The 2018 and 2019 Nobel Prize Literature winners have been announced! In a rare double ceremony following the postponement of last year’s award due to a series of scandals, the Swedish Academy has awarded the 2018 prize to Polish author Olga Tokarczuk and the 2019 prize to Austrian author Peter Handke. The ceremony will be held December 10, 2019, in Stockholm.

The reception to the announcement has been mixed as the Swedish Academy has been public in its desires to move the award away from its current “Euro-centric” and “male-dominated” approach and yet has awarded the prize to two European authors. Handke has also been strongly criticized for his views and writings about the Yogoslav wars and notably his support of the late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević, who had been charged with crimes against humanity before his death in jail awaiting trial.

Olga Tokarczuk is a Polish writer, activist, and public intellectual. She was cited by the Academy as winning the 2018 award “for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life.” Although she’s been a celebrated author and figure in Poland for some time now, her international fame has risen in recent years.

In 2018, she became the first Polish writer to win the Man Booker International Prize for her novel Flights, translated by Jennifer Croft. Her most recent novel, Drive Your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize and longlisted for the National Book Awards. Forthcoming in an English translation by Jennifer Croft is The Books of Jacob, which the Academy declared her magnum opus. Tokarczuk is the 15th woman to win the Nobel literature prize in more than a century.

Austrian novelist, playwright, and translator Peter Handke was cited by the Academy as winning the 2019 award “for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored the periphery and the specificity of human experience.” He is best known for his novella about his mother’s suicide, A Sorrow Beyond Dreams, translated by Ralph Manheim, his novel The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, translated by Michael Roloff, and his experimental drama Offending the Audience. His support of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević—including his eulogy at Milošević’s funeral—has led to him being described as an apologist for far-right Serbian nationalism.

Curious about the financial and sexual scandals that rocked the Swedish Academy over the last two years? Book Riot has provided substantial coverage of the ongoing crisis. I’d recommend this episode of the Annotated podcast: Annotated: The Nobel Crisis.

This post was originally published on Book Riot.

The Best Translated Book Award 2019 winners were announced at the New York Rights Fair and on The Millions. The Best Translated Book Award brings attention to the best works of translated literature published in the previous year. Thanks to grant funds from the Amazon Literary Partnership the award has given out more than $150,000 to international authors and their translators.

I’ve been a fan of the Best Translated Book Award for years and was thrilled to be chosen as a member for this year’s fiction jury. It’s a great honor to announce these winners and my immense congratulations to all of the authors, translators, and publishers that made the amazing longlists. (This year’s lists alone feature authors writing in sixteen different languages, from twenty-four different countries.)

The award in fiction goes to Slave Old Man, written by Patrick Chamoiseau, translated from French and Creole by Linda Coverdale, and published by The New Press.

The fiction jury writes, “In turns biblical and mythical, Patrick Chamoiseau’s Slave Old Man is a powerful reckoning with the agonies of the past and their persistence into the present. It is a modern epic, a history of the Caribbean, and a tribute to Creole languages, all told through the story of one slave old man. Linda Coverdale’s translation sings as she beautifully renders language as lush and vividly alive as the wilderness the old man plunges into in his flight to freedom.

It is dreamy yet methodical prose, vivid, sensual but also a touch strange, forcing you to slow down and reread. Thoughtful, considered footnotes provide added context and explanation, enriching the reader’s understanding of this powerful and subversive work of genius by a master storyteller. Slave Old Man is a thunderclap of a novel. His rich language, brilliant in Coverdale’s English, evokes the underground forces of resistance that carry the slave old man away. It’s a novel for fugitives, and for the future.”

And the poetry award goes to Of Death. Minimal Odes, written by Hilda Hilst, translated from Portuguese by Laura Cesarco Eglin, and published by co-im-press.

The poetry jury writes, “The first collection of Hilda Hilst’s poetry to be appear in English,Of Death. Minimal Odes is masterfully translated by Laura Cesarco Eglin. Hilda Hilst’s odes are searing, tender blasphemies. One is drawn to Of Death in the way we’re drawn to things that might be dangerous. These are poems that lure readers well beyond their best interests, regardless of whatever scars might be sustained. In language that is twisted, animalistic, yet at times plain, Eglin reveals another layer in the work of this Brazilian great.”

