Thuan's novel 'Chinatown' shortlisted for US National Translation Award

The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) has just announced the final list of nominees (shortlist) for the 25th annual National Translation Awards (NTA), given for poetry and prose. The work Chinatown by writer Thuan, translated from Vietnamese by Nguyen An Ly, is among them.

Author Thuan, born in 1967, graduated from Pyatigorsk University of Foreign Languages ​​(Russia), master's degree from Paris 7 University and Sorbonne University. She is the author of Made in Vietnam , Only 4 days left until April , Saigon Elevator ... China Town published by Da Nang Publishing House in February 2005, about the fate of expatriates. The entire story of the novel is contained in just 2 hours.

Translator Nguyen An Ly is known for her English-Vietnamese translations of works by authors such as Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, George Orwell, and Amos Oz. Chinatown is her first English translation. She is currently the co-founder of the independent online magazine Zzz Review.

In May 2023, Phanbook collaborated with the Writers Association Publishing House to publish Aleph by Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges, translated by Nguyen An Ly. Previously, Vietnamese readers also knew about The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (USA), translated by Nguyen An Ly, which offers reflections on the pain and loss that shape a person's destiny.

Thuan's works.

The NTA Prize is awarded to "literary translators who have made an outstanding contribution to English literature by masterfully recreating the artistic power of a quality book".

“The first National Translation Awards were presented 25 years ago at the ALTA conference held in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1998, and in the quarter century since then, 38 literary translators have been honored for their translations from 18 different languages,” said ALTA President Ellen Elias-Bursać.

More than 100 ALTA members spent time poring over countless works; they sought out expert readers to evaluate each one.

This year’s prose judges are Natascha Bruce, Shelley Frisch, Jason Grunebaum, Sawad Hussain and Lytton Smith. The poetry judges are Pauline Fan, Heather Green and Shook. The awards will be presented on November 11 and each translator will receive $4,000.

Cover of Spadework for a Palace by László Krasznahorkai

AMAZON

In the prose category, the works on the shortlist include: Pho Tau (Thuan) translated from Vietnamese by Nguyen An Ly, I'd Like to Say Sorry, but There's No One to Say Sorry To (Mikołaj Grynberg) translated from Polish by Sean Gasper Bye, Spadework for a Palace (László Krasznahorkai) translated from Hungarian by John Batki, So Distant From My Life (Monique Ilboudo) translated from French by Yarri Kamara...

Poetry entries: Cicada (Phoebe Giannisi) translated from Greek by Brian Sneeden, Flight and Metamorphosis (Nelly Sachs) translated from German by Joshua Weiner and Linda B. Parshall, The Threshold (Iman Mersal) translated from Arabic by Robyn Creswell, The Water People (Venus Khoury-Ghata) translated from French by Marilyn Hacker…

Thanhnien.vn