‘The Book of Khartoum’ Wins PEN Promotes Award

English PEN just announced the winners of their “PEN Promotes” and “PEN Translates” awards. Among the four “PEN Promotes” titles is Comma Press’s forthcoming Book of Khartoum, ed. Raph Cormack and Max Shmookler:

Book of Khartoum, which previously won a “PEN Translates” award, is scheduled for release in January 2016.

Iraqi author Bakhtiyar Ali’s I Stared at the Night of the City, translated from the Kurdish by Kareem Abdulrahman, also took a “PEN Promotes” award. Meanwhile, Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun’s About My Mother, translated from French by Ros Schwartz and Lulu Norman, won a “PEN Translates” prize.

I Stared at the Night came out this June from Periscope, while About My Mother is scheduled for a September 2016 release from Saqi Books.

A total of four “PEN Promotes” and 16 “PEN Translates” grants were awarded in this round, with eight “PEN Translates” grants awarded to books by women writers. According to PEN’s release, this is the first time that women and men have shared the grants equally. In total, 15 languages were represented across both grants, including Arabic, Sorani Kurdish, Occitan, Turkish, and Bangla.

Submissions are currently open for the new round of PEN Translates, with a deadline of December 7. Those interested should see the PEN Translates page for more details.

On the road to translating the Book of Khartoum:

Looking for Literature in Khartoum

How To Separate Mediocre, Good, and Great Stories in Translation

‘Institutional and Critical Neglect’ As Part of the Sudanese Writer’s Experience