The fiction jury included Pierce Alquist (Book Riot), Caitlin L. Baker (Island Books), Kasia Bartoszyńska (Monmouth College), George Carroll (litintranslation.com), Tara Cheesman (freelance book critic), Adam Hetherington (reader), Keaton Patterson (Brazos Bookstore), Sofia Samatar (writer), Elijah Watson (A Room of One’s Own). The poetry jury included Jarrod Annis (Greenlight Bookstore), Katrine Øgaard Jensen (EuropeNow), Tess Lewis (writer and translator), Aditi Machado (poet and translator), and Laura Marris (writer and translator).

This post was originally published on Book Riot.

The Best Translated Book Award 2019 shortlists for both the fiction and poetry awards have been announced at The Millions. This is the 12th year that the Best Translated Book Award has honored and celebrated literature in translation.

Is this award new to you? I introduced the award and the longlists earlier this spring here in case you’re curious, but tl;dr the Best Translated Book Award is one of the most interesting and diverse book awards out there and these shortlists are no exception!

The winners will be announced on May 29th as part of the New York Rights Fair. They will also be announced at The Millions.

BEST TRANSLATED BOOK AWARD SHORTLIST: FICTION

Congo Inc.: Bismarck’s Testament by In Koli Jean Bofane, translated from the French by Marjolijn de Jager (Democratic Republic of Congo, Indiana University Press) 

The Hospital by Ahmed Bouanani, translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud (Morocco, New Directions)

Slave Old Man by Patrick Chamoiseau, translated from the French by Linda Coverdale (Martinique, New Press)

Pretty Things by Virginie Despentes, translated from the French by Emma Ramadan, (France, Feminist Press)

Moon Brow by Shahriar Mandanipour, translated from the Persian by Khalili Sara (Iran, Restless Books)

Bricks and Mortar by Clemens Meyer, translated from the German by Katy Derbyshire (Germany, Fitzcarraldo Editions)

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori (Japan, Grove)

The Governesses by Anne Serre, translated from the French by Mark Hutchinson (France, New Directions)

Öræfi: The Wasteland by Ófeigur Sigurðsson, translated from the Icelandic by Lytton Smith (Iceland, Deep Vellum)

Fox by Dubravka Ugresic, translated from the Croatian by Ellen Elias-Bursac and David Williams (Croatia, Open Letter)

This year’s fiction jury is made up of: Pierce Alquist (Book Riot), Caitlin L. Baker (Island Books), Kasia Bartoszyńska (Monmouth College), Tara Cheesman (freelance book critic), George Carroll (litintranslation.com), Adam Hetherington (reader), Keaton Patterson (Brazos Bookstore), Sofia Samatar (writer), Ely Watson (A Room of One’s Own).

BEST TRANSLATED BOOK AWARD SHORTLIST: POETRY

The Future Has an Appointment with the Dawn by Tenella Boni, translated from the French by Todd Fredson (Cote D’Ivoire, University of Nebraska)

Moss & Silver by Jure Detela, translated from the Slovenian by Raymond Miller and Tatjana Jamnik (Slovenia, Ugly Duckling)

Of Death. Minimal Odes by Hilda Hilst, translated from the Portuguese by Laura Cesarco Eglin (Brazil, co-im-press)

Autobiography of Death by Kim Hysesoon, translated from the Korean by Don Mee Choi (Korea, New Directions)

Negative Space by Luljeta Lleshanaku, translated from the Albanian by Ani Gjika (Albania, New Directions)

The poetry jury includes: Jarrod Annis (Greenlight Bookstore), Katrine Øgaard Jensen (EuropeNow), Tess Lewis (writer and translator), Aditi Machado (poet and translator), and Laura Marris (writer and translator).

Founded in 2007, the Best Translated Book Award brings attention to the best works of translated literature published in the previous year. The winning author and translator each receive a $5,000 cash prize for both the fiction and poetry award, totaling $20,000, thanks to grant funds from the Amazon Literary Partnership.

This post was originally published on Book Riot.

The Best Translated Book Award 2019 longlists for both the fiction and poetry awards have been announced at The Millions. This is the twelfth year that the Best Translated Book Award has honored and celebrated literature in translation.

