Just announced, the ten finalists for this year’s Best Translated Book Award:
- Horses of God by Mahi Binebine, translated from the French by Lulu Norman (Morocco; Tin House)
- Blinding by Mircea C?rt?rescu, translated from the Romanian by Sean Cotter (Romania; Archipelago Books)
- The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante, translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein (Italy; Europa Editions)
- Tirza by Arnon Grunberg, translated from the Dutch by Sam Garrett (Netherlands; Open Letter Books)
- My Struggle: Book Two by Karl Ove Knausgaard, translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett (Norway; Archipelago Books)
- Seiobo There Below by László Krasznahorkai, translated from the Hungarian by Ottilie Mulzet (Hungary; New Directions)
- A True Novel by Minae Mizumura, translated from the Japanese by Juliet Winters (Japan; Other Press)
- The African Shore by Rodrigo Rey Rosa, translated from the Spanish by Jeffrey Gray (Guatemala; Yale University Press)
- Leg Over Leg Vol. 1 by Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, translated from the Arabic by Humphrey Davies (Lebanon; New York University Press)
- The Forbidden Kingdom by Jan Jacob Slauerhoff, translated from the Dutch by Paul Vincent (Netherlands; Pushkin Press)
This is an exceptional list of books. I have reviewed only one here so far (My Struggle: Book Two), but I have read four others and loved each. I’ll get those reviews posted, as well as read the others, this next month. The winners will be announced soon, though, on April 28.
By coincidence, I just read The African Shore a couple weeks ago partly because I’d wanted to read Rey Rosa for some time and partly because of the cover. I loved it – really astonishingly evocative and lucid prose.