Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Longlist

So, even though we’re in danger right now of becoming a blog that only writes about book prizes (or maybe I’m only feeling that way because the Best Translated Book Award has been on my mind for so long), we would be remiss if we didn’t make mention of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Longlist:

• Boris Akunin The Coronation (translated by Andrew Bromfield from the Russian) Weidenfeld & Nicolson
• Ketil Bjørnstad To Music (Deborah Dawkin & Erik Skuggevik; Norwegian) Maia Press
• Hassan Blasim The Madman of Freedom Square (Jonathan Wright; Arabic) Comma Press
• Philippe Claudel Brodeck’s Report (John Cullen; French) MacLehose Press
• Julia Franck The Blind Side of the Heart (Anthea Bell; German) Harvill Secker
• Pietro Grossi Fists (Howard Curtis; Italian) Pushkin Press
• Elias Khoury Yalo (Humphrey Davies; Arabic) MacLehose Press
• Jonathan Littell The Kindly Ones (Charlotte Mandell; French) Chatto & Windus
• Alain Mabanckou Broken Glass (Helen Stevenson; French) Serpent’s Tail
• Javier Marías Your Face Tomorrow, Volume 3: Poison, Shadow and Farewell (Margaret Jull Costa; Spanish) Chatto & Windus
• Yoko Ogawa The Housekeeper and the Professor (Stephen Snyder; Japanese) Harvill Secker
• Claudia Piñeiro Thursday Night Widows (Miranda France; Spanish) Bitter Lemon Press
• Sankar Chowringhee (Arunava Sinha; Bengali) Atlantic
• Rafik Schami The Dark Side of Love (Anthea Bell; German) Arabia Books
• Bahaa Taher Sunset Oasis (Humphrey Davies; Arabic) Sceptre

There are a few things to note: Although the bigger presses, or big name presses, are well represented, it’s interesting to note how much of the heavy lifting for translation in the UK is done by smaller independent presses (Comma, Maia, Bitter Lemon); there are three books (three!) that are translated from Arabic, which has to be some kind of record; and Humphrey Davies and Anthea Bell have the knack—two nominated titles each.