But maybe you’ve never heard of the Best Translated Book Award before! It’s one of the most interesting and diverse book awards out there. This year’s lists alone feature authors writing in sixteen different languages, from twenty-four different countries. And the presses! So many great presses. The majority are either independent or university presses. Are you looking for a book published by a small press for your Read Harder challenge? What about a book translated by a woman? This award is a great place to start!

I’ve been a fan of the Best Translated Book Award for years and was thrilled to be chosen as a member for this year’s fiction jury. More than 500 titles were eligible and it was an incredible year for international literature—I’m wildly excited to share these lists with you!

BEST TRANSLATED BOOK AWARD 2019 LONGLIST: FICTION

Congo Inc.: Bismarck’s Testament by In Koli Jean Bofane, translated from the French by Marjolijn de Jager(Democratic Republic of Congo, Indiana University Press) 

The Hospital by Ahmed Bouanani, translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud (Morocco, New Directions)

A Dead Rose by Aurora Cáceres, translated from the Spanish by Laura Kanost (Peru, Stockcero)

Love in the New Millennium by Xue Can, translated from the Chinese by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen (China, Yale University Press)

Slave Old Man by Patrick Chamoiseau, translated from the French by Linda Coverdale (Martinique, New Press)

Wedding Worries by Stig Dagerman, translated from the Swedish by Paul Norlen and Lo Dagerman (Sweden, David Godine)

Pretty Things by Virginie Despentes, translated from the French by Emma Ramadan, (France, Feminist Press)

Disoriental by Negar Djavadi, translated from the French by Tina Kover (Iran, Europa Editions)

Dézafi by Frankétienne, translated from the French by Asselin Charles (published by Haiti, University of Virginia Press)

Bottom of the Sky by Rodrigo Fresán, translated from the Spanish by Will Vanderhyden (Argentina, Open Letter)

Bride and Groom by Alisa Ganieva, translated from the Russian by Carol Apollonio (Russia, Deep Vellum)

People in the Room by Norah Lange, translated from the Spanish by Charlotte Whittle (Argentina, And Other Stories)

Comemadre by Roque Larraquy, translated from the Spanish by Heather Cleary (Argentina, Coffee House)

Moon Brow by Shahriar Mandanipour, translated from the Persian by Khalili Sara (Iran, Restless Books)

Bricks and Mortar by Clemens Meyer, translated from the German by Katy Derbyshire (Germany, Fitzcarraldo Editions)

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori (Japan, Grove)

After the Winter by Guadalupe Nettel, translated from the Spanish by Rosalind Harvey (Mexico, Coffee House)

Transparent City by Ondjaki, translated from the Portuguese by Stephen Henighan (Angola, Biblioasis)

Lion Cross Point by Masatsugo Ono, translated from the Japanese by Angus Turvill (Japan, Two Lines Press)

The Governesses by Anne Serre, translated from the French by Mark Hutchinson (France, New Directions)

Öræfï: The Wasteland by Ófeigur Sigurðsson, translated from the Icelandic by Lytton Smith (Iceland, Deep Vellum)

Codex 1962 by Sjón, translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb (Iceland, FSG)

Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, translated from the Polish by Jennifer Croft (Poland, Riverhead)

Fox by Dubravka Ugresic, translated from the Croatian by Ellen Elias-Bursac and David Williams (Croatia, Open Letter)

Seventeen by Hideo Yokoyama, translated from the Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai (Japan, FSG)

This year’s fiction jury is made up of: Pierce Alquist (Book Riot), Caitlin L. Baker (Island Books), Kasia Bartoszyńska (Monmouth College), Tara Cheesman (freelance book critic), George Carroll (litintranslation.com), Adam Hetherington (reader), Keaton Patterson (Brazos Bookstore), Sofia Samatar (writer), Ely Watson (A Room of One’s Own).

