About us
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize
The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize is awarded annually to the best work of contemporary fiction in translation. The 2009 award is now open for submissions.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 submision process for the 2009 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize is now open. The prize is awarded to the best contemporary work of literary fiction in translation published in the UK between 1st January and 31st December 2008. A shortlist will be announced in March 2009 and the £10,000 prize, split equally between author and translator, will be presented in May 2009. The author must be living at the time the translation is published in the United Kingdom.
The closing date for submission is Friday 12 December
Whilst books may be submitted until mid December, we would very much appreciate it if you could send in your books as soon as they are available; this would really help the judges with their reading.
Please submit EIGHT copies of any eligible titles, with the completed application form and any relevant press release or advanced information sheets available. The forms and guidelines are available below.
The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2008 was awarded to the Belgian author Paul Verhaeghen for his novel Omega Minor. Paul Verhaeghen is the first author to have both written and translated the winning title and therefore won the full £10,000 prize for his work translated from Dutch into English.
Previous winners are:
2008 Omega Minor by Paul Verhaeghen, translated by Paul Verhaeghen (Dalkey Archive Press)
2007 The Book of Chameleons by José Eduardo Agualusa, translated by Daniel Hahn (Arcadia)
2006 Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson, translated by Anne Born (Harvill Secker)
2005 Windows on the World by Frédéric Beigbeder translated by Frank Wynne (Fourth Estate)
2004 Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas translated by Anne McLean (Bloomsbury)
2003 The Visit of the Royal Physician by Per Olov Enquist translated by Tiina Nunnally (Harvill)
2002 Austerlitz by W G Sebald translated by Anthea Bell (Hamish Hamilton)
2001 The Alphonse Courrier Affair by Marta Morazzoni translated by Emma Rose (Harvill)
Guidelines and application forms for publishers can be downloaded from the links below.
For any further information please contact Maddy Pickard by email: maddy.pickard@artscouncil.org.uk or by telephone: 020 7973 5204.
Related documents
photo by Andy Catterall