Best Translated Book of 2008: Fiction Finalists
I think I speak for all the panelists when I say that this was a pretty difficult task. I think we all had 13-15 books that we felt deserved to be in the top 10 . . . But in the end, I think we came up with a very solid list. For additional info about any of these titles, click on the links below, or visit the pretty minisite complete with cover images and additional information about the February 19th party to announce the winners.
Many thanks to all the publishers who sent us copies of the books, to everyone who’s written about this award or read any of the overviews we’ve written, and to all of the panelists (who are listed in detail below).
So here goes:
- by Attila Bartis, translated from the Hungarian by Imre Goldstein (Archipelago) (Overview)
- by Roberto Bolaño, translated from the Spanish by Natasha Wimmer (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) (Overview)
- by Roberto Bolaño, translated from the Spanish by Chris Andrews (New Directions) (Overview)
- by Céline Curiol, translated from the French by Sam Richard (Seven Stories) (Overview)
- by Willem Frederik Hermans, translated from the Dutch by Ina Rilke (Overlook) (Overview)
- by Elias Khoury, translated from the Arabic by Peter Theroux (Archipelago) (Overview)
- by Horacio Castellanos Moya, translated from the Spanish by Katherine Silver (New Directions) (Overview)
- by Victor Serge, translated from the French by Richard Greeman (New York Review Books) (Overview)
- by Alejandro Zambra, translated from the Spanish by Carolina De Robertis (Melville House) (Overview)
- by Stefan Zweig, translated from the German by Joel Rotenberg (New York Review Books) (Overview)
At the February 19th event at Melville House Books—which will be hosted by Francisco Goldman—we’ll announce the two runners-up and the winner for both the poetry and fiction categories. And you’re all invited, so hopefully we’ll see you there . . .
This year’s panelists included Monica Carter, bookseller at and editor of ; Steve Dolph, editor of ; Scott Esposito, editor of and ; Brandon Kennedy, bookseller at ; Michael Orthofer, editor of the and ; Chad W. Post, director of and ; E.J. Van Lanen, senior editor of Open Letter Books and Three Percent; and Jeff Waxman, bookseller at the and editor of .
UPDATE: To view or download the official press release, click here.