We celebrated the Society of Authors’ annual Translation Prizes on Wednesday 12 February, once again hosted in the British Library’s Knowledge Centre. Ten literary translators and one editor shared a prize fund of £30,000.
The evening was hosted by Ian Giles, Chair of the Translator’s Association, and featured live readings and pre-recorded acceptance videos. The winning translation of the TA First Translation Prize, the first from Eastern Armenian to win the award, was a particular highlight, celebrated with a joyous video from Deanna Cachoian-Schanz and Tatiana Ryckman, the translator and editor, who couldn’t make it in person. You can view their video (at 00:48:36) and the rest of the livestream below.
The full list of winners was announced on the morning of the ceremony, and we celebrated the shortlisted translators and editors in December.
You can purchase the winning and shortlisted books at Bookshop.org. A contribution from every purchase goes towards the Society of Authors’ Access Fund.
Thanks once again to those who joined us, both online and in-person, and made it such a wonderful night.
‘A really joyful celebration of translation and translators, with enough time for networking and catching up with colleagues.’
‘Warm, inclusive, friendly, beautifully organised in a lovely venue, and the awards ceremony was uplifting.’
‘A thoroughly stimulating, informative and enjoyable event.’
‘[I liked] the range of books, the words from the winners, but mostly the ethos underpinning an event celebrating a sharing of literature and cultures through translation.’
Catch up on the event recording
Alessandro Gallenzi on the importance of the new John Calder Translation Prize
See the photos
The crowd settle in for the evening © Adrian Pope / Society of Authors
Ian Giles, translator of Scandinavian and Chair of the Translators Association, takes the stage as the evening’s host © Adrian Pope / Society of Authors
Jenny McPhee, winner of the John Florio Prize for translations from Italian to English, poses with Ian Giles © Adrian Pope / Society of Authors
Katherine Halls, winner of the Saif Ghobash Banipal prize for translations from Arabic into English, gives a speech © Adrian Pope / Society of Authors
Translator James Young and editor Stella Sabin, winners of the TA First Prize for debut literary translations, pose with Ian Giles © Adrian Pope / Society of Authors
Andrew Shanks, winner of the Schlegel Tieck Prize for translations from German into English, holds aloft the winning book Revelation Freshly Erupting at the lectern © Adrian Pope / Society of Authors
Alessandro Gallenzi and Elisabetta Minervini, co-founders of Alma Books and sponsors of the newly launched John Calder Translation Prize for translations from any language, give a speech © Adrian Pope / Society of Authors
Mark Polizzotti, runner-up of the Scott Moncrieff prize for translations from French to English, poses with Ian Giles © Adrian Pope / Society of Authors
Gilles Ortlieb, poet of the winning text for the Scott Monceriff prize The Day’s Rations, gives a speech © Adrian Pope / Society of Authors
Kristen Gehrman, winner of the Vondel Prize for translations from Dutch to English, gives a speech © Adrian Pope / Society of Authors
The audience listens in © Adrian Pope / Society of Authors
The winners share the stage © Adrian Pope / Society of Authors
