2011 Best Translated Book Awards Announced

The fourth annual Best Translated Book Awards were announced tonight in a ceremony held at the Bowery Poetry Club as part of the PEN World Voices festival, and the winners are...

In fiction,The True Deceiver by Swedish-Finnish author Tove Jansson, translated by Thomas Teal. I've never read anything by Jansson, but I'm looking forward to it. The description of the book on the New York Review Books website makes it sound fanciful but also dark, and Ursula K. Leguin said it was the "most beautiful and satisfying novel" she read all year.

In poetry, the prize went to The Book of Things by Aleš Šteger, translated from the Slovenian by poet Brian Henry, editor of the journal of international poetry Verse. The publisher of Šteger's book is BOA Editions, which is based in Rochester, NY and has been in operation as an independent press since 1976.

The author and translator of each book receive cash awards of $5000 provided by Amazon.com. The Best Translated Book Award is sponsored by Three Percent at the University of Rochester.