PEN Translates award goes to 'Palestine +100' among tittles from 15 countries

The latest batch of Pen Translates awards includes one book - with multiple authors and translators - to be translated from Arabic: Palestine +100 due to be published by Manchester-based Comma Press in May 2019.
Comma Press said in a statement: "We're delighted to announce we've won a PEN Translates Award for our forthcoming anthology Palestine +100, which will fund the translation of a number of the stories from Arabic into English.

"The collection is the sequel to our hit Iraq +100 anthology, which went viral on social media, selling out in advance of publication and featuring on BBC News and The Guardian website. The rights were sold to Tor (Pan Macmillan) for a North American edition shortly after in our biggest rights deal to date.
"This time we asked Palestinian writers to imagine their country 100 years after the Nakba;  in the year 2048, what will have been the repercussions of the displacement of more than 700,000 people after the Israeli War of Independence, and how might Palestine have finally escaped it, and found its own peace, a hundred years down the line?
"Palestine +100 will be released in May 2019 and will feature established and emerging authors from Palestine including Selma Dabbagh, Nayrouz Qarmout, Ahmed Masoud and many more.. Huge thanks to the team at English PEN! Congrats to the other award winners."

Nayrouz Qarmout 
Press Release from English PEN 
A diverse list of books make up the latest round of PEN Translates award winners. These include new novels by László Krasznahorkai and Marie Darrieussecq; the debut short story collection by politician Selahattin Demirtaş, currently imprisoned in Turkey; a memoir by legendary Belgian filmmaker Chantal Ackerman; Spanish poetry for children; as well as novels from Bosnia, the Comoros Islands, and Indonesia.
Ros Schwartz, co-chair of the Writers in Translation committee, said:
'The list of award-winning titles is more diverse than ever, with translations from 15 countries and 12 languages, including Bosnian, Indonesian, Slovenian and Tamil, with the first ever novel from the Comoros Islands to be translated into English. English PEN is thrilled and proud to be supporting such an exciting range of outstanding titles.'

Books are selected for PEN Translates awards on the basis of outstanding literary quality, strength of the publishing project, and contribution to literary diversity in the UK. The award-winning books are featured on the English PEN World Bookshelf website, in partnership with Foyles.

PEN Translates award-winning titles in autumn 2018

Mountain That Eats Men by Ander Izagirre, translated from Spanish by Tim Gutteridge. ZED Books, May 2019. Country of origin: Spain

My Mother Said by Chantal Ackerman, translated from French by Daniella Shreir. Silver Press, June 2019. Country of origin: Belgium

An Orphan World by Giuseppe Caputo, translated from Spanish by Sophie Hughes and Juana Adcock. Charco Press, October 2019. Country of origin: Colombia

The Wandering by Intan Paramaditha, translated from Indonesian by Stephen J. Epstein. Harvill Secker, March 2020. Country of origin: Indonesia

Poems That the Wind Blew In by Karmelo C. Iribarren, translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel. Emma Press, September 2019. Country of origin: Spain

A History of the World with the Women Put Back In by Kerstin Lücker and Ute Daenschel, translated from German by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp and Jessica West. The History Press, September 2019. Country of origin: Germany

The Baby by Marie Darrieussecq, translated from French by Penny Hueston. Text Publishing, July 2019. Country of origin: France

When Death Takes Something from You Give It Back by Naja Marie Aidt, translated from Danish by Denise Newman. Quercus, March 2019. Country of origin: Denmark

Dawn by Selahattin Demirtaş, translated from Turkish by Amy Marie Spangler and Kate Ferguson. Hogarth, April 2019. Country of origin: Turkey

A Drop of Happiness by Selvedin Avdić, translated from Bosnian by Will Firth. Istros Books, March 2020. Country of origin: Bosnia

Palestine +100 by various, translated from Arabic by various. Comma Press, May 2019. Country of origin: Palestine

Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge, translated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang. Tilted Axis, May 2020. Country of origin: China

Baron Wenkheim's Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai, translated from Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet. Tuskar Rock Press, November 2019. Country of origin: Hungary

Dreams by Rajathi Salma, translated from Tamil by Meena Kandasamy. Tilted Axis Press, October 2020. Country of origin: India

A Girl Called Eel by Ali Zamir, translated from French by Aneesa Abbas Higgins. Jacaranda Books, 2019. Country of origin: Comoros Islands

The Fig by Goran Vojnović, translated from Slovenian by Olivia Hellewell. Istros Books, October 2019. Country of origin: Slovenia


English PEN's Writers in Translation programme has been promoting literature in translation since 2005. The programme includes translation grants, events, and PEN Transmissions, an online zine for international writing.
English PEN's major publisher grants programme, PEN Translates, awards grants to UK publishers for translation costs and is supported by Arts Council England. Over 200 books in translation have been supported by English PEN grants since 2005.
English PEN, a registered charity, promotes the freedom to write and the freedom to read in the UK and around the world. The founding centre of a worldwide writers' association, established in 1921, we work to identify and dismantle barriers between writers and readers, whether these are cultural, political, linguistic or economic.

report from London by Susannah Tarbush