The Ebrd Literature Prize: Exploring Geographical and Linguistic Diversity in a New Translation Award

Abstract

This contribution explores a new addition to the range of international awards available for literary translation into English, the EBRD Literature Prize. It was founded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) with the key objective of broadening the range of translated literatures available to the wider English-speaking public. The Prize was created in 2017 and it has been awarded four times to date. Accordingly, building on a brief overview of the broader role of prizes and awards within the global literary translation market, the genesis and rationale which underpin the EBRD Literature Prize are presented and highlighted. This information provides the basis for the subsequent exploratory analysis, which uses the regional groupings of the EBRD’s countries of operations as a preliminary framework of reference. As such, using the relevant publicly-available data, the geographical and linguistic origins of the translated literary works which have been shortlisted and longlisted for the Prize are outlined and discussed. The main aim is to determine whether any specific trends can be identified in the relevant works. Subsequently, the findings of these observations are presented, and, in recognition of the exploratory nature of this contribution, some possible indicators for additional research on the topic are offered.

Exploring the presence of smaller literatures in two British prizes for literary translation

“…The major prizes recognizing literary translation are the International Booker Prize and the EBRD Literature Prize, with the latter's key focus being on the literature of less represented geographies and languages. Indeed, the author's analysis of the results of the EBRD Literature Prize has illustrated that this aim has been mirrored in the selection of longlisted, shortlisted, and prize-winning works (Hoyte-West, 2022a).…”