National Translation Award

The National Translation Award is awarded annually by the American Literary Translators Association for literary translators who have made an outstanding contribution to literature in English by masterfully recreating the artistic force of a book of consummate quality. Since 2015 the prize has been awarded separately in categories of prose and poetry. Established in 1998, the NTA is the only prize for a work of literary translation into English to include an evaluation of the source language text.[1] As of 2019 the award is worth $2,500 given to the translator.[2] The award is usually given to translations of previously untranslated contemporary works or first-time translations of older works, but important re-translations have also been honored. The winning translators and books are featured at the annual conference of the American Literary Translators Association.

The ALTA also awards the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize, Italian Prose in Translation Award, and the ALTA Travel Fellowships.

## Winners[edit]

### National Translation Award 2007-2014[edit]

Year  | Genre  | Translator  | Work  | Language

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|
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2007  | Prose  | Joel Agee | The Selected Writings of Friedrich Dürrenmatt by Friedrich Dürrenmatt (University of Chicago)  | German
2008  | Drama  | Richard Wilbur | The Theatre of Illusion by Pierre Corneille (Harvest Books)  | French
2009  | Poetry  | Norman R. Shapiro | French Women Poets of Nine Centuries: The Distaff and the Pen by Multiple (Johns Hopkins University Press)  | French
2010  | Prose  | Alex Zucker | All This Belongs to Me by Petra Hůlová (Northwestern University Press)  | Czech
2011  | Poetry  | Lisa Rose Bradford | Between Words: Juan Gelman's Public Letter by Juan Gelman (Coimbra Editions)  | Spanish
2012  | Poetry  | Sinan Antoon | In the Presence of Absence by Mahmoud Darwish (Archipelago)  | Arabic
2013  | Prose  | Philip Boehm | The Hunger Angel by Herta Müller (Picador)  | German
2014  | Poetry  | Eugene Ostashevsky & Matvei Yankelevich | An Invitation for Me to Think by Alexander Vvedensky (NYRB Poets)  | Russian

### National Translation Award 2015-Current[edit]

2015 marked the first year in which two separate National Translation Awards were given, one for poetry and one for prose.

Year  | Genre  | Translator  | Work  | Language  | Judges

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2015  | Poetry  | Pierre Joris | Breathturn into Timestead by Paul Celan (FSG)  | French  | Lisa Rose Bradford, Stephen Kessler, Diana Thow
2015  | Prose  | William Hutchins | New Waw, Saharan Oasis by Ibrahim al-Koni (University of Texas)  | Arabic  | Pamela Carmell, Jason Grunebaum, Anne Magnan-Park
2016  | Poetry  | Hilary Kaplan | Rilke Shake by Angélica Freitas (Phoneme Media)  | Portuguese  | Adriana Jacobs, Karen Kovacik, Cole Swensen
2016  | Prose  | Elizabeth Harris | Tristano Dies: A Life by Antonio Tabucchi (Archipelago)  | Italian  | Karen Emmerich, Andrea Labinger, Marian Schwartz
2017  | Poetry  | Daniel Borzutzky | Valdivia by Galo Ghigliotto (co.im.press)  | Spanish  | Ani Gjika, Katrine Øgaard Jensen, Gregory Racz
2017  | Prose  | Esther Allen | Zama by Antonio di Benedetto (NYRB Classics)  | Spanish  | Carol Apollonio, Ottilie Mulzet, Eric M. B. Becker
2018  | Poetry  | Katrine Øgaard Jensen | Third-Millennium Heart by Ursula Andkjær Olsen (Action Books)  | Danish  | Kareem James Abu-Zeid, Jennifer Feeley, Sawako Nakayasu
2018  | Prose  | Charlotte Mandell | Compass by Mathias Énard (New Directions)  | French  | Esther Allen, Tess Lewis, Jeremy Tiang
2019  | Poetry  | Bill Johnston | Pan Tadeusz: The Last Foray in Lithuania by Adam Mickiewicz (Archipelago)  | Polish  | Anna Deeny Morales, Cole Heinowitz, Sholeh Wolpe
2019  | Prose  | Karen Emmerich | What’s Left of the Night by Ersi Sotiropoulos (New Vessel Press)  | Greek  | Bonnie Huie, Charlotte Mandell, Jeffrey Zuckerman
2020[3] | Prose  | Jordan Stump  | The Cheffe: A Cook's Novel by Marie NDiaye (A.A. Knopf)  | French  | Amaia Gabantxo, Emmanuel D. Harris II, and William Maynard Hutchins
2020[4] | Poetry  | Jake Levine, Soeun Seo, and Hedgie Choi  | Hysteria by Kim Yi-deum | Korean  | Ilya Kaminsky, Lisa Katz, and Farid Matuk

### Lucien Styrk Asian Translation Prize[edit]

Since 2009 the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize is awarded at the same time as the NTA by the ALTA and recognizes the best translation into English of book-length Asian works. It is named for Lucien Stryk, an American Zen poet and translator. The winning translator is award $6,000.[5]

Year | Translator | Book and author | Language

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2010  | Red Pine | In Such Hard Times: The Poetry of Wei Ying-wu by Wei Ying-wu | Chinese
2011  | Charles Egan | Clouds Thick, Whereabouts Unknown: Poems by Zen Monks of China | Chinese
2012  | Don Mee Choi | All the Garbage of the World, Unite! by Kim Hyesoon | Korean
2013  | Lucas Klein | Notes on the Mosquito by Xi Chuan | Chinese
2014  | Jonathan Chaves | Every Rock a Universe: The Yellow Mountains and Chinese Travel Writing | Chinese
2015  | Eleanor Goodman | Something Crosses My Mind by Wang Xiaoni | Chinese
2016  | Sawako Nakayasu | The Collected Poems of Chika Sagawa by Chika Sagawa | Japanese
2017  | Jennifer Feeley | Not Written Words by Xi Xi | Chinese
2018  | Bonnie Huie | Notes of a Crocodile by Qiu Miaojin | Chinese
2019  | Don Mee Choi | Autobiography of Death by Kim Hyesoon | Korean
2020  | Jake Levine, Soeun Seo, and Hedgie Choi | Hysteria by Kim Yi-deum | Korean

### Italian Prose in Translation Award[edit]

Since 2015 the Italian Prose in Translation Award (IPTA) recognizes the importance of contemporary Italian prose (fiction and literary non-fiction) and promotes the translation of Italian works into English. This $5,000 prize will be awarded annually to a translator of a recent work of Italian prose (fiction or literary non-fiction).[6]

Year | Translator | Book and author | Language

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|
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2015  | Anne Milano Appel | Blindly by Claudio Magris | Italian
2016  | Ann Goldstein | The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante | Italian
2017  | Matthew Holden | We Want Everything by Nanni Balestrini | Italian
2018  | Elizabeth Harris | For Isabel, A Mandala by Antonio Tabucchi | Italian
2019  | Simon Carnell and Erica Segre | The Eight Mountains by Paolo Cognetti | Italian
2020  | Frederika Randall | I Am God by Giacomo Sartori | Italian

## References[edit]

1. ^ "National Translation Award (NTA)". ALTA. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
2. ^ "Announcing the 2019 Longlists for the National Translation Awards in Poetry and Prose!". 3 September 2019. Retrieved 3 September 2019.
3. ^ rcldaum (2020-10-15). "Announcing the Winner of the 2020 National Translation Award in Prose: The Cheffe by Marie NDiaye, trans. Jordan Stump, pub. Alfred A. Knopf". ALTA Blog. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
4. ^ rcldaum (2020-10-15). "Announcing the Winner of the 2020 National Translation Award in Poetry: Hysteria by Kim Yideum, trans. Jake Levine, Soeun Seo, and Hedgie Choi, pub. Action Books". ALTA Blog. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
5. ^ "Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize | the American Literary Translators Association".
6. ^ "Italian Prose in Translation Award (IPTA) | the American Literary Translators Association".

## External links[edit]

* The National Translation Award