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Commentary and analysis will go in another post . . . for now, here’s the official press release.

January 27, 2011—The 25-title fiction longlist for the 2011 Best Translated Book Awards was announced this morning at Three Percent—a resource for international literature at the URochester. According to award co-founder Chad W. Post, this year’s longlist is a “testament to the number of high-quality works in translation that are making their way to American readers, thanks to a number of talented translators and exciting publishing houses.”

Featuring authors from 19 countries writing in 12 languages, the list highlights established authors, like Javier Marías and David Grossman, alongside newcomers, such as Julia Franck and Abdelfattah Kilito. It also features titles from the past three centuries, from Eline Vere (originally published in Dutch in 1893) to I Curse the River of Time (first published in Norwegian in 2008), and there’s a wide range of length, with Cyclops checking in at 550 pages, and Bad Nature, or With Elvis in Mexico at a much briefer 57 pages.

“Not only is this a collection of the year’s most important and compelling books in translation, it’s a list of high quality books that deserve readers’ attention,” said fiction judge Monica Carter. “These books represent a global perspective that, due to the dedication and talent of the translators, can open up the world to readers of English. The Best Translated Book Awards serve the world literature community of writers, translators, and readers in a way that no other award can.”

Founded in 2007 with the goal of bringing additional attention to international works of literature, the Best Translated Book Awards are one of the only awards in the country honoring original works in translation. Selection criteria include the quality of the work itself, along with the quality of the translation. All original translations (not retranslations or reprints) published between December 1, 2009, and November 30, 2010, were eligible.

This year’s set of judges consists of Monica Carter (Salonica), Scott Esposito (Conversational Reading and Center for the Art of Translation), Susan Harris (Words Without Borders), Annie Janusch (Translation Review), Matthew Jakubowski (writer & critic), Brandon Kennedy (bookseller/cataloger), Bill Marx (PRI’s The World: World Books), Michael Orthofer (Complete Review), and Jeff Waxman (Seminary Co-op and The Front Table).

The award itself has grown greatly over the past few years. Beginning as an online-only event, the Best Translated Book Awards now feature an awards ceremony and a $5,000 cash prize—awarded to each winning author and translator, thanks to the support of .

The 10-title fiction shortlist will be announced on Thursday, March 24th, concurrent with the announcement of the finalists for the poetry award. Winners will be announced on April 29th in New York City, as part of the PEN World Voices Festival.

More details about the awards ceremony will be made available in coming weeks. In the meantime, Three Percent will highlight a book a day from the fiction longlist, with pieces written by translators, reviewers, and editors about the individual qualities of each title, and “why it should win.”

The 2011 BTBA Fiction Longlist (in alphabetical order by author):

by César Aira, translated from the Spanish by Katherine Silver (New Directions)

by Michal Ajvaz, translated from the Czech by Andrew Oakland (Dalkey Archive)

by Mario Benedetti, translated from the Spanish by Harry Morales (Host Publications)

by Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud, translated from the French by Edward Gauvin (Small Beer)

by Jacques Chessex, translated from the French by Donald Wilson (Bitter Lemon)

by Albert Cossery, translated from the French by Alyson Waters (New Directions)

by Albert Cossery, translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis (New York Review Books)

by Louis Couperus, translated from the Dutch by Ina Rilke (Archipelago)

by Jenny Erpenbeck, translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky (New Directions)

by Julia Franck, translated from the German by Anthea Bell (Grove)

by Romain Gary (writing as Émile Ajar), translated from the French by David Bellos (Yale University Press)

by David Grossman, translated from the Hebrew by Jessica Cohen (Knopf)

by Tove Jansson, translated from the Swedish by Thomas Teal (New York Review Books)

by Abdelfattah Kilito, translated from the French by Robyn Creswell (New Directions)

by Javier Marías, translated from the Spanish by Esther Allen (New Directions)

by Ranko Marinković, translated from the Croatian by Vlada Stojiljković, edited by Ellen Elias-Bursać (Yale University Press)

by Amélie Nothomb, translated from the French by Alison Anderson (Europa Editions)

by Per Petterson, translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund and the author (Graywolf Press)

by Jerzy Pilch, translated from the Polish by David Frick (Open Letter)

by Adania Shibli, translated from the Arabic by Paula Haydar (Clockroot)

by Martín Solares, translated from the Spanish by Aura Estrada and John Pluecker (Grove/Black Cat)

by Emilio Lascano Tegui, translated from the Spanish by Idra Novey (Dalkey Archive)

by Marlene Van Niekerk, translated from the Afrikaans by Michiel Heyns (Tin House)

by Robert Walser, translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky (New Directions/Christine Burgin)

by Ernst Weiss, translated from the German by Joel Rotenberg (Archipelago)