Independent Foreign Fiction Prize Shortlist

The Independent Foreign Fiction Prize shortlist was announced yesterday as follows:

• Alice by Judith Hermann, translated from the German by Margot Bettauer Dembo (The Clerkenwell Press)
• Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld, translated from the Hebrew by Jeffrey M. Green (Alma Books)
• Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke, translated from the Chinese by Cindy Carter (Corsair)
• From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón, translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb (Telegram Books)
• New Finnish Grammar by Diego Marani, translated from the Italian by Judith Landry (Dedalus)
• The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco, translated from the Italian by Richard Dixon (Harvill Secker)

As usual, my random reading of the long list has left me with half the shortlist still to read. New Finnish Grammar must remain something of a favourite having been chosen as a finalist for the Best Translated Book Award as well. Eco would seem an unlikely winner as the Prize has tended to go to less well known authors. Similarly, Dream of Ding Village has perhaps had too much publicity. I’ll try to read the rest of the short list before the winner is announced on the 14th May.

Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2012

No sooner had I thought I might dip my toe into the waters of the Best Translated Book Award (long list here), than the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize announces its own long list. To make matters worse, they only have one book in common (New Finnish Grammar), and I’ve only read two books on the Independent list (though that was one of them).

Here is the long list:

• 1Q84: Books 1 and 2 by Haruki Murakami, translated from the Japanese by Jay Rubin (Harvill Secker)
• Alice by Judith Hermann, translated from the German by Margot Bettauer Dembo (The Clerkenwell Press)
• Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld, translated from the Hebrew by Jeffrey M. Green (Alma Books)
• Dream of Ding Village by Yan Lianke, translated from the Chinese by Cindy Carter (Corsair)
• The Emperor of Lies by Steve Sem-Sandberg, translated from the Swedish by Sarah Death (Faber)
• From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjón, translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb (Telegram Books)
• Hate: A Romance by Tristan Garcia, translated from the French by Marion Duvert and Lorin Stein (Faber)
• New Finnish Grammar by Diego Marani, translated from the Italian by Judith Landry (Dedalus)
• Next World Novella by Matthias Politycki, translated from the German by Anthea Bell (Peirene Press)
• Parallel Stories by Peter Nadas, translated from the Hungarian by Imre Goldstein (Jonathan Cape)
• Please Look After Mother by Kyung-sook Shin, translated from the Korean by Shin Chi-Young Kim (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
• The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco, translated from the Italian by Richard Dixon (Harvill Secker)
• Professor Andersen’s Night by Dag Solstad, translated from the Norwegian by Agnes Scott Langeland (Harvill Secker)
• Scenes From Village Life by Amos Oz, translated from the Hebrew by Nicholas De Lange (Chatto & Windus)
• Seven Houses in France by Bernardo Atxaga, translated from the Spanish by Margaret Jull Costa (Harvill Secker)

Once again, I will try to read as many as I can!

Independent Foreign Fiction Prize shortlist

The shortlist for the prize was announced last Friday, as follows:

Brodeck’s Report by Philippe Claudel
The Blind Side of the Heart by Julia Franck
Fists by Pietro Grossi
Broken Glass by Alain Mabanckou
The Dark side of Love by Rafi Schami
Chowringee by Sankar

I should be pleased as I’ve read three of the six books – however, I’ve since read Your Face Tomorrow 3 and I’m now in the middle of The Kindly Ones, neither of which made the shortlist depite being the two most high profle novels on the longlist. This is not entirely surprising as the prize has tended to ignore established authors (or novels) and focus on writers who have not enjoyed the same amount of translation or attention.

Out of sheer bloody-mindedness, I will, of course, continue through the longlist as planned, no doubt finishing long after the winner is announced…

Independent Foreign Fiction Prize

By far the most interesting book prize in Britain is that awarded by the Independent for fiction translated into English.The longlist was recently announced and you can see it here.

I had only read two of the books – The Coronation and Brodeck’s Report. I have already written at length about Brodeck’s Report which I greatly admire. The Coronation is another excellent Erast Fandorin novel, a series which I have followed from the outset. While it is unlikley to win, its inclusion demonstrates the variety that is to be found in the longlist.

Over the next few weeks I hope to read more of the books and include them on the blog, though as the shortlist is announced in April, I am unlikely to have read them all by then!