First titles from Montenegro and Switzerland win PEN Translates awards

Twelve titles from 11 regions spanning 10 languages have won English PEN’s flagship translation awards. 

The winners include novels, short story collections, poetry, non-fiction and autofiction, and – for the first time – titles from Montenegro and Switzerland.  

Will Forrester, translation and international manager at English PEN, said: “In an era in which financial pressures on publishers discourage risk-taking, these 12 books reveal ambition and courage: they show presses – many of them small and new – willing to acquire stylistically and formally inventive work; they champion bold and dissident voices; they invest in major figures and debuts alike; and they represent a remarkable range of language, genre, subject and region. Above all, they are staggeringly good works of literature by staggeringly good writers and translators. We’re excited for English-language readers to be able to read them.” 

So Mayer, co-chair of the English PEN Translation Advisory Group, called the awards “a fearless feminist list speaking truth to power from across the world, from Yee-Wa Lau’s call to decolonise our tongues to Françoise Vergès’ call to decolonise the museum”.  

Mayer added: “Supporting writers in exile and writers critiquing powerful states and state power, this round of PEN Translates salutes the vivid, visceral and vital work of independent UK presses, including emerging risk-takers such as Héloïse, Praspar, and Selkies House.” 

Books are selected for PEN Translates awards on the basis of outstanding literary quality, the strength of the publishing project, and their contribution to UK bibliodiversity. 

This year’s winners are:  

• Mamut by Eva Baltasar (Spain), translated from the Catalan by Julia Sanches (And Other Stories). 
• From Savagery by Alejandra Banca (Spain), translated from the Spanish by Katie Brown (Selkies House). 
• Submarines in the Night by Chuncheng Chen (China), translated from the Chinese by Jack Hargreaves (Honford Star). 
• Wolf Sanctuary by Zdravka Evtimova (Bulgaria), translated from the Bulgarian by Yana Ellis (Héloïse Press). 
• His Favourite by Sarah Jollien-Fardel (Switzerland), translated from the French by Holly James (The Indigo Press). 
• Tongueless by Yee-Wa Lau (Hong Kong), translated from the Cantonese by Jennifer Feeley (Serpent’s Tail). 
• Why Did You Come Back Every Summer? by Belén López Peiró (Argentina), translated from the Spanish by Maureen Shaughnessy (Charco Press). 
• Anomaly by Andrej Nikolaidis (Montenegro), translated from the Montenegrin by Will Firth (Peirene Press) 
• Holy Winter by Maria Stepanova (Germany), translated from the Russian by Sasha Dugdale (Bloodaxe Books). 
• Purity by Andrzej Tichý (Sweden), translated from the Swedish by Nichola Smalley (And Other Stories). 
• Rocket by Loranne Vella (Belgium), translated from the Maltese by Kat Storace (Praspar Press). 
• A Programme of Absolute Disorder: Decolonising the Museum by Françoise Vergès (Reunion), translated from the French by Melissa Thackway (Pluto Press).