Man Booker International and Independent foreign fiction prizes merge to create super-award
UK’s leading international literary awards rolled in to a single, annual honour for authors and translators
The UK’s two leading prizes for international literature are to be merged to create a new annual super-prize that will reward both the writers and translators of foreign-language fiction.
It was announced on Tuesday that the Man Booker International prize was joining forces with the Independent foreign fiction prize.
From 2016, the prize will will come under the Man Booker umbrella but it will be dramatically different.
Instead of being biennial, it will be annual. And instead of rewarding a body of work, it will be awarded on the basis of a single book translated into English and published in the UK. Novels and short story collections will be eligible.
The prize money will also be increased with a top prize of £50,000, divided equally between the author and the translator.
That 50-50 element comes from the Independent prize. Boyd Tonkin, who will chair the judging panel for the first run of the newly configured prize, said it was something that worked well.
“There is nothing worse than being told such and such a novel is a great masterpiece in its original language and then trying to plough your way through a leaden, clumsy English version.”
“The equality is a recognition of the importance of translation.”
There is a growing appetite for translated fiction, Tonkin added, much as there is for foreign language television, whether that is The Killing or The Saboteurs. The figures are always contentious, he said, but appear to have risen from around 3% to 5% of the fiction market.
The number of small publishers concentrating in translated fiction is also rising and organisers of the prize hope it will provide further encouragement.
The total prize fund will be £62,000 with the author and translator of each shortlisted book receiving £1,000 each.
The changes effectively bring the Man Booker International prize in line with the Man Booker prize, which rewards fiction written in the English language. The Man Booker International prize had previously admitted foreign novels written in English. Since these can now compete for the main Booker prize under broadened eligibility rules, entry to the new international award will be restricted to translated titles.
Timings will be different with judges for the new prize announcing the first longlist in March 2016, a shortlist in April and a winner in May.
Jonathan Taylor, chair of the Booker Prize Foundation, said the changes meant all novels published in English in the UK are eligible for one or other of the prizes.
“Thereby we will encourage the recognition, reward and readership of fiction of the highest quality from all over the world.”
Guardian
UK’s leading international literary awards rolled in to a single, annual honour for authors and translators
The UK’s two leading prizes for international literature are to be merged to create a new annual super-prize that will reward both the writers and translators of foreign-language fiction.
It was announced on Tuesday that the Man Booker International prize was joining forces with the Independent foreign fiction prize.
From 2016, the prize will will come under the Man Booker umbrella but it will be dramatically different.
Instead of being biennial, it will be annual. And instead of rewarding a body of work, it will be awarded on the basis of a single book translated into English and published in the UK. Novels and short story collections will be eligible.
The prize money will also be increased with a top prize of £50,000, divided equally between the author and the translator.
That 50-50 element comes from the Independent prize. Boyd Tonkin, who will chair the judging panel for the first run of the newly configured prize, said it was something that worked well.
“There is nothing worse than being told such and such a novel is a great masterpiece in its original language and then trying to plough your way through a leaden, clumsy English version.”
“The equality is a recognition of the importance of translation.”
There is a growing appetite for translated fiction, Tonkin added, much as there is for foreign language television, whether that is The Killing or The Saboteurs. The figures are always contentious, he said, but appear to have risen from around 3% to 5% of the fiction market.
The number of small publishers concentrating in translated fiction is also rising and organisers of the prize hope it will provide further encouragement.
The total prize fund will be £62,000 with the author and translator of each shortlisted book receiving £1,000 each.
The changes effectively bring the Man Booker International prize in line with the Man Booker prize, which rewards fiction written in the English language. The Man Booker International prize had previously admitted foreign novels written in English. Since these can now compete for the main Booker prize under broadened eligibility rules, entry to the new international award will be restricted to translated titles.
Timings will be different with judges for the new prize announcing the first longlist in March 2016, a shortlist in April and a winner in May.
Jonathan Taylor, chair of the Booker Prize Foundation, said the changes meant all novels published in English in the UK are eligible for one or other of the prizes.
“Thereby we will encourage the recognition, reward and readership of fiction of the highest quality from all over the world.”
Guardian
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