BEST TRANSLATED BOOK AWARD 2019 LONGLIST: POETRY

The Future Has an Appointment with the Dawn by Tenella Boni, translated from the French by Todd Fredson(Cote D’Ivoire, University of Nebraska)

Dying in a Mother Tongue by Roja Chamankar, translated from the Persian by Blake Atwood (Iran, University of Texas)

Moss & Silver by Jure Detela, translated from the Slovenian by Raymond Miller and Tatjana Jamnik (Slovenia, Ugly Duckling)

Of Death. Minimal Odes by Hilda Hilst, translated from the Portuguese by Laura Cesarco Eglin (Brazil, co-im-press)

Autobiography of Death by Kim Hysesoon, translated from the Korean by Don Mee Choi (Korea, New Directions)

Negative Space by Luljeta Lleshanaku, translated from the Albanian by Ani Gjika (Albania, New Directions)

Scardanelli by Frederike Mayrocker, translated from the German by Jonathan Larson (Austria, Song Cave)

the easiness and the loneliness by Asta Olivia Nordenhof, translated from the Danish by Susanna Nied(Denmark, Open Letter)

Nioque of the Early-Spring by Francis Ponge, translated from the French by Jonathan Larson (France, Song Cave)

Architecture of a Dispersed Life by Pable de Rokha, translated from the Spanish by Urayoán Noel (Chile, Shearsman Books)

The poetry jury includes: Jarrod Annis (Greenlight Bookstore), Katrine Øgaard Jensen (EuropeNow), Tess Lewis (writer and translator), Aditi Machado (poet and translator), and Laura Marris (writer and translator).

Founded in 2007, the Best Translated Book Award brings attention to the best works of translated literature published in the previous year. The winning author and translator each receive a $5,000 cash prize for both the fiction and poetry award, totaling $20,000 thanks to grant funds from the Amazon Literary Partnership.

For more information, visit the official Best Translated Book Award site and follow the award on Twitter. Over the next month, leading up to the announcement of the shortlists, Three Percent will be featuring a different title each day as part of the “Why This Book Should Win” series.

This post was originally published on Book Riot.

Netflix has announced that it has acquired the rights to develop Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude. Originally published in 1967, One Hundred Years of Solitude is widely regarded as the Nobel Prize winning author’s greatest work and as one of the most significant works in the modern literary canon. This is the first time the novel will be adapted for screen.

García Márquez was often approached for film rights during his lifetime but refused all offers, citing his concerns that the large, multi-generational novel would not adapt well into a single film. García Márquez was also committed to his story being told in Spanish.

Francisco Ramos, the vice president for Spanish language originals at Netflix, “noted the success of series like Narcos and movies like Roma, which recently won the Oscar for best foreign language film, that have shown ‘we can make Spanish-language content for the world.’”

No details, as of yet, about who will be writing or starring in the series.

This post was originally published on Book Riot.

An unseen investigation by Stieg Larsson, the late journalist and author of the Millennium Trilogy, has come to light and will be revealed in a new true crime book. Larsson was a leading expert on antidemocratic, right-wing, extremist organizations. He died in 2004, shortly after delivering the manuscripts for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

On February 28, 1986, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was shot dead in Stockholm. The crime is still unsolved today. It’s now known that Larsson began his own investigation into the assassination—continuing the search until his own death. In 2014, journalist and documentary filmmaker, Jan Stocklassa gained access to the 20 boxes of Larsson’s research into the case.

“In The Man Who Played with Fire: Stieg Larsson and the Hunt for an Assassin, Stocklassa reveals new facts about the case and reveals the hitherto unknown research of the best-selling author in a fascinating true crime story. For the first time in many years, the police in Sweden have taken active measures to investigate a new suspect in the murder case and are pursuing leads based on the research revealed in Stocklassa’s book.”

The Man Who Played with Fire will be published by Amazon Crossing, Amazon’s literature in translation imprint. It will be translated from the original Swedish by Tara F. Chace. The book has a publication date of October 1, 2019.

In the press release announcing the acquisition, Senior Editor Elizabeth DeNoma writes, “Jan Stocklassa’s access to Stieg Larsson’s investigation and his own years-long intrepid, exciting exploration into the suspects, motives, and connections gives readers a true crime story about one of the most gripping unsolved murder mysteries of modern times, investigated by one of the most well-known authors of all time. We can’t wait to share this story with Stieg Larsson’s English-language fans who will be struck by the parallels between the famous author and his famous character, Mikael Blomkvist.”

Stocklassa is also the executive producer of a documentary of the same name that focuses on Larsson’s research into extreme right-wing groups. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2019.

This post was originally published on Book Riot.

