OYEZ! OYEZ! Last call for entries in Harvill Secker's Young Translators' Prize

This just in from Harvill Secker's publicity department:

LAST CALL FOR ENTRIES!

Only a few weeks left to enter HARVILL SECKER’s

prestigious new prize for young translators

The Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize has already received lots of entries from budding translators - we are sending out last call for entrants to make sure no one misses out. The deadline for entries is 31st July 2010.

The annual Young Translators’ Prize will be presented to a translator at the start of their career and will focus on a different language each year.

Harvill Secker, part of The Random House Group, launched the prize on April 19th= in conjunction with Waterstone’s, to celebrate 100 years of publishing quality translation. In 2010 – the inaugural year – the chosen language is Spanish and entrants will be asked to translate ‘El hachazo’, a short story by the Argentine writer Matías Néspolo.

The short story and details on how to enter can be found at

www.harvillseckeryoungtranslatorsprize.com. The prize is open to anyone between the ages of 16 and 34, with no restriction on country of residence.

The winner’s name will be announced at the FreeWord Centre during aspecial evening event on 30 September 2010. The winning translator will receive £1000, a selection of Harvill Secker titles and Waterstone’s books.
One of the judges, Margaret Jull Costa (translator), commented ‘There are very few prizes open to the young, unpublished translator, who is either trying to get a toehold in the world of literary translation or who simply loves translating. All praise to Harvill Secker, then, for instigating this Young Translators’ Prize.’

The other judges are Nicholas Shakespeare (author) and Briony Everroad (editor). Prize founder, Briony Everroad comments, ‘I think translation is terribly important, and excellence in the field can often pass unnoticed. The aim of this prize is to encourage a new generation of talent, and I hope that it will provide a much-needed opportunity for young translators to gain wider recognition for their work.’

For more information please contact:

Sue Amaradivakara, Harvill Secker publicity

email: samaradivakara@randomhouse.co.uk

Translation Competition Launched by Harvill Secker

Harvill Secker, publisher of some of the finest literary translation going in this hepped-up commercial world, has done a good turn for young translators.

It goes a little bit like this: Argentina is guest of honour at Frankfurt this October, so they picked an Argentinian writer, Matías Néspolo, whose work is to be translated for their inaugural competition. Journalist for El Mundo, poet and novelist, Néspolo is renowned for the versatility of his style and tone. Fellow blogger Juan Pomponi does a nice run-down of his most recent work (Sp) if you'd like to get a handle on the author.

The job at hand is to translate one of his short stories, and the prize? £1,000.

Harvill Secker editor and competition judge Briony Everroad is very excited about the competition, and we were keen to get her take on this new venture:

‘Harvill Secker specialises in publishing international writing, and in our centenary year we decided to launch a prize to celebrate the wonderful work of translators. Around half of our list is comprised of works written in languages other than English, and it would not be possible to publish these books without translators. It’s a terribly important art, and excellence in the field can often pass unnoticed. The aim of this prize is to encourage a new generation of talent, and I hope that it will provide a much-needed opportunity for young translators to gain wider recognition for their work.’

I don't know about you, but one word leaps out of this quote for me: ART. OK, so translation is Harvill Secker's stock and trade, but it's refreshing to see it recognised as a creative talent.

As for that 'new generation of talent', translators aged 16 to 34 are encouraged to send in their translations by 31 July 2010. All details, entry form and Spanish-language text available here.