Wender and editor Katy Derbyshire for a translation of The Bureau of Past Management by Iris Hanika (V&Q Books) Translated from German.
2021 (presented in 2022)
Winner: Jackie Smith and editor Bill Swainson for a translation of An Inventory of Losses by Judith Schalansky. (MacLehose Press)
Runner Up: Padma Viswanathan and editor Edwin Frank for a translation of São Bernardo by Graciliano Ramos. (New York Review Books)
Shortlisted: Jennifer Russell and editor Denise Rose Hansen for a translation of Marble by Amalie Smith. (Lolli Editions)
Lucy Rand and editor Sophie Orme for a translation of The Phone Box at the Edge of the World by Sophie Orme (Bonnier Books UK Ltd)
Rahul Bery and editor Federico Andornino for a translation of Rolling Fields by David Trueba. (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, Orion Publishing Group)
Simon Leser and editor Andrew Hsiao for a translation of Tomorrow They Won’t Dare to Murder Us by Joseph Andras. (Verso Books)
2020 (presented in 2021)
Winner: Nicholas Glastonbury and editor Saba Ahmed for a translation of Every Fire You Tend by Sema Kaygusuz (Tilted Axis Press). Translated from Turkish.
Runner-up: Nicholas Royle and editor Tim Shearer for a translation of Pharricide by Vincent de Swarte (Confingo Publishing). Translated from French.
Shortlisted: Laura Francis and editor Ka Bradley for a translation of The Collection by Nina Leger (Granta Books). Translated from French.
Annie McDermott and editor Lizzie Davis for a translation of Empty Words by Mario Levrero (And Other Stories). Translated from Spanish.
Ruth Diver and editor Elise Williams for a translation of The Little Girl on the Ice Floe by Adélaïde Bon (MacLehose Press). Translated from French.
Owen Good and editor Bishan Samaddar for a translation of Pixel by Krisztina Tóth (Seagull Books). Translated from Hungarian.
2019 (presented in 2020)
Winner: Morgan Giles for a translation of Tokyo Ueno Station edited by Saba Ahmed and originally written by Yu Miri in Japanese (Tilted Axis Press)
Runner-up: Charlotte Whittle for a translation of People in the Room edited by Bella Bosworth and originally written by Norah Langé in Spanish (And Other Stories)
Shortlisted: Sarah Booker for a translation of The Iliac Crest edited by Lauren Rosemary Hook and originally written by Cristina Rivera Garza in Spanish (And Other Stories)
Natascha Bruce for a translation of Lonely Face edited by Jeremy Tiang and originally written by Yeng Pway Ngon in Chinese (Balestier Press)
Ellen Jones for a translation of Trout, Belly Up edited by Fionn Petch and Carolina Orloff and originally written by Rodrigo Fuentes in Spanish (Charco Press)
William Spence for a translation of The Promise: Love and Loss in Modern China edited by Tomasz Hoskins and originally written by XinRan in Mandarin (I.B. Tauris)
2018 (presented in 2019)
Winner: Janet Hong for her translation of The Impossible Fairytale edited by Ethan Nosowsky and originally written by Han Yujoo in Korean (Tilted Axis Press)
Shortlistees:
Gini Alhadeff for her translation of I Am the Brother of XX edited by Barbara Epler and originally written by Fleur Jaeggy in Italian (And Other Stories)
Fionn Petch for his translation of Fireflies edited by Annie McDermott and originally written by Luis Sagasti in Spanish (Charco Press)
Alex Valente for his translation of Can You Hear Me? edited by Federico Andornino and originally written by Elena Varvello in Italian (Two Roads Books)
2017 (presented in 2018)
Winner: Bela Shayevich for her translation of Second-hand Time edited by Jacques Testard and originally written by Svetlana Alexievich in Russian (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Shortlistees:
Jeffrey Zuckerman for his translation of Eve Out of Her Ruins, edited by Cécile Menon and Angeline Rothermundt and originally written by Ananda Devi in French (Les Fugitives)
Francesca Barrie for her translation of Notes on a Thesis, edited by Claire Bullock and originally written by Tiphanie Rivière in French (Jonathan Cape)
Eliza Marciniak for her translation of Swallowing Mercury, edited by Max Porter and Ka Bradley and originally written by Wioletta Greg in Polish (Portobello Books)
Mui Poopoksakul for her translation of The Sad Part Was, edited by Deborah Smith and originally written by Prabda Yoon in Thai (Tilted Axis Press)
Elisabeth Jaquette for her translation of The Queue, edited by Sal Robinson and Taylor Sperry and originally written by Basma Abdel Aziz in Arabic (Melville House)
Will Forrester
Will Forrester is Translation and International Manager at English PEN. He co-edited All Walls Collapse: Stories of Separation (2022) and led the editorial team for Untold’s My Pen Is the Wing of a Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women (2022). He has worked in the visual arts in Malaysia and as an independent expert for the EU Commission’s Creative Europe programme. He is a Clore Emerging Leader 2022, a Bookseller Rising Star 2023, and a member of the advisory board at Sinoist Books. His writing has appeared in the Guardian, Los Angeles Review of Books, London Magazine, and elsewhere.
Carolina Orloff
Carolina Orloff is an experienced translator and researcher in Latin American literature, with a vast list of publications. In 2016, after obtaining her PhD, she co-founded Charco Press where she acts as editorial director. She is also the co-translator of several novels including Jorge Consiglio’s Fate and Ariana Harwicz’s Die, My Love, longlisted for the Booker International Prize and shortlisted for the Valle Inclán Prize. Charco Press has received many awards and nominations including the British Book Award (2019, 2020), and two shortlistings for the Booker International. In 2018, Carolina was named Emerging Publisher of the Year by the Saltire Society of Scotland.
Mui Poopoksakul
Mui Poopoksakul is a lawyer turned translator. She has translated several works of contemporary Thai fiction, including Prabda Yoon’s The Sad Part Was, for which she was shortlisted for the TA First Translation Prize in the award’s inaugural year. Her most recent translation is the novel The Understory by Saneh Sangsuk (forthcoming from Peirene Press in the UK and Deep Vellum in the US). Mui lives in Berlin, Germany.
2023
Translation expands and deepens our world, our consciousness, in countless, indescribable ways,” said the iconic Edith Grossman. This shortlist is a true representation of that. All the books included are bold, varied, inventive. They have all been translated with enormous depth of expertise, confidence and craft, bringing unique and very necessary insights into the English-speaking world. It was hard to believe that these were all debut translations. We were impressed, and also very touched, for this is also illustrative of the degree of risk and ambition that publishers, writers and translators continue to putting at play. Overall, a triumph.
TA First judges
Daniel Hahn
Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor and translator. He is on the boards of Modern Poetry in Translation, English PEN and The Children’s Bookshow (as chair), on the committee of the Translators Association (former chair) and the board of governors of his local primary school. He’s also on the Council of the Society of Authors and the Council of Shakespeare’s Globe, as well as a number of advisory groups (And Other Stories, Cheltenham Literature Festival, Public Lending Right, etc.).
Find out more about why Daniel sponsored the prize here.
Jo Heinrich
Jo Heinrich translates from French and German; her translation of Marzahn, Mon Amour by Katja Oskamp won the 2023 Dublin Literary Award and was runner-up for the 2022 Translators Association First Translation Prize. She lives just outside Bristol with her family. Find out more about Jo on her website here.