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8/14/2019 2010 Best Translated Book Award Winners
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Chad W. Post · [email protected]
News Release
University of Rochester
Lattimore Hall 411, Box 270082
Rochester, NY 14627
t : 585.319.0823 | f : 585.273.1097
www.rochester.edu/threepercent
Israeli Novel and Russian Poetry Collection Win 2010 Best Translated Book Awards
March 10, 2010—Gail Hareven’s Te Conessions o Noa Weber , translated rom the Hebrew by Dalya Bilu and
published by Melville House Press, and Elena Fanailova’s Te Russian Version, translated rom the Russian by Genya
urovskaya and Stephanie Sandler and published by Ugly Duckling Presse, are the recipients o this year’s Best
ranslated Book Awards or ction and poetry, respectively. Te announcement was made at a special award party at
Idlewild Books, a New York City bookstore that specializes in travel books and international literature. Organized
by Tree Percent at the University o Rochester (www.rochester.edu/threepercent), the Best ranslated Book Award
is the only prize o its kind to honor the best original works o international literature and poetry published in the
U.S. over the past year.
“It was very dicult choosing a winner rom the ten ction nalists,” said Chad W. Post, panelist and director o Tree Percent and Open Letter Books. “Tere were our or ve titles that we all would’ve been happy to see win. Tis
just goes to show how many high-quality works are coming out in English translation. Over the past three years o
the award, we’ve honored ve diferent presses and works rom ve diferent languages. Despite the common laments
about the paltry percentage o books published in America that originate elsewhere, it’s clear that there are a number
o really excellent books rom all corners o the globe making their way over here. Tat said, it’s a big night or both
women writers and Brooklyn-based indie presses.”
Te Conessions o Noa Weber is the story o a middle-aged writer who married a man out o convenience (to escape her
military duty) and continues to love him throughout the rest o her lie, despite the act that he leaves her or Russia,
another woman, and a diferent lie. Gail Hareven is the author o six novels and three short stories collections; Noa
Weber is her rst title to be published in English. Dalya Bilu is a well-known translator o Hebrew literature and has
been awarded a number o prizes, including the imes Literary Supplement and Jewish Book Council Award or
Hebrew-English ranslation. Melville House Press—an independent publisher most well-known or its political titles
and its “Art o the Novella” series—released this book in the spring o 2009 to great acclaim.
In addition to Te Russian Version, Elena Fanailova is the author o our other poetry collections, which have earned
her a reputation as one o Russia’s great contemporary voices. According to Idra Novey, chair o the Best ranslated
Book Award poetry panel, “Te Russian Version obliterates the stereotype o what Great Russian Poetry should sound
like. Fanailova has the candor and compassion o Akhmatova and a git or striking metaphor that might bring
Mandelstam to mind. She is also ruthlessly quick to re ‘rom the hip,’ as she says in the title poem, and her aim is
impeccable.” Genya urovskaya emigrated to the U.S. rom the Ukraine and is a highly respected poet in her own
right. Stephanie Sandler not only translates, but is a proessor at Harvard’s Davis Center or Russian and Eurasian
Studies. Ugly Duckling Presse is a nonprot, Brooklyn-based publishing house that is cherished or its exquisite book design and its aesthetically adventurous “Eastern European Poets Series,” o which this title is a part.
For additional inormation about the Best ranslated Book Awards, the panelists, the winning titles, and all the fnalists, please visit Tree Percent at www.rochester.edu/threepercent , or contact Chad W. Post at 585.319.0823 or [email protected].
a resource for international literaratureat the University of Rochester
Three PercenT
