The Best Translated Book Award was an American literary award that recognized the previous year's best original translation into English, one book of poetry and one of fiction. It was inaugurated in 2008 and was conferred by Three Percent, the online literary magazine of Open Letter Books, which is the book translation press of the University of Rochester. A long list and short list were announced each year leading up to the award.
The award took into consideration not only the quality of the translation but the entire package: the work of the original writer, translator, editor, and publisher. The award was "an opportunity to honor and celebrate the translators, editors, publishers, and other literary supporters who help make literature from other cultures available to American readers.""EVENT: '2009 Best Translated Book Awards' to be Announced on Feb. 19", Feb 13, 2009
In October 2010 Amazon.com announced it would be underwriting the prize with a $25,000 grant. This would allow both the translator and author to receive a $5,000 prize. Prior to this the award did not carry a cash prize.
In January 2023, the prize's initiator, Chad Post, announced on the Three Percent blog that the award, which had not been given out since 2020, would remain on "continued hiatus."
Winners Fiction YearAuthorTitleTranslator(s)LanguagePublisher 2008 Dorothea Dieckmann GuantanamoGuantánamo Tim Mohr German Soft Skull 2009 Attila Bartis TranquilityA nyugalom Imre Goldstein Hungarian Archipelago 2010 Gail Hareven The Confessions of Noa Weberשאהבה נפשי Dalya Bilu Hebrew Melville House Publishing2011 Tove Jansson The True DeceiverDen ärliga bedragaren Thomas Teal Swedish New York Review Books2012 Wiesław Myśliwski Stone Upon StoneKamień na kamieniu Bill Johnston Polish Archipelago Books2013 László Krasznahorkai SatantangoSátántangó George Szirtes Hungarian New Directions2014 Seiobo There BelowSeiobo járt odalent Ottilie Mulzet Hungarian New Directions2015 Can Xue The Last Lover Annelise Finegan Wasmoen Chinese Yale University Press2016 Yuri Herrera Signs Preceding the End of the WorldSeñales que precederán al fin del mundo Lisa Dillman Spanish And Other Stories2017 Lúcio Cardoso Chronicle of the Murdered HouseCrônica da casa assassinada Margaret Jull CostaRobin Patterson Portuguese Open Letter Books2018 Rodrigo Fresán The Invented PartLa parte inventada Will Vanderhyden Spanish Open Letter Books2019 Patrick Chamoiseau Slave Old ManL'esclave vieil homme et le molosse Linda Coverdale French New Press2020 Daša Drndić EEG Celia Hawkesworth Croatian New Directions
Poetry YearAuthorTitleTranslatorLanguagePublisher 2009 Takashi Hiraide For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut Sawako Nakayasu Japanese New Directions 2010 Elena Fanailova The Russian VersionРусская версия Genya TurovskayaStephanie Sandler Russian Ugly Duckling Presse 2011 Aleš Šteger The Book of ThingsKnjiga reči Brian Henry Slovenian BOA Editions 2012 Kiwao Nomura Spectacle & Pigsty Kyoko YoshidaForrest Gander Japanese Omnidawn 2013 Nichita Stănescu Wheel with a Single Spoke Sean Cotter Romanian Archipelago Books 2014 Elisa Biagini The Guest in the Wood Diana ThowSarah StickneyEugene Ostashevsky Italian Chelsea Editions 2015 Rocío Cerón Diorama Anna Rosenwong Spanish Phoneme Media 2016 Angélica Freitas Rilke Shake Hilary Kaplan Portuguese Phoneme Media 2017 Alejandra Pizarnik Extracting the Stone of MadnessExtracción de la piedra de locura Yvette Siegert Spanish New Directions 2018 Eleni Vakalo Before Lyricism Karen Emmerich Greek Ugly Duckling Presse 2019 Hilda Hilst Of Death. Minimal OdesDa morte. Odes mínimas Laura Cesarco Eglin Portuguese co-im-press 2020 Etel Adnan Time Sarah Riggs French Nightboat Books
Awards
The first awards were given in 2008 for books published in 2007. The Best Translation Book Awards are dated by the presentation year, with the book publication the previous year.Three Percent has been inconsistent in naming the award, sometimes using the year in which the books were published, as in this example, other times naming it for the year in which the award is given (the following year), as in this official press release.
= winner.
