Literary roundup: Read Russia Prize and Drunken Boat translations

At the outset I have to admit that I really don’t understand this. The Read Russia Prize, at least on their website, is stated to be for “English translations of Russian literature” and to be given in New York each May. So naturally last weekend in Moscow they announced the winners of the prize, the majority of whom clearly didn’t translate Russian literature into English. Oh well, there is so much of life I don’t understand, particularly things that come from Russia. I guess that’s why I like their literature so much.

Anyway, the winners are:

Alejandro Ariel Gonzales for his Argentinian translation of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novella “The Double” received the award for “Classic 19th Century Russian Literature”

Alexander Nitzberg for his Austrian translation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel “Master and Margarita” received the award for “20th Century Russian Literature”

Marian Schwartz for her English translation of Leonid Yuzefovich’s “Harlequin’s Costume” received the award for “Contemporary Russian Literature”

Liu Wenfei for his Chinese translation of lyrical works by Alexander Pushkin received the award for “Poetry.”

Translation

The esteemed literary journal Drunken Boat (they published me, so they have to be great) have become even more esteemed by introducing a translation section to the magazine. It’s pretty awesome, with translations by Boris Dralyuk of 20^th century classic Russian poetry by Nikolay Gumilyov, Sergey Yesenin, Nikolay Zabolotsky. I’m especially happy to see Zabolotsky here as his name also appears in my story in the magazine.

Other work in the new section: “Back in Five Minutes” by Croatian writer Maja Hrgović, translated by Tomislav Kuzmanović (whose translation of Robert Perišić has appeared in B O D Y). There is Belgian fiction, Italian poetry and much more. Check it out.