Last night GalleyCat prowled the aisles at the Best Translated Book Award shortlist party. Held at Idlewild Books in Manhattan, the short presentation was standing-room only.
We mingled with people from all corners of the translation universe: Archipelago Books, NYRB Classics, and M.A.Orthofer from The Literary Saloon. The finalists were drawn from a 25-book longlist, and the books represented came from 24 different countries. In addition, the poetry finalists were also revealed.
At the announcement, Chad Post from Open Letter Books said that major publishers were decreasing the number of translated books they published, a tremendous boon to small presses. “I may not be able to get the best American author,” he explained, but I can get the absolute best Hungarian writer!”
The ten book shortlist follows after the jump.
Cesar Aira, Ghosts. Translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews. (Argentina, New Directions)
Gerbrand Bakker, The Twin. Translated from the Dutch by David Colmer. (Netherlands, Archipelago)
Ignacio de Loyola Brandao, Anonymous Celebrity. Translated from the Portuguese by Nelson Vieira. (Brazil, Dalkey Archive)
Hugo Claus, Wonder. Translated from the Dutch by Michael Henry Heim. (Belgium, Archipelago)
Wolf Haas, The Weather Fifteen Years Ago. Translated from the German by Stephanie Gilardi and Thomas S. Hansen. (Austria, Ariadne Press)
Gail Hareven, The Confessions of Noa Weber. Translated from the Hebrew by Dalya Bilu. (Israel, Melville House)
Jan Kjaerstad, The Discoverer. Translated from the Norwegian by Barbara Haveland. (Norway, Open Letter)
Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky, Memories of the Future. Translated from the Russian by Joanne Turnbull. (Russia, New York Review Books)
José Manuel Prieto, Rex. Translated from the Spanish by Esther Allen. (Cuba, Grove)
Robert Walser, The Tanners. Translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky. (Switzerland, New Directions)