The National Book Foundation announced the 2018 National Book Awards Translated Literature longlist. It is the first time this award in its current iteration will be given (there was a previous translation award years ago). This prize, which represents a permanent fifth National Book Award category, was announced earlier this year and will honor a work of fiction or nonfiction that has been translated into English and published in the U.S.

Disoriental by Négar Djavadi, translated by Tina Kover

Comemadre by Roque Larraquy, translated by Heather Cleary

The Beekeeper: Rescuing the Stolen Women of Iraq by Dunya Mikhail, translated by Max Weiss and Dunya Mikhail

One Part Woman by Perumal Murugan, translated by Aniruddhan Vasudevan

Love by Hanne Ørstavik, translated by Martin Aitken

Wait, Blink: A Perfect Picture of Inner Life by Gunnhild Øyehaug, translated by Kari Dickson

Trick by Domenico Starnone, translated by Jhumpa Lahiri

The Emissary by Yoko Tawada, translated by Margaret Mitsutani

Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft

Aetherial Worlds by Tatyana Tolstaya, translated by Anya Migdal

The shortlist will be announced October 10th. The 69th National Book Awards Ceremony will be held at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on Wednesday, November 14, and will also be live-streamed online in its entirety. The $10,000 prize will be split evenly between the winning author and translator.

“The judges for the category this year are Harold Augenbraum, the acting editor of The Yale Review and the former executive director of the National Book Foundation; Karen Maeda Allman, the author-events co-coordinator at the Elliott Bay Book Company, in Seattle; Sinan Antoon, a poet, novelist, and translator; Susan Bernofsky, who directs the literary translation program at the Columbia University School of the Arts, and Álvaro Enrigue, whose most recent novel is Sudden Death.”

Are any of your favorite books in translation on this list? Are there any you think are missing?

This post was originally published on Book Riot.

The Best Translated Book Award 2018 winners were announced last evening at the New York Rights Fair and on The Millions. Founded in 2007, the Best Translated Book Award brings attention to the best works of translated literature published in the previous year. The winning author and translator each receive a $5,000 cash prize for both the fiction and poetry award, totaling $20,000. Thanks to grant funds from the Amazon Literary Partnership the award has given out more than $140,000 to international authors and their translators.

The award in fiction goes to The Invented Part by Rodrigo Fresán, translated from the Spanish by Will Vanderhyden (Argentina, Open Letter Books).

The judging panel writes:

“The Invented Part weaves together the intellectual, the emotional, and the aesthetic as one, resulting in an entertaining, playful, sorrowful, and joyful novel that shows there is new ground to be found in the novel, new structures to be built. To find those structures takes daring and the risks Fresán takes both narratively and stylistically pay off. This book is as generous as it is challenging, as nostalgic as it is hopeful. Rodrigo Fresán is a master, and Will Vanderhyden brings that mastery and all the nuance that comes with it into English. They are a perfectly matched pair, and The Invented Part is an astounding start to this trilogy.”

And the poetry award goes to Before Lyricism by Eleni Vakalo, translated from the Greek by Karen Emmerich (Greece, Ugly Duckling Presse).

The judging panel writes:

“Before Lyricism is a captivating collection of poetry as well as an awe-inspiring feat of translation. Eleni Vakalo makes her readers hear and see the images written on the page; the book creates its own world around you as you read. Vakalo pushes the Greek language to its limits, stretching its syntax and playing up its room for ambiguity. Karen Emmerich spent over a decade translating these poems and finding ways for English, normally so resistant to ambiguity, to open up and allow for a similar, unsettling abstraction. The end result is nothing short of miraculous and an absolute pleasure to read in English translation.”

For more information, visit the Best Translated Book Award online and follow the award on Twitter.

This post was originally published on Book Riot.

The 2018 Man Booker International Prize Winner is Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, translated from the Polish by Jennifer Croft. The £50,000 prize, which celebrates the finest works of translated fiction from around the world, has been divided equally between the author and translator. (They also both received a further £1,000 for being on the shortlist.)

It was selected from more than one hundred submissions by a panel of five judges, chaired by Lisa Appignanesi, author and cultural commentator, and consisting of: Michael Hofmann, poet, reviewer and translator from German; Hari Kunzru, author of five novels including White Tears; Tim Martin, journalist and literary critic, and Helen Oyeyemi, author of novels, plays and short stories including What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours.

