Shree and Rockwell's Tomb of Sand among works shortlisted for Warwick Women in Translation Award

International Booker Prize winner Geetanjali Shree’s Tomb of Sand, translated from Hindi by Daisy Rockwell (Tilted Axis Press) is among the works shortlisted for this year’s Warwick Women in Translation Award.

The £1,000 prize was established by the University of Warwick in 2017 to address the gender imbalance in translated literature and increase the number of international women’s voices accessible by a British and Irish readership. It celebrates writing by women translated into English by any translator.

The 2022 shortlist includes works translated from Catalan, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Spanish and Swedish.  

Selva Almada’s Brickmakers, translated from Spanish by Annie McDermott (Charco Press) is also shortlisted alongside Katja Oskamp’s Marzahn, Mon Amour, translated from German by Jo Heinrich (Peirene Press) and Faïza Guène’s Men Don’t Cry, translated from French by Sarah Ardizzone (Cassava Republic Press). 

Marit Kapla’s Osebol: Voices from a Swedish Village, translated from Swedish by Peter Graves (Allen Lane) is also in contention alongside Margarita Liberaki’s Three Summers, translated from Greek by Karen Van Dyck (Viking) and Irene Solà’s When I Sing, Mountains Dance, translated from Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem (Granta). 

Judges Boyd Tonkin said: “Since it began in 2017, this prize has reflected a welcome, and overdue, widening of the range of global women’s voices available to readers in the UK.

“This year, our wonderfully varied shortlist crosses every kind of border. It celebrates books in many genres from many backgrounds, united only by the excellence of the original works and the artistry of their English translations”. 

Fellow judge Amanda Hopkinson added: “From India to Catalonia, Sweden to Argentina, Berlin to Athens to Marseille, our choices span social comedy and oral history, epic storytelling and mythic journeys, the cycles of nature and the poetry of daily life. We hope that readers enjoy discovering them as much as we did.”