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Independent Foreign Fiction Prize

The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize is awarded annually to the best work of contemporary fiction in translation.

The 2010 Prize is now open for submission, and will be awarded to the best contemporary work of literary fiction in translation published in the UK between 1 January and 31 December 2009. The closing date for submission is 30 September 2009. Please see the application form and guidelines below for further information.

The prize celebrates the union of languages, as our eyes are opened to new cultures and ways of life. As the prominence of the prize grows, we hope that it will encourage publishers to broaden their lists of international titles further.

Uniquely, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize acknowledges both the novelist and translator equally, recognising the importance of the translator in their ability to bridge the gap between languages. Translators have the profound ability to restructure the original work into something that is innovative, yet faithful to the initial text, something that the prize, awarded by a panel of accomplished judges, seeks to reward.

The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2009 has been awarded to Colombian writer Evelio Rosero for his novel, The Armies (Maclehose Press). Rosero is the first Colombian author to win the award. The £10,000 prize money is shared equally with his translator, Anne McLean, who picks up the award for the second time.

The 2009 judges were:
Linda Grant, novelist
Kate Griffin, Arts Council England literature officer
Fiona Sampson, editor, Poetry review
Mark Thwaite, blogger, www.readysteadybook.com
Boyd Tonkin, literary editor, The Independent

The 2009 shortlist was as follows:

  • Voiceover by Celine Curiol, translated by Sam Richard from the French, published by Faber and Faber

  • Beijing Coma by Ma Jian, translated by Flora Drew from the Chinese, published by Chatto & Windus

  • The Siege by Ismail Kadare, translated by David Bellos from the Albanian, published by Canongate

  • The Armies by Evelio Rosero, translated by Anne McLean from the Spanish, published by Maclehose Press

  • The Informers by Juan Gabriel Vasquez, translated by Anne McLean from the Spanish, published by Bloomsbury

  • Friendly Fire by A B Yehoshua, translated by Stuart Schoffman from the Hebrew, published by Halban
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
IFFP09 winning translator, Anne McLean, accepting the award.
IFFP09 winning translator, Anne McLean, accepting the award. Photo: Philippa Gedge