Chair, Lisa Appignanesi comments:

“Our deliberations were hardly easy, since our shortlist was such a strong one. But I’m very pleased to say that we decided on the great Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk as our winner: Tokarczuk is a writer of wonderful wit, imagination and literary panache. In Flights, brilliantly translated by Jennifer Croft, by a series of startling juxtapositions she flies us through a galaxy of departures and arrivals, stories and digressions, all the while exploring matters close to the contemporary and human predicament–where only plastic escapes mortality.”

Past winners include:

A Horse Walks Into A Bar by David Grossman, translated from the Hebrew by Jessica Cohen

The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith

This post was originally published on Book Riot.

The Best Translated Book Award 2018 Shortlist has been announced! Celebrating its eleventh year of honoring literature in translation, the Best Translated Book Award announced the 2018 shortlists for both its fiction and poetry awards at The Millions.

“On the fiction side of things, there are books from eight different countries and six languages, ranging from Taiwanese author Wu He’s Remains of Life to the postmodern machinations of Guðbergur Bergsson’s Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller to the contemporary concerns of Romina Paula’s August. . . .

The poetry finalists are also quite diverse, featuring books from six different countries, including Greece (Before Lyricism by Eleni Vakalo) to Japan (Spiral Staircase by Hirato Renkichi) to Brazil (Paraguayan Sea by Wilson Bueno). And in what’s probably a BTBA first, all six poetry finalists are from different countries and translated from different languages.”

The winners will be announced on May 31st as part of the New York Rights Fair following the 4:30 panel on “Translated Literature Today: A Decade of Growth.” They will also be announced at The Millions.

Fiction Shortlist:

Suzanne by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, translated from the French by Rhonda Mullins (Canada, Coach House)

Tómas Jónsson, Bestseller by Guðbergur Bergsson, translated from the Icelandic by Lytton Smith (Iceland, Open Letter Books)

Compass by Mathias Énard, translated from the French by Charlotte Mandell (France, New Directions)

The Invented Part by Rodrigo Fresán, translated from the Spanish by Will Vanderhyden (Argentina, Open Letter Books)

Return to the Dark Valley by Santiago Gamboa, translated from the Spanish by Howard Curtis (Colombia, Europa Editions)

Old Rendering Plant by Wolfgang Hilbig, translated from the German by Isabel Fargo Cole (Germany, Two Lines Press)

I Am the Brother of XX by Fleur Jaeggy, translated from the Italian by Gini Alhadeff (Switzerland, New Directions)

My Heart Hemmed In by Marie NDiaye, translated from the French by Jordan Stump (France, Two Lines Press)

August by Romina Paula, translated from the Spanish by Jennifer Croft (Argentina, Feminist Press)

Remains of Life by Wu He, translated from the Chinese by Michael Berry (Taiwan, Columbia University Press)

Poetry Shortlist:

Hackers by Aase Berg, translated from the Swedish by Johannes Goransson (Sweden, Black Ocean Press)

Paraguayan Sea by Wilson Bueno, translated from the Portunhol and Guarani to Frenglish and Guarani by Erin Moore (Brazil, Nightboat Books)

Third-Millennium Heart by Ursula Andkjaer Olsen, translated from the Danish by Katrine Øgaard Jensen (Denmark, Broken Dimanche Press)

Spiral Staircase by Hirato Renkichi, translated from the Japanese by Sho Sugita (Japan, Ugly Duckling Presse)

Directions for Use by Ana Ristović, translated from the Serbian by Steven Teref and Maja Teref (Serbia, Zephyr Press)

Before Lyricism by Eleni Vakalo, translated from the Greek by Karen Emmerich (Greece, Ugly Duckling Presse)

Founded in 2007, the Best Translated Book Award brings attention to the best works of translated literature published in the previous year. The winning author and translator each receive a $5,000 cash prize for both the fiction and poetry award, totaling $20,000.  Thanks to grant funds from the Amazon Literary Partnership the award has given out more than $140,000 to international authors and their translators.

For more information, visit the official Best Translated Book Award site and follow the award on Twitter. 

This post was originally published on Book Riot.