The winners of the inaugural Poetry in Translation Prize, jointly sponsored by the English-language publishers Fitzcarraldo Editions, Giramondo Publishing, and New Directions, will be announced next January. Cuban writer Osdany Morales (Nueva Paz, 1981) is among the finalists with his collection The Past Is a Lonesome Town, translated from Spanish by Harry Bauld.
The shortlist also includes the volumes With the Remains of My Hands, by Priya Bains, translated from Norwegian by Alex Mepham; A Beam of Light in the Winter from the Bowstring Played by a Crested Serpent Eagle, by Bukun Ismahasan Islituan (Hugu Sutej; original in the Isbukun dialect of the Bunun language, native to Taiwan); The Dust Museum, by Liu Ligan (Dong Li; mainland Chinese); Water’s Edge And Other Poems, by Hiyori Kojima (James Garza; Japanese); Help Me Change My Bandages, by Maniniwei (Emily Lu; Taiwanese-Malaysian Chinese); Just Land, by Jaku Mata (Eric Abalajon; Filipino), and Life on Three Wheels, by E.M. Palitha Edirisooriya (Samodh Porawagamage and Kasun Pathirage; Sinhala).
According to Fitzcarraldo Editions, these titles—some of whose poems can be read online in Granta magazine—stood out from a total of 259 submitted books, which were written in 55 languages.
The organizers explain that the Poetry in Translation Prize is a biennial award for collections of poetry translated into English and that “it is open to living, published poets from around the world, writing in any language.”
The winning author and translator will share a £5,000 advance equally. Subsequently, the volume will be published simultaneously in North America by New Directions, in the UK and Ireland by Fitzcarraldo, and in Australia and New Zealand by Giramondo.
These publishers also sponsor The Novel Prize, whose next edition is set to be announced next year.
El pasado es un pueblo solitario (The Past Is a Lonesome Town) (Bokeh, Leiden) appeared in Spanish a decade ago. Osdany Morales is also the author of short story collections such as Minuciosas puertas estrechas (Meticulous Narrow Doors, 2007), Papyrus (The Last Librarian, 2012), and Antes de los aviones (Before Airplanes, 2013); the novel Zozobra (Anguish, 2018); and the volume of literary essays Lengua materna (Mother Tongue, 2023).
