PEN Translation Prize Finalists in Conversation
Finalists for the 2022 PEN America Translation Prize gather for a roundtable discussion about their exceptional books. Translators Sean Cotter, Alta L. Price, Julia Sanches, Lara Vergnaud, and Jeffrey Zuckerman appear in conversation with CAT Executive Director, Michael Holtmann.
The PEN Translation Prize is awarded annually to a translator for a book-length translation of prose from any language into English. Click on the titles below to buy the books from one of our favorite indie bookstores, East Bay Booksellers(opens in a new tab)!
FEM, Magda Cârneci (Deep Vellum)(opens in a new tab)
Translated from the Romanian by Sean Cotter
New Year, Juli Zeh (World Editions)(opens in a new tab)
Translated from the German by Alta L. Price
Migratory Birds, Mariana Oliver (Transit Books)(opens in a new tab)
Translated from the Spanish by Julia Sanches
The Last One: A Novel, Fatima Daas (Other Press)(opens in a new tab)
Translated from the French by Lara Vergnaud
Kaya Days: A Novel, Carl de Souza (Two Lines Press)(opens in a new tab)
Translated from the French by Jeffrey Zuckerman
Sean Cotter is a professor of literature and literary translation at the University of Texas at Dallas and has translated many books of Romanian literature, most recently Mircea Cătărescu’s Solenoid (Deep Vellum, 2022).
Alta L. Price runs a publishing consultancy specialized in literature and nonfiction texts on art, architecture, design, and culture. Alta’s translations from Italian and German include works by Giorgio Agamben, Dana Grigorcea, Alexander Kluge, Aldo Novarese, and Martin Mosebach. Alta’s latest books are Juli Zeh’s novel New Year—finalist for the 2022 PEN America Translation Prize as well as the Helen & Kurt Wolff Prize—and Mithu Sanyal’s novel Identitti.
Julia Sanches is a translator of Portuguese, Spanish, and Catalan. She has translated works by Susana Moreira Marques, Dolores Reyes, Daniel Galera, and Eva Baltasar, among others. Her shorter translations have appeared in various magazines and periodicals, including Words Without Borders, Granta, Tin House, and Guernica. A founding member of Cedilla & Co., Julia sits on the Council of the Authors Guild.
Lara Vergnaud is a translator of prose, creative nonfiction, and scholarly works from the French. Her translations include novels by Ahmed Bouanani, Zahia Rahmani, Mohamed Leftah, and Joy Sorman. Lara is the recipient of two PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grants and a French Voices Grand Prize, and her translation of The Last One by Fatima Daas was shortlisted for the PEN Translation Prize. She lives in Washington, D.C.
Jeffrey Zuckerman is a translator of French, including the Mauritian novelists Ananda Devi, Shenaz Patel, and Carl de Souza, whose Kaya Days has been shortlisted for a PEN Translation Prize. In 2020 he was named a Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government.
Michael Holtmann has worked in the arts for more than fifteen years. Prior to joining the Center, he held positions at the National Endowment for the Arts and the Folger Shakespeare Library. He has served on the board of the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) and the international programming committee of the Bay Area Book Festival.