Adania Shibli’s ‘Minor Detail,’ in Elisabeth Jaquette’s Translation, Longlisted for Warwick Prize

Minor Detail — a compact, powerful novel by Palestinian author Adania Shibli, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette — has been longlisted for the 2021 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. It is Jaquette’s second time on the list.

There are 17 titles on the 2021 longlist, selected from amongst 115 eligible entries representing 28 languages. Although the majority on the longlist were translated from European languages, as in the prize’s previous four years, this year there are also books translated from Chinese, Thai, Arabic, and two from Japanese.

Many of the longlisted books have received other prizes. Several of the longlisted books, including Minor Detail, were also on the 2021 longlist of the Man Booker International.

Judge Boyd Tonkin said of the 2021 Warwick Prize longlist:

“Despite a period of obstacles and uncertainties for international publishing, the 115 submissions for this unique award continue to showcase the vitality and variety of translated work by women writers from around the world now published in the UK. These long-listed titles not only span cultures and continents from China to Georgia, and from Thailand to Poland, they also cover a spectrum of literary forms. The list includes poetry, fiction of many kinds – from futuristic fables to family sagas – as well as a range of imaginative non-fiction, from family memoir and biographical essay to social history. In every case, the artistry of the translator keeps pace with the invention of the author. Each book created its own world in its own voice. The judges warmly recommend them all.

The £1000 prize was founded at the University of Warwick in 2017, to “address the gender imbalance in translated literature and to increase the number of international women’s voices accessible by a British and Irish readership.” The prize is supported by the British Centre for Literary Translation and the British Comparative Literature Association. To be eligible, books must be published in the UK.

The prize’s shortlist is due in early November, with the winner set to be announced at a ceremony on November 24.

The full list of longlisted titles, in alphabetical order, as provided by prize organizers:

• Nana Ekvtimishvili, The Pear Field, translated from Georgian by Elizabeth Heighway (Peirene Press, 2020)
• Annie Ernaux, A Girl’s Story, translated from French by Alison L. Strayer (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2020)
• Jenny Erpenbeck, Not a Novel, translated from German by Kurt Beals (Granta, 2020)
• Yan Ge, Strange Beasts of China, translated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang (Tilted Axis Press, 2020)
• Hiromi Kawakami, People from My Neighbourhood, translated from Japanese by Ted Goossen (Granta, 2020)
• Mieko Kawakami, Breasts and Eggs, translated from Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd (Picador, 2020)
• Esther Kinsky, Grove, translated from German by Caroline Schmidt (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2020)
• Camille Laurens, Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, translated from French by Willard Wood (Les Fugitives, 2020)
• Scholastique Mukasonga, Our Lady of the Nile, translated from French by Melanie Mauthner (Daunt Books Publishing, 2021)
• Duanwad Pimwana, Arid Dreams, translated from Thai by Mui Poopoksakul (Tilted Axis Press, 2020)
• Olga Ravn, The Employees, translated from Danish by Martin Aitken (Lolli Editions, 2020)
• Judith Schalansky, An Inventory of Losses, translated from German by Jackie Smith (MacLehose Press, 2020)
• Adania Shibli, Minor Detail, translated from Arabic by Elisabeth Jaquette (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2020)
• Małgorzata Szejnert, Ellis Island: A People’s History, translated from Polish by Sean Gasper Bye (Scribe UK, 2020)
• Maria Stepanova, In Memory of Memory, translated from Russian by Sasha Dugdale (Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2021)
• Maria Stepanova, War of the Beasts and the Animals, translated from Russian by Sasha Dugdale (Bloodaxe Books, 2021)
• Alice Zeniter, The Art of Losing, translated from French by Frank Wynne (Picador, 2021)