Swedish – Bernard Shaw Prize

The Bernard Shaw Prize is a biennial award for translations into English of full length Swedish language works of literary merit and general interest. The winner is awarded £3,000 and a runner-up is awarded £1,000.

Named after the author and dramatist, whose Nobel Prize went towards a foundation for ‘the promotion and diffusion of knowledge and appreciation of the literature and art of Sweden in the British Islands’, the prize was  established in 1991 and is generously sponsored by the Anglo-Swedish Literary Foundation and the Embassy of Sweden in London.

The Bernard Shaw Prize is now open for submissions. Please enter below.
Deadline for entries: 31 March 2025.


An biennial prize for translations into English of full length Swedish language works of literary merit and general interest. The winner is awarded £3,000 and a runner-up is awarded £1,000.

The Bernard Shaw Prize for the translation of Swedish into English was established in 1991 and is named after the author and dramatist Bernard Shaw, part of whose Nobel Prize supported a foundation for 'the promotion and diffusion of knowledge and appreciation of the literature and art of Sweden in the British Islands.' The prize is generously sponsored by the Anglo-Swedish Literary Foundation and the Swedish Embassy.

Entry Deadline: Monday 31st March 2025 

Entry criteria

  • The original must have been written in Swedish but may be from any period and from anywhere in the world
  • The translation must have been first published in the UK between 2023 and 2024 (inclusive).
  • Submissions must not contain the use of AI generated works
  • Maximum two entries per imprint.

Conditions of entry

The decision of the judges is final and they reserve the right not to award the prize if, in their opinion, no works entered reach a sufficiently high standard. Judges may call in books if they so wish.

Current employees (or anyone directly connected with the administration of the Society of Authors’ grants and prizes) or members of the SoA Management Committee may not apply for any of the grants and prizes administered by the Society of Authors.

It is a condition of entry that publishers will put the award logo or “2025 Bernard Shaw Prize Winner” or “Shortlisted for the Bernard Shaw Prize 2025”, on the cover of subsequent editions of winning/shortlisted books. We have designed roundels with this information on them if you’d like to use those.

How to Enter

Submissions must be made by the publisher.

Please upload a digital copy of the text in both languages to this application or send the files to prizes@societyofauthors.org.

Once this form is completed please send five physical copies of the translation and four physical copies of the Swedish work (all non-returnable) to:

Bernard Shaw Prize
Prizes department
Society of Authors
24 Bedford row
London
WC1R 4EH

Couriers should be advised to use the Theobalds road entrance.

The prize will be celebrated at the annual Translation Prizes ceremony in 2026. For any queries, please email prizes@societyofauthors.org

Submissions must be made by the print publisher
The translation must have been first published in the UK between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.
The original must have been written in Swedish but may be from any period and from anywhere in the world.
Click or drag a file to this area to upload.
Maximum two entries per imprint
Click or drag a file to this area to upload.
Please provide a short bio. This may typically include recent publications, the name, date, and details of previous prizes won, education, training, and career background, and pronouns.
I agree to abide by the conditions of entry. I confirm that the translator and translation meet the criteria for entry as detailed above.
By ticking the below you are confirming that you have permission to share all the above information with the Society of Authors team and sponsorship partners. We may invite you to take part in PR activities surrounding the prize but you are under no obligation to do so and will always contact you to ask your permission before giving your contact details to our media partners. To read our full privacy policy please visit our website: societyofauthors.org/Legal-Privacy/Privacy-Statement.

2022 (presented in 2023)

Winner: Saskia Vogel for a translation of Strega by Johanne Lykke Holm (Lolli Editions)

Runner-up: Jennifer Hayashida for a translation of Euphoria by Elin Cullhed (Canongate Books)

Shortlisted:

Kira Josefsson for a translation of The Trio by Johanna Hedman (Hamish Hamilton)

John Litell for a translation of Nordic Fauna by Andrea Lundgren (Peirene Press)

Alice Menzies for a translation of We Know You Remember by Tove Alsterdal (Faber and Faber)

Alice E. Olsson for a translation of The Herd by Johan Anderberg (Scribe UK)

2021 (presented in 2022) 

Winner: Sarah Death for a translation of Letters from Tove by Tove Jansson ed. by Boel Westin and Helen Svensson. (Sort of Books)

Runner up: Sarah Death for a translation of Chitambo by Hagar Olsson. (Norvik Press)

Runner up: Amanda Doxtater for a translation of Crisis by Karin Boye. (Norvik Press)

Shortlisted: Neil Smith for a translation of Anxious People by Fredrik Backman. (Penguin Michael Joseph)

Deborah Bragan-Turner for a translation of To Cook A Bear by Mikael Niemi. (MacLehose Press)

Nichola Smalley for a translation of Wretchedness by Andrzej Tichý. (And Other Stories)

2018 (presented 2019)

Winner: Frank Perry for his translation of Bret Easton Ellis and the Other Dogs by Lina Wolff (And Other Stories)

Runner-up: Deborah Bragan-Turner for her translation of The Parable Book by Per Olov Enquist (MacLehose Press/Quercus)

Shortlistees: Sarah Death for her translation of Wilful Disregard be Lena Andersson (Picador, Pan Macmillan)

John Irons for his translation of Selected Poems by Lars Gustafsson (Bloodaxe Books)

2015 (presented 2016)

Winner: Thomas Teal for his translation of The Listener by Tove Jansson (Sort of Books)

Commended: Sarah Death for her translation of A Brief Stop on the Road From Auschwitz by Goran Rosenberg (Granta). 

2012

Winner: Robin Fulton for his translation of Chickweed Wintergreen (pictured far right) by Harry Martinson (Bloodaxe Books)

Commended: Peter Graves for his translation of The Beauty and the Sorrow by Peter Englund (Profile)

2009

Winner: Thomas Teal for Fair Play by Tove Jansson (Sort Of Books)

Runner up: Tiina Nunnally for The Story of Blanche and Marie by Per Olov Enquist (Harvill Secker)

2006

Winner: Sarah Death for Snow by Ellen Mattson ( Jonathan Cape)

Runner up: Tom Geddes for Hash by Torgny Lindgren (Duckworth)

2003

Winner: Sarah Death for The Angel House by Kerstin Ekman (Norvik Press)

Runner up: Tom Geddes for Sweetness by Torgny Lindgren (Harvill)

2000

Winner: Anna Paterson for The Forest of Hours by Kerstin Ekman (Chatto & Windus)

Highly Commended: Sarah Death for Money by Victoria Benedictsson (Norvik Press)

1997

Winner: Michael Robinson for August Strindberg Selected Essays by August Strindberg (CUP)

1994

Winner: David McDuff for A Valley in the Midst of Violence by Gösta Agren (Bloodaxe)

1991

Winner:Tom Geddes The Way of a Serpent by Torgny Lindgren (Harvill)

Alison Flood

Alison Flood

Alison Flood is comment and culture editor at New Scientist. She is the Observer’s thriller columnist, and was previously books writer for the Guardian. She has judged prizes including the British Book Awards and the Costa first novel prize.

Nichola Smalley

Nichola Smalley

Nichola Smalley is a translator of Swedish and Norwegian literature. Her translation of Andrzej Tichý’s Wretchedness won the 2021 Oxford-Weidenfeld Prize, and was nominated for the International Booker and Bernard Shaw Prizes, and her translation of Amanda Svensson’s A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2023. She has a PhD in the use of slang in contemporary Swedish and English literature, and worked in publishing for many years. She lives in London.

Amanda Svensson © Robin Rådenman

Amanda Svensson

Amanda Svensson is a Swedish author of five novels, and literary translator from English to Swedish. Her novel A System So Magnificent It Is Blinding was published by Scribe in 2022 (translated by Nichola Smalley) and shortlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2023. Her latest novel Själens telegraf (The Telegraph of the Soul) was published in Sweden in August 2023.

Embassy of Sweden

The Embassy of Sweden in London is led by Ambassador Mikaela Kumlin Granit and is tasked with representing Sweden and the Swedish government in the United Kingdom.

The Embassy’s Cultural Affairs department promotes Swedish culture in the United Kingdom, including literature, art, dance, music, film and theatre, as well as works to establish cultural links and collaboration between the countries. The department is led by Cultural Affairs Counsellor.