Rigtig hjerteligt tillykke til Martin Aitken, vinder af årets PEN Translation Prize for sin engelske oversættelse fra norsk af Hanne Ørstaviks roman Love (Kjærlighet):
For a book-length translation of prose from any language into English published in 2018. JUDGES: Ezra Fitz, Barbara Harshav, Vincent Kling, Marian Schwartz, Ron Slate :
Love, Hanne Ørstavik (Archipelago Books)
Translated from the Norwegian by Martin Aitken
From the judges’ citation: “The judges are proud to honor Martin Aitken for his luminous translation of Hanne Ørstavik’s haunting novel Love, which follows the distant, orbiting lives of a mother and son like a telescope through one cold winter’s night. In a mere 125 pages, Ørstavik distills a tremendous sense of emptiness, loneliness, and yearning from Vibeke and her son Jon, and in Aitken’s elegant translation, the prose crackles like the icy environs of Norway itself. Ørstavik’s narrative shifts without warning between the voices and visions of her two protagonists, and the finesse of Aitken’s focus allows these transitions to take place with equal parts artistry and subtlety. What we have, in the end, with Love, is an extraordinary translation of an uncannily singular novel, one which the judges will be savoring for many years to come.”
Sammen med en hel række andre priser – bl.a. PEN Poetry in Translation Prize som i år blev tildelt Richard Sieburth for hans oversættelse af Henri Michaux: A certain plume, af en jury bestående af bl.a. den danske forfatter og oversætter Katrine Øgaard Jensen – uddeles prisen af PEN America, den største af de over 100 organisationer der udgør PEN International.
Se alle prisvinderne her: https://pen.org/2019-winners/
Se alle årets priser og finalister her: https://pen.org/2019finalists/
PEN America præsenterer selv priserne sådan her:
The PEN America Literary Awards annually honor outstanding voices in literature across diverse genres, including fiction, poetry, drama, science and sports writing, essays, biography, and children’s literature. PEN America confers more than 20 awards, fellowships, grants, and prizes each year, presenting nearly $350,000 to writers and translators.
Igen stort tillykke og bravo til Martin Aitken!