2008 The award was announced January 4, 2008 for books published in 2007."And the winner is..", post by Chad Post It was the first award and was based on open voting by readers of Three Percent, who also nominated the longlist.2007 long list
Fiction shortlist AuthorTitleTranslator(s)LanguagePublisher Dorothea Dieckmann GuantanamoGuantánamo Tim Mohr German Soft Skull Roberto Bolaño The Savage DetectivesLos detectives salvajes Natasha Wimmer Spanish Farrar, Straus & Giroux Julio Cortázar Autonauts of the CosmorouteLos autonautas de la cosmopista Anne McLean Spanish Archipelago Mahmoud Dowlatabadi Missing Soluch Kamran Rastegar Persian Melville House Jean Echenoz Ravel Linda Coverdale French New Press Gyula Krúdy SunflowerNapraforgó John Batki Hungarian New York Review Per Petterson Out Stealing HorsesUt og stjæle hester Anne Born Norwegian Graywolf Paul Verhaeghen Omega Minor Paul Verhaeghen Dutch Dalkey Archive Enrique Vila-Matas Montano's MaladyEl mal de Montano Jonathan Dunne Spanish New Directions Robert Walser The AssistantDer Gehülfe Susan Bernofsky German New Directions
Poetry shortlist AuthorTitleTranslator(s)LanguagePublisher Ivan Blatný The Drug of Art Justin QuinnMatthew SweneyAlex ZuckerVeronika TuckerováAnna Moschovakis Czech Ugly Duckling Various The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950–1492 Peter Cole Hebrew Princeton University Zbigniew Herbert The Collected Poems: 1956–1998 Czesław MiłoszPeter Dale ScottAlissa Valles Polish Ecco
2009 The award was announced February 19, 2009 for book published in 2008. There was a ceremony at Melville House Publishing in Brooklyn hosted by author and critic Francisco Goldman."2009 Best Translated Book Winners"
Fiction shortlist AuthorTitleTranslator(s)LanguagePublisher Attila Bartis TranquilityA nyugalom Imre Goldstein Hungarian Archipelago Roberto Bolaño 2666 Natasha Wimmer Spanish Farrar, Straus & Giroux Roberto Bolaño Nazi Literature in the AmericasLa literatura nazi en América Chris Andrews Spanish New Directions Céline Curiol Voice OverVoix sans issue Sam Richard French Seven Stories Willem Frederik Hermans The Darkroom of DamoclesDe donkere kamer van Damokles Ina Rilke Dutch Overlook Elias Khoury Yalo Peter Theroux Arabic Archipelago Horacio Castellanos Moya SenselessnessInsensatez Katherine Silver Spanish New Directions Victor Serge Unforgiving YearsLes Années sans pardon Richard Greeman French New York Review Alejandro Zambra BonsaiBonsái Caro De Robertis Spanish Melville House Stefan Zweig The Post Office GirlRausch der Verwandlung Joel Rotenberg German New York Review
Poetry shortlist AuthorTitleTranslator(s)LanguagePublisher Takashi Hiraide For the Fighting Spirit of the Walnut Sawako Nakayasu Japanese New Directions Robert Desnos Essential Poems and Writings Mary Ann CawsTerry HaleBill ZavatskyMartin SorrellJonathan EburneKatherine ConnellyPatricia TerryPaul Auster French Black Widow Caroline Dubois You Are the BusinessC'est toi le business Cole Swensen French Burning Deck Dmitry Golynko As It Turned Out Eugene OstashevskyRebecca BellaSimona Schneider Russian Ugly Duckling Valery Larbaud Poems of A. O. BarnaboothLes Poésies de A. O. Barnabooth Ron PadgettBill Zavatsky French Black Widow Vladimir Mayakovsky Night Wraps the Sky Katya ApekinaVal VinokurMatvei Yankelevich Russian Farrar, Straus & Giroux Fredrik Nyberg A Different PracticeEn annorlunda praktik Jennifer Hayashida Swedish Ugly Duckling Raymond Queneau EyeSeasC'est toi le business Daniela HurezanuStephen Kessler French Black Widow Eugeniusz Tkaczyszyn-Dycki PeregrinaryPeregrynarz Bill Johnston Polish Zephyr Adam Zagajewski Eternal Enemies Clare Cavanagh Polish Farrar, Straus & Giroux
2010 The award was announced March 10, 2010 at Idlewild Books.official 2010 BTBA Winners Press Release According to award organizer Chad Post, "On the fiction side of things we debated and debated for weeks. There were easily four other titles that could've easily won this thing. Walser, Prieto, Aira were all very strong contenders."Chad Post. "Best Translated Book Award Winners (BTBA) 2010", March 10, 2010.
Fiction shortlist AuthorTitleTranslator(s)LanguagePublisher Gail Hareven The Confessions of Noa Weber Dalya Bilu Hebrew Melville House Ignácio de Loyola Brandão Anonymous CelebrityO Anônimo Célebre Nelson Vieira Portuguese Dalkey Archive Jan Kjærstad The DiscovererOppdageren Barbara Haveland Norwegian Open Letter César Aira GhostsLos fantasmas Chris Andrews Spanish New Directions Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky Memories of the FutureВоспоминания о будущем Joanne Turnbull Russian New York Review José Manuel Prieto Rex Esther Allen Spanish Grove Books Robert Walser The TannersGeschwister Tanner Susan Bernofsky German New Directions Gerbrand Bakker The TwinBoven is het stil David Colmer Dutch Archipelago Wolf Haas The Weather Fifteen Years AgoDas Wetter vor 15 Jahren Stephanie GilardiThomas S. Hansen German Ariadne Press Hugo Claus WonderDe verwondering Michael Henry Heim Dutch Archipelago
Poetry shortlist AuthorTitleTranslator(s)LanguagePublisher Elena Fanailova The Russian VersionРусская версия Genya TurovskayaStephanie Sandler Russian Ugly Duckling Nicole Brossard Selections Various French University of California René Char The Brittle Age and Returning Upland Gustaf Sobin French Counterpath Mahmoud Darwish If I Were Another Fady Joudah Arabic Farrar, Straus & Giroux Valery Larbaud Poems of A. O. BarnaboothLes Poésies de A. O. Barnabooth Ron PadgettBill Zavatsky French Black Widow Hiromi Itō Killing Kanoko Jeffrey Angles Japanese Action Marcelijus Martinaitis K. B.: The SuspectK. B. Įtariamas Laima Vince Lithuanian White Pine Ra Heeduck Scale and Stairs Woo-Chung KimChristopher Merrill Korean Black Widow Novica Tadić Dark ThingsТамне ствари Charles Simic Serbian BOA Editions Liliana Ursu Lightwall Sean Cotter Romanian Zephyr Wei Yingwu In Such Hard Times Red Pine Chinese Copper Canyon
2011 The longlist was announced January 27, 2011. The shortlist was announced March 24, 2011.2011 Best Translated Book Award Finalists, Chad Post, March 23, 2011 The winners were announced April 29, 2011 at the PEN World Voices Festival by Lorin Stein."2011 Best Translated Book Award Winners: Aleš Šteger’s "The Book of Things" and Tove Jansson’s "The True Deceiver"", Chad Post, Three Percent, April 29, 2011.
Fiction shortlist AuthorTitleTranslator(s)LanguagePublisher Tove Jansson The True DeceiverDen ärliga bedragaren Thomas Teal Swedish New York Review César Aira The Literary ConferenceEl congreso de literatura Katherine Silver Spanish New Directions Michal Ajvaz The Golden AgeZlatý věk Andrew Oakland Czech Dalkey Archive Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud A Life on Paper Edward Gauvin French Small Beer Albert Cossery The JokersLa violence et la dérision Anna Moschovakis French New York Review Jenny Erpenbeck VisitationHeimsuchung Susan Bernofsky German New Directions Romain Gary (as Émile Ajar) Hocus BogusPseudo David Bellos French Yale University Emilio Lascano Tegui On Elegance While SleepingDe la elegancia mientras se duerme Idra Novey Spanish Dalkey Archive Marlene van Niekerk Agaat Michiel Heyns Afrikaans Tin House Ernst Weiss Georg Letham: Physician and MurdererGeorg Letham, Arzt und Mörder Joel Rotenberg German Archipelago
Poetry shortlist AuthorTitleTranslator(s)LanguagePublisher Aleš Šteger The Book of ThingsKnjiga reči Brian Henry Slovene BOA Editions Eugène Guillevic Geometries Richard Sieburth French Ugly Duckling Yu Jian Flash Cards Wang PingRon Padgett Chinese Zephyr Ayane Kawata Time of Sky & Castles in the Air & Sawako Nakayasu Japanese Litmus Press Luljeta Lleshanaku Child of NatureFëmijët e natyrës Henry IsraeliShpresa Qatipi Albanian New Directions
2012