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Joint winners of Harvill Secker Young Translators' Prize revealed
Harvill Secker has announced Anandita ‘Didiet’ Budiman and Sekar Larasati Sulistya as the winners of the 2022 Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize.
The prize was awarded at an online ceremony hosted by English PEN and the National Centre for Writing on 30th September, in celebration of International Translation Day.
The translators receive £1,000 and a selection of Harvill Secker titles. They will also be mentored by celebrated translator and writer Khairani Barokka as part of a National Centre for Writing Emerging Translator Mentorship, 14 of which were announced on the same night.
Now in its 12th year, the Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize aims to encourage and support the next generation of literary translators and focuses on a different language each year running. Entry is open to anyone between the ages of 18 and 34, with entrants having no more than one full-length literary translation previously published. There is no restriction on country of residence.
This year’s chosen language was Indonesian and entrants were asked to translate an excerpt from the novel Dua Muka Daun Pintu by Triskaidekaman. The judges, translator Khairani Barokka, writer Intan Paramaditha, bookseller and publisher Maesy Ang and Harvill Secker editor and prize co-ordinator Mikaela Pedlow, said: “This year we were thrilled to hear from nearly 100 aspiring and emerging young translators from all over the world including the UK, US, Canada, France, Japan, Australia and Indonesia itself. This was an especially challenging translation task, not least because the excerpt from Dua Muka Daun Pintu by Triskaidekaman is narrated by an inanimate object – a door.
“We were hugely impressed with the creative and thoughtful approaches in the many different translations we read. In the end, the judges were unanimous in their selection, and it was revealed that a joint translation was the winner. We congratulate Anandita ‘Didiet’ Budiman and Sekar Larasati on their winning translation, which won us over with its eagle-eyed attention to detail and faithfulness to and understanding of the original. They managed to handle the many different elements at play in the text, from the humorous to the surreal to the unnerving, with confidence, nuance and style. The judges have also named Olivia Kristina and Johanna Nuryadi as runners-up for their confident and astute translations. Congratulations to our 2022 finalists.”
Budiman said: “Waking up to the news that my friend Sekar and I had won the Young Translators’ Prize was quite a surprise. I would like to express my gratitude to Harvill Secker, the National Centre for Writing, and our future mentor Khairani Barokka for extending this opportunity to us. Typing this, I remember the struggles we had as we translated the text for this competition. My mind then wanders to the collective circumstance we are currently going through. Lockdown after lockdown, it would be a lie to say that there are no personal hardships to be had as days come and go. From all this, I believe we can remind ourselves that for every struggle, there will be a way to overcome if we believe in ourselves and give it our all.”
Larasati Sulistya added: “Finding out that Didiet and I had won the Young Translators’ Prize was so surprising, I burned my omelette while I was cooking. Triskaidekaman’s unique piece was quite the challenge to translate. I am grateful to Penguin Random House, the National Centre for Writing, and our future mentor Khairani Barokka for this amazing opportunity. Translating takes a lot of linguistical skills, therefore I am excited to learn and sharpen my understanding of the languages I love."
Their winning translation will be available to read on the Granta